'Green' phones still scarce

MANILA, Philippines - You have the latest handset with all the bells and whistles, but is it “green”? Chances are it’s not or at least not completely, says research company IDC, which recently ranked mobile phone manufacturers’ recycling efforts and found much room for improvement.

The Massachusetts-based IDC noted that mobile phone recycling is amazingly low today, with rates of 10 percent considered good. In its evaluation of 10 key original equipment manufacturers (OEM) of mobile devices in the world, IDC established that the sustainability efforts of these companies can still go further to create bigger impact to the environment.

To find the most environment-friendly OEM, IDC analyzed each company’s methods of packaging, choice of materials, energy use, end-of-life programs like recycling, and overall sustainability efforts. Another 20 sub-criteria to create a green ranking of the 10 OEMs were also applied. Who ranked top 5 in this sustainability study is almost no surprise.

In alphabetical order, IDC ranked Apple, LG, Nokia, Samsung and Sony Ericsson as the top 5 mobile device manufacturers in terms of sustainability policies and practices.

They are the ones that demonstrated corporate responsibility by working toward greener phones that simplify safe and proper disposal and even reuse of the billions of mobile phones in use today, said IDC.

IDC’s key findings for Apple show the company’s recycling efforts in 95 percent of the countries where its products are sold. These include the United States, India, China (and its special administrative region, Hong Kong), Malaysia, Singapore, New Zealand, Korea and Australia.

Because Apple’s chief executive, Steve Jobs, is very active in green efforts, the rest of the company also takes strong steps in developing green technologies and advocating similar programs across Apple’s supply chain.

IDC credits LG Electronics for its power management solutions that resulted in the development of a solar charger. LG seeks to continue to deploy such solutions throughout its entire line of products.

LG has reduced the standby power within its mobile chargers, and handsets have a charger reminder that beeps when the handset is fully charged.

For Nokia, the major highlight of IDC’s sustainability audit is the company’s high use of recyclable materials that puts it ahead of other OEMs.

Between 65 and 80 percent of any Nokia device can be recycled and the rest, primarily plastics, can be used to fuel the recycling process, IDC found out.

Samsung likewise scored well in its use of green materials, especially for phone models it launched last year that were free of BFR (brominated flame retardants) compounds found in polymer materials, and PVC (polyvinyl chloride) plastic, which is widely known to be toxic. Samsung has set Dec. 31, 2012 for making mobile phones free of phthalates, beryllium, brominated compounds, and antimony trioxide.

Sony Ericsson, for its part, has optimized packaging to be more environmentally friendly by including recycling mailers and developing lighter boxes that save 80 percent on carbon dioxide emissions from transport versus the standard box.

Sony Ericsson has also succeeded in completely replacing paper manuals with electronic manuals and, as a result, saved 350 tons of paper on one million phones — equal to 13,000 trees and 7,500 cubic meters of water.

The company’s current J10 handset is a perfect example of a green phone which is part of its GreenHeart program, which is all about reducing negative impact on the environment by pursuing efforts such as the electronic manual, ultra-compact packaging, recycled plastic housing, and using no lead and less chemicals in its production of mobile phones.

IDC’s look on the top OEM’s mobile green strategies is also the result of direct dialogues with vendors as well as other secondary sources, said Stephen Drake, IDC program vice president for mobility and telecom.

“We spoke with the vendors and physically inspected their packaging, devices, and accessories, and leveraged published corporate responsibility reports and other corporate and product environmental reports as available. IDC also reviewed other third-party rating and watchdog sites such as Energy Star and Greenpeace,” Drake added.

In conclusion, IDC said the mobile industry faces a long road to being truly “green,” as most players are still greenhorns in this field.