Our materials choices for HP products affect our environmental performance. HP has a long history (see the timeline). of improving the use of materials in our products, and we continue to focus on six aspects:
In 2008, HP introduced the
Eco Highlights label to describe the environmental features of select products, including
information about materials use and recycling.
HP has taken a proactive approach to evaluating materials and eliminating those that pose an environmental, health or safety risk. We may restrict or eliminate substances because of customer or legal requirements or because we believe it is appropriate based on a precautionary approach. We strive to replace legally permitted materials when scientific data has established a potential health or environmental risk and when less risky, commercially viable alternatives are available.
We promote harmonization of material restrictions across different countries because this enables faster adoption to achieve the desired environmental benefits. As of January 1, 2007, HP met its internal voluntary goal to meet the requirements of the EU Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) directive on a worldwide basis for virtually all HP brand products, except where it is widely recognized that there is no technically feasible alternative (as indicated by an exemption under the RoHS directive). RoHS restricts the use of lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, PBB and PBDE flame retardants. HP was one of the first companies to apply the EU RoHS materials restrictions to our products worldwide. (See more information about our RoHS Program below.)
HP is committed to compliance with the upcoming material restriction requirements of the European Union RoHS revision, otherwise known as RoHS 2, and China’s Management Methods for Controlling Pollution by Electronic Information Products, otherwise known as China RoHS Phase II. HP supports the restriction of the substances proposed for the EU RoHS revision. HP also provided a technical adviser—the only non-Chinese national involved—to help the Ministry of Information Technology draft the guidance document supporting the China legislation.
We are dedicated to compliance with measures such as the European Union’s REACH regulation, which introduces a plan for assessing the safety of new chemicals and a mechanism for identifying “substances of very high concern” and for eventual substitution of these substances as suitable alternatives are identified.
Although we expect that the vast majority of the REACH regulation “candidate list” substances will not typically be used in electronic products, HP supports the overall REACH objective of protecting human health and the environment and believes REACH will help inform customers about the substances found in products. We are working with industry and government to achieve a workable system that fulfills the goals of REACH and with our suppliers to ensure that HP products comply. See further information about our REACH Program below.
We continued to make progress in 2008 in removing substances of concern from our products. For example, HP notebooks are available with the choice of an optional mercury-free Illumi-Lite LED display. Our goal is to remove all mercury—a material commonly used in notebook screens—from our entire notebook line by the end of 2010.
HP offers dry printing solutions for commercial photo printing that reduce the environmental impact of silver halide systems. HP Photosmart pm2000e Microlab and HP Photosmart ml1000 Minilab printers are self-contained units that do not require a water source or drains, reducing the overflow of developer, fixer and wash water to municipal and private waste treatment facilities.
As technologically feasible alternatives become readily available that will not compromise product performance or quality and will not adversely impact health or the environment, we will complete the phase out of BFR and PVC in newly introduced personal computing products in 2011. See statement below.
We continue to review and qualify alternative materials and have developed a formal environmental assessment approach to make more informed material selection decisions. To date there are some viable non-BFR-containing replacement materials for printed circuit boards and plastics applications. We are introducing these materials into our products as they come on to the market in sufficient volumes.
Some BFRs and PVC applications have proved difficult to substitute because of the lack of suitable alternatives, such as PVC in power cords. Materials for use in power cords are still being developed and must meet stringent safety and mechanical requirements. We are working with suppliers to develop and qualify acceptable materials and increase their availability
We work to determine that replacement substances have a lower environmental and health impact than the substances identified for possible phaseout. This involves engagement with government agencies, such as the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and non-governmental organizations, such as Clean Production Action, to develop standard methods for this type of assessment.
The timeline shows when substances were restricted by HP and identifies substances that HP is considering for restriction.
*Dates refer to when the materials restrictions were adopted by HP. Often regulations allow exemptions for certain applications for some materials, and HP may take advantage of those exemptions. Materials in gray text beyond 2009 have been identified by stakeholders as potential materials of concern. Future possible restriction of those materials depends, in part, on the qualification of acceptable alternative materials.
