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Hewlett Packard Environmental, Health and Safety Policy
Source http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/globalcitizenship/environment/envprogram/envpolicy.html
Hewlett-Packard is committed to conducting its business in a manner that delivers leading Environmental, Health and Safety performance. This is consistent with our commitment to corporate citizenship, social responsibility and sustainability.
Our goals are to provide products and services that are safe and environmentally sound throughout their lifecycles, conduct our operations in an environmentally responsible manner, and create health and safety practices and work environments that enable HP employees to work injury-free.
To accomplish this, we will:
- meet or exceed all applicable legal requirements;
- proactively reduce occupational injury and illness risks, and promote employee health and well-being;
- aggressively pursue pollution prevention, energy conservation and waste reduction in our operations;
- design and manufacture our products to be safe to use and to minimize their environmental impact;
- offer our customers environmentally responsible end-of-life management services for HP products; and
- require our suppliers to conduct their operations in a socially and environmentally responsible manner.
We achieve this high level of performance by integrating these objectives into our business planning, decision-making, performance tracking and review processes to ensure we achieve our goals and continually improve upon them.
Each employee has an individual responsibility to understand and support our environmental, health and safety policies and to actively participate in programs to ensure our goals are achieved.
We believe our company must work with employees, suppliers, partners, customers, and governmental, nongovernmental and community organizations to protect and enhance health, safety and the environment. We foster open dialogue with our stakeholders to share relevant information, and contribute to the development of sound public policy and business initiatives.
Design for environment
Design-for-Environment (DfE) is an engineering perspective in which the environmentally related characteristics of a product, process or facility are optimized. Together, HP</abbr>'s product stewards and product designers identify, prioritize and recommend environmental improvements through a company-wide DfE program. HP</abbr>'s DfE guidelines derive from evolving customer expectations and regulatory requirements, but they are also influenced by the personal commitment of its employees.
The Design for Environment program has three priorities:
- Energy efficiency – reduce the energy needed to manufacture and use our products
- Materials innovation – reduce the amount of materials used in our products and develop materials that have less environmental impact and more value at end-of-life
- Design for recyclability – design equipment that is easier to upgrade and/or recycle
HP's DfE guidelines recommend that its product designers consider the following:
- Place environmental stewards on every design team to identify design changes that may reduce environmental impact throughout the product's life cycle.
- Eliminate the use of polybrominated biphenyl (PBB) and polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) flame-retardants where applicable.
- Reduce the number and types of materials used, and standardize on the types of plastic resins used.
- Use molded-in colors and finishes instead of paint, coatings or plating whenever possible.
- Help customers use resources responsibly by minimizing the energy consumption of HP's printing, imaging and computing products.
- Increase the use of pre-and post-consumer recycled materials in product packaging.
- Minimize customer waste burdens by using fewer product or packaging materials overall.
- Design for disassembly and recyclability by implementing solutions such as the ISO 11469 plastics labeling standard, minimizing the number of fasteners and the number of tools necessary for disassembly.
Product return and recycling
HP offers our customers several choices to manage aging or unwanted computers while also minimizing the impact on the environment.
Return for cash
HP Financial Services will pay your company for qualified computer equipment you no longer want or need.
- Equipment will be refurbish and resold
- All data will be removed to ensure data security.
Trade in
HP Trade-In offers users the opportunity to capture the fair market value of aging technology and upgrade to new HP technology.
- Covers every product category
- Accepts HP and non-HP products
Recycle
HP makes it easy to recycle unwanted computer hardware and printing supplies responsibly.
- Recycle HP inkjet and LaserJet cartridges for free
- Recycle any brand of computer hardware
Donate
HP makes it easy to donate your used computer equipment. In the US, this program is made possible through a partnership with the National Cristina Foundation (NCF).
Energy Efficiency
HP believes government, companies, organizations and individuals must come together to address the growing challenges presented by climate change. For our part, we have reduced our operation's environmental footprint and increased the energy efficiency of our products and services. We are also developing solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions throughout the global economy and collaborating with NGOs and others to advance public policies that help turn debate into action.
HP's goal is to reduce its global energy use 25 percent below 2005 levels by 2010. HP is already making progress. HP reduced its global operations and product energy use by 19% below 2005 levels by October, 2007.
Material Use
Our choices of materials in designing products represent opportunities to improve HP’s environmental performance.
HP has a long history of working to improve the use of materials
in our products and enhance their environmental and safety performance during production, manufacturing, distribution and ultimately, disposal (see the timeline).
We are focused on:
- Being transparent about product material content and working to eliminate materials shown to, or likely to, pose an environmental, health or safety risk
- Developing products that are smaller and lighter, requiring less material
- Innovating to use new materials
- Using recycled materials
- Using materials that will be easier to recycle
These actions benefit HP, our customers and our employees. Using less material saves energy during manufacturing and distribution while reducing costs, including the disposal cost of products at the end of their lives. Avoiding substances of concern can remove risks to workers manufacturing our products and to recyclers who manage the proper disposal of products at end of life. We are dedicated to being compliant with measures such as the European Union’s REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemical substances) regulation.
Material Substitution
We take a proactive approach to evaluating materials and eliminating those that pose an environmental, health or safety risk. We may replace 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 even legally permitted materials when scientific data has established a potential health or environmental risk and when less risky, commercially viable alternatives are available.
