Materials

Our products comply with regulations regarding materials use, but customers increasingly want to know more about substances in products, even those that aren’t restricted by regulation. We have shifted the emphasis from the substances that are excluded from our products to reporting specific materials that are included. We have developed a system to comply with the REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemical substances) legislation in the European Union (EU) which allows customers web access to view which substances, if any, on the “candidate list” are included in a new HP product sold in the EU. (See below for more on REACH.)

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 our compliance statement.)

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.

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 (see case study) 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.

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.

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. (See case study.)

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 (see case study) 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.

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):

• Pb-Free Alloy Alternatives, evaluating second generation lead-free solder alloys
• iNEMI Test TIG, which leads various efforts including the Board Flexure Standardization project, intended to drive standard test methodologies for qualifying the mechanical reliability of lead-free printed circuit assemblies

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.

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. (See case study.)

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. (See case study.) 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.