We communicate materials restrictions to our design teams and to our manufacturing suppliers through our General Specification for the Environment (GSE), which prohibits or restricts the use of certain substances in HP brand products and in manufacturing. The GSE is integrated into our product development process and into supplier contracts.
We use active verification to manage the restriction of materials in our products. This includes risk-based data sampling and chemical analysis as required. We use supplier corrective action processes as needed to resolve any issues that arise.
HP helps customers improve resource use through improvements in technology and product design and by delivering software and services that support more efficient customer processes.
Product examples launched in 2008 include the dc7800 Ultra Slim Desktop (see case study), which is one of the industry’s smallest, enterprise-ready desktops. It is 46 percent smaller than previous models. The HP TouchSmart IQ 500 series PC’s chassis design uses 55 percent less metal and 37 percent less plastic than standard PCs and monitors.
The shift from cathode ray tube (CRT) monitors to flat-panel displays and from PCs to notebooks has progressed significantly. Notebooks typically weigh 80 percent less than PCs. Combined, a notebook with an additional flat-screen display is one-third of the weight of a PC with a CRT. This smaller size also saves roughly a third of the packaging weight and helps decrease energy consumption in transport to customers.
Our printing services and software help to reduce material consumption by saving paper. In addition, Print-on-demand allows publishers to print smaller batches more frequently, responding to demand rather than printing a large batch of a title based on anticipated sales. This avoids large quantities of unsold copies being wasted. Digitizing workflow and information management also saves paper by replacing paper-based documents.
See more information on dematerialization below.
Materials innovation helps us to meet customer demand for safe, cost-effective products that have less impact on the environment and are easier to recycle.
For example, our recently announced HP Latex Printing Technology uses water-based HP Latex inks to print signs and graphics with rich, saturated colors and great image quality for both indoor and outdoor use. HP Latex Inks require no hazard labeling and no special ventilation and are non-flammable and non-combustible, creating a more pleasant environment for operators. For more detail, see videos about HP Latex Inks and HP signage products with reduced environmental impact.
HP works with suppliers to identify appropriate materials that have lower total environmental and possible health impacts than those they replace. However, confirming claims for new materials takes time, and it’s necessary to ensure that they are available in sufficient volumes. For example, thermoplastic rubber/elastomer (TPR/TPE) and polyethylene-derived hybrids are emerging replacements for PVC in wires and cables, but these materials are not sufficiently developed for wide-scale use. We are working with suppliers to ensure our technical and environmental requirements are met.
We work with the electronics industry and our suppliers to identify new materials for potential use. For example, HP chairs the following projects of the International Electronics Manufacturing Initiative (iNEMI):
We are also jointly funding the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s study on the relative environmental, health and safety impacts of current and alternative flame retardants in printed-circuit boards.
We believe nanotechnology holds promise for electronics in the long term and have researched this area since 1995. However, some people believe nanoscale particles or wires could cause health or environmental problems. We do not currently use nanomaterials in our products and recognize that health and safety issues must be integral to any research program that seeks to bring such materials to market. Our Quantum Science Research group at HP Labs in Palo Alto, California, has been a leader in research in this area. See HP's U.S. federal issue brief on this topic
See more information on innovative materials below.
HP continues to expand the use of recycled materials in our products. (See how HP uses "recycled materials" and related terms.) We used 4,800 tonnes (10.5 million pounds) of recycled content resin (which is 75 percent recycled content, minimum 95 percent post-consumer) in our new Original HP inkjet print cartridges in 2008, more than twice the amount we used in 2007, as well as an additional 680 tonnes (1.5 million pounds) of 50 percent recycled content resin.
In 2008, we introduced the HP Deskjet D2545 Printer. It is made from 83 percent recycled plastic material and uses HP 60 ink cartridges, made from 50-75 percent recycled plastic including resins from returned HP cartridges. Additionally, the overall packaging for this printer is recyclable. Our goal is to triple the amount of recycled materials used in our inkjet printers by 2010 (relative to 2007).
