Electronics Recycling Report Card

This scorecard rates manufacturers of computers, TVs, printers and game consoles on their recycling efforts, and finds mediocre performance at best.

In the rankings, created by the Electronics Takeback Coalition, Dell and Asus score the highest, with B and B- grades, respectively. Samsung also earned a B grade, but was simultaneously dinged with a “dishonorable mention” by the group. According to its report card:

Samsung has made tremendous strides with its takeback program over the last two years and has earned a B on this year’s report card. However, this report must also include a Dishonorable Mention because of serious concerns about Samsung’s occupational health record at manufacturing plants in Korea, where many young workers have been diagnosed with blood cancers and several have already died.

Overall, the highest grades were earned by computer companies — Dell, Asus, and Apple — while the lowest grades were earned by printer manufacturers. Hewlett-Packard was the company with the highest grade in the Printers category, with a C-, while all the rest of the companies graded in that sector — Brother, Epson, Lexmark, Kodak and Canon — all earned Fs.

For more details, see this article from GreenerComputing, and for individual company report cards, visit the Electronics Takeback Coalition website.