The company earned Greenpeace’s wrath after backtracking on its commitments to phase out toxic chemicals from its products by the end of this year. Greenpeace also has Dell and Lenovo in its sights.
Earlier this year, HP postponed its 2007 commitment to phase out dangerous substances such as brominated flame retardants (BFR) and PVC (polyvinyl chloride) plastic from their computer products (excluding their server and printer lines) from 2009 to 2011.
Greenpeace points out that other companies have done much better, with Apple’s new computer lines virtually free of PVC and completely BFR-free.
HP says it’s abiding by its commitments. “By fall 2010 all new commercial PC products released will be BFR/PVC free. By the end of 2011 all new PC products released will be free of BFR/PVCs,” the company said in a statement. “The unconstructive antics at HP’s headquarters today did nothing to advance the goals that all who care about the environment share.”
The Greenpeace action follows similar demonstrations at HP offices in China and the Netherlands. The paint was non-toxic.