We also introduced two display products with significant recycled plastics content. The L1950g and L 2245wg displays are made with 25 percent post-consumer recycled plastics.
See more information on recycled materials below.
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Brominated flame retardants (BFRs) and PVC have proved difficult to substitute entirely because of the lack of suitable alternatives for some uses. Over the last ten years, HP has proactively eliminated most uses of these materials from our products, with limited exceptions. For example, we still use certain BFRs in printed-circuit boards because suitable alternatives are not yet available. As technologically feasible alternatives become readily available that will not compromise product performance or quality and will not adversely impact health or the environment, we will complete the phase out of BFR and PVC in newly introduced personal computing products in 2011.
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HP is committed to comply with all applicable laws and regulations. HP has already met the requirements of several of the RoHS legislations currently in effect. We have also met our voluntary internal goal of eliminating or reducing RoHS substances to the EU specified levels for virtually all HP brand electronic products worldwide, except where it is widely recognized that there is no technically feasible alternative as indicated by an exemption under the EU RoHS Directive. HP is in compliance with EU RoHS, Japan RoHS (or J-MOSS), California SB20 and China RoHS phase I labeling requirements. HP continues to plan for similar legislation in other jurisdictions and will meet any additional requirements that arise. The EU RoHS Directive restricts the use of certain substances (lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium and two flame retardants PBB and PBDE) in electronic products. HP had already restricted four of the RoHS-restricted substances prior to 1999, and is actively ensuring that all substances regulated by RoHS are restricted in every HP hardware product » RoHS Position Statement
(PDF 29kb)
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REACH is a new EU chemicals regulation that entered into force on June 1, 2007, with phased deadlines to 2018. The aim of REACH is to improve the protection of human health and the environment, and enhance the competitiveness of the EU chemicals industry. REACH replaced existing EU chemical legislation with a single system for all chemical substances, both "new" and "existing" (also called "phase-in"). It gives greater responsibility to industry to assess the properties of chemicals, manage the health and environment risks, and communicate information to suppliers and users. REACH also calls for progressive substitution of the most dangerous substances when suitable alternatives have been identified. HP supports the overall REACH objective of improving the protection of human health and the environment. HP's long standing policy is to provide products and services that are safe to use and environmentally sound throughout their lifecycle. HP will meet all REACH requirements and is committed to providing our customers with information about the chemicals in our products as needed to comply with REACH. HP is working with industry and government to achieve a workable system that fulfills the goals of REACH and with our suppliers to ensure that HP products comply with REACH. » REACH Position Statement
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In addition to the company's commitment to adherence with RoHS legislation, HP is complying with similar requirements in other jurisdictions, including California. As of December 31, 2007, all of HP-branded motherboards, circuit boards and other boards sold in California either: (1) will contain solder meeting the California standard of 0.1% or less lead; or (2) will be exempt from this California lead standard requirement. As part of its commitment to product stewardship, HP wishes to ensure that users of its products in California have the information they need about lead in solder in HP electronics products sold before the effective date of the California lead in solder requirement. Thus, HP provides the following message to its California users: Certain motherboards, mainboards, circuit boards and accessories sold in California contain lead solder. Lead is a chemical known to the State of California to cause birth defects and other reproductive harm. Please wash hands after handling such internal components and avoid inhalation of fumes if heating solder.
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We’ve developed control processes for product design and manufacturing to ensure that our products use compliant materials and meet HP's specifications. We communicate materials restrictions to our design teams and to our manufacturing suppliers through our General Specification for the Environment (GSE), which prohibits or restricts the use of certain substances in HP brand products and in manufacturing processes. The GSE is integrated into our product development process and into supplier contracts as part of our standard contractual terms and conditions.
We use "active verification" to manage the restriction of materials in our products. This includes risk-based data sampling and chemical analysis as required. Supplier corrective action processes are used as needed to resolve any issues that arise.
