Arlington, Va. — The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) this week released a report called Environmental Sustainability and Innovation in the Consumer Electronics Industry, which analyzes the industry’s progress toward greater environmental sustainability.
Independent research firm Technology Forecasters conducted the study for CEA and assessed the industry’s progress in adopting sustainable policies, practices and programs. The report is said to highlight specific environmental accomplishments by industry leaders.
“This study demonstrates the industry’s commitment to environmental sustainability through eco-design, energy efficiency, green manufacturing and electronics recycling,” said Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of CEA. “We are proud of our accomplishments thus far, but there is still work to be done. We look forward to the day the consumer electronics industry fully achieved our collective environmental sustainability goals.”
Study highlights include news that electricity usage declined by as much as 25 percent during the past three to four years among companies that reported reduced electricity consumption. It also found that among the 10 major CE companies that reported greenhouse gas emissions from 2004-2007, seven achieved a reduction per one million dollars revenue. Also 69 percent of the 64 electronics companies surveyed reported they are actively recycling electronic products and components, and 38 percent report reuse of the electronics products they make or use. CEA said these actions have led to the recycling of nearly 800,000 tons of electronic waste. Finally, the report also found continuous improvement in energy efficiency “across the industry in nearly every product.”
The report is said to cover the sustainable practices chain from the internal processes of the CE companies to manufactured end products. It is said to look at how design has improved the production of greener products in a variety of ways, as well as look at companies adoption of more eco-friendly manufacturing processes.
The full report is available at www.CE.org/green.