Suppliers are accountable for shipping materials, components, parts and products to HP that comply with the GSE as specified in our contracts, hardware drawings, and specifications. HP relies on "Active Verification" to ensure that our materials restrictions are reflected in our products. The process to ensure product environmental compliance must be built into the design and manufacturing process, and cannot simply be "tested in" at the end. Suppliers and their sub-suppliers must ensure that non-compliant material cannot enter the manufacturing process and that compliant processes are used. HP's implementation of this philosophy is illustrated below.
HP's compliance verification process has four key steps:
Each of these steps includes feedback to the supplier.
An important component of HP’s materials substitution efforts is determining that replacement substances have a lower environmental and health impact than the substances identified for possible phaseout. Many potential replacement materials are still being evaluated for environmental and health impacts. Unfortunately, standard methods to perform these evaluations do not exist, and as a result differing conclusions are sometimes drawn from the same study. To address this concern, HP engages with government agencies, such as the United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA), and nongovernmental organizations, such as Clean Production Action, to develop standard methods for evaluating the environmental and health impacts of new substances.
HP strives to use less material in products through improvements in product design and technological advances. An example of dematerialization is the shift from PCs to notebooks and from cathode ray tube (CRT) monitors to flat panel displays. A typical flat panel display uses slightly more than half the amount of material in a conventional CRT screen and requires approximately 60 percent less energy to use. The weight difference between PCs and notebooks is even more dramatic—typically an 80 percent reduction. Combined, a notebook with an additional flat screen display weighs just one-third as much as a PC with a CRT. This shift also saves roughly a third of the packaging and decreases energy consumption in transport to customers.
Other examples include:
We also made great progress in incorporating recycling materials into our products by engineering print cartridges that use recycled plastic without compromising quality or reliability. More than 200 million cartridges have been manufactured using the process through 2007. HP used more than 5 million pounds (2,300 tonnes) of recycled plastic in its original HP inkjet cartridges in 2007, and the company has committed to using twice as much in 2008.
On average, HP notebook products are up to 90 percent recyclable/recoverable by weight2, and our printing and imaging products are typically up to 70 to 85 percent recyclable/recoverable.
In 2007, we introduced a speaker module made from 100 percent post-consumer recycled plastics in all HP Compaq 6500 and 6700 series Notebook PCs.
We strive to use recycled plastics in our products, but their potential is limited for several reasons:
Although not a material selection issue per se, we feel it is important to address the subject of printer emissions. In 2007, a report published out of an Australian University raised concerns about ultrafine particle emissions from laser office printers. HP remains confident in the safety of our products. Based on our comprehensive research and development efforts, quality testing procedures and current scientific expertise, no health risk specific to HP toners or emissions from HP laser printing systems is to be expected when used as intended.
HP laser printing systems—printer, original HP print cartridges and paper—are tested for particle emissions according to international standard procedures under high-use operating conditions in controlled environmental test chambers. The devices' contribution to commonly present indoor air particle concentrations lies well below recognized U.S. and German occupational exposure limits.
Since the physical properties and chemical composition of ultrafine particles from laser printing systems are as yet unknown, HP is actively engaged in research and cooperates with one of the world's leading independent authorities on this subject, the Wilhelm-Klauditz Institute (WKI) in Germany. It is one of HP's goals to define state-of-the-science methods to further characterize such emissions—to make sure we maintain the high level of user safety typical for HP laser printing systems. See news release.
2 Per the definition used in the European Union WEEE regulations.
We continue to reduce the environmental impacts of materials in our products, with input from our new Stakeholder Advisory Council. We are educating our customers on the environmental impacts of our products, including our materials choices.
Several countries are developing regulations similar to the RoHS Directive. We work with industry organizations such as the American Electronics Association and the European Information and Communications Technology Association to encourage harmonized approaches, and we are actively participating in the development of China's RoHS-like legislation. Regulators increasingly ask us to share the details of our verification programs, as an example of industry best practice.
A global trend in materials regulation is to move from ensuring that a few specific substances are not in a product (for example, EU RoHS) to reporting of specific substances that are present (for example, the EU's REACH Directive). This trend will require significant data collection and aggregation processes throughout the supply chain. HP is evaluating several approaches to respond to this trend.
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