Virtually all HP-branded products fully meet the requirements of the European Union Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) directive, which restricts the use of lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, PBB and PBDE flame retardants. HP was one of the first companies to set and achieve a voluntary goal to comply with EU RoHS materials restrictions worldwide. We promote harmonization of material restrictions across different countries because we believe this enables faster adoption to achieve the desired environmental benefits.
HP is also taking steps to comply with the European Union REACH regulation of December 2006, which places greater responsibility on industry to communicate and manage chemical-related risks. The regulation introduces a plan for assessing the safety of new chemicals while providing data for about 100,000 existing chemicals. REACH also offers a mechanism for identifying substances of very high concern and for eventual substitution of these substances as suitable alternatives are identified.
We expect that the vast majority of these substances of concern (sometimes referred to as “candidate list” substances) are not typically used in electronic products. But HP supports the overall REACH objective of improving the protection of human health and the environment and believes it will help customers be more informed about the substances found in products. HP will meet all REACH requirements and is committed to providing our customers with required information about the chemicals in our 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 2007 in removing substances of concern. For example, we introduced the HP Compaq 2710p Notebook PC and the HP Compaq 2510p Notebook PC, which use light-emitting diodes (LEDs) instead of mercury lamps as a light source. The use of LEDs lowers energy consumption, extends battery life and avoids the use of mercury.
Elimination of Brominated Flame Retardants (BFR) and Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) materials
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. Our goal is to eliminate all remaining uses of BFRs and PVC from new computing products as technologically feasible alternatives become readily available. To be accepted, alternatives also must not compromise product performance or quality or adversely impact health or the environment. We expect to achieve this goal for new computing products launched in 2009.
HP's Compliance with Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Legislation
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. One flame retardant (decaBDE) was initially restricted by RoHS, but was subsequently removed from the RoHS restrictions. HP eliminated the use of decaBDE many years ago and has no plans to reinitiate its use.
» RoHS Position Statement (PDF 29kb)
» J-MOSS/JIS-C-0950 Material Declarations
» China RoHS compliance
HP's Compliance with the European Union Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation, and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) Legislation
REACH is a new EU chemicals regulation that will enter 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 replaces 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.
HP compliance with California Proposition 65
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.
Implementation
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 products, the third-party products that HP may sell as part of an integrated solution, 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.
HP Restricted Materials
(Refer to the GSE for exemptions, thresholds and further details, http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/globalcitizenship/environment/pdf/gse.pdf)
Asbestos – must not be present in parts, components, materials or products.
Brominated Flame Retardants –
- Polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs) or polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), including Decabromobiphenyl Ether (DecaBDE) - parts, components, materials, and products must not contain these flame retardants.
- Tetrabromobisphenol–A (TBBB-A), or any other brominated flame retardants - external case plastic parts of products (parts visible to the customer in normal product operation) must not contain these flame retardants.
Cadmium and its compounds – must not be used in parts, components, materials, or products including pigments, dyes, stabilizers, plating, paints, packaging and batteries. Exemptions apply.
Certain Azo Colorants – may not be used products made from textiles or leather (such as, carrying cases and protective covers) which may come in prolonged direct contact with exposed skin.
Chlorinated Hydrocarbons – must not be contained in any parts, components, materials or products.
Chlorinated Paraffins – must not be used or contained in softeners in paints, coatings and sealants; in oils; or in flame-retardants in rubber, plastic and textiles.
Formaldehyde - must not be used in wooden materials, furniture, detergents, cleaning agents and polishes.
Halogenated Diphenyl Methanes – must not be present in any parts, components, materials, or products.
Heavy Metals in Packaging Materials – restrictions on the total use of lead, mercury, cadmium, or hexavalent chromium.
Hexavalent Chromium – must not be present in metallic and non-metallic applications, or used in packaging. HP-approved test methods apply.
Lead - must not be used in parts, components, materials, or products, including paint, batteries, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) coating for external cables, wires and cords. Exemptions apply.
Lithium and Li-Ion Batteries – subject to testing and quantity limitations. Must be certified as non-dangerous for transportation purposes.
Mercury – must not be used in parts, components, materials, or products, including packaging and batteries.
Nickel – finishes must not be used on the external surface of any product designed to be frequently handled or carried by the user.
Ozone Depleted Substances – must not be used in the manufacturing process or present in any parts, components, materials, or products.
Perfluorooctane sulfonates – must not be used after 27 June 2008 in parts, components, products, or preparations. Exemptions apply.
Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) and Polychlorinated Terphenyls (PCTs) – must not be present in parts, components, materials, or products.
Polychlorinated Naphthalenes (more than 3 chlorine atoms) – must not be present in parts, components, materials, or products.
Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) – must not be used in the external case plastic parts of products (parts visible to the customer in normal product operation), nor in packaging.
Radioactive Substances – must not be present in parts, components, materials or products.
Tributyl Tin (TBT), Triphenyl Tin (TPT), Tributyl Tin Oxide (TBTO) – must not be used in parts, components, materials or products.
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Dematerialization
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:
- The smaller size of the HP Consumer Slimline PC saved enough metal over 12 months (8,500 tonnes) to build another Eiffel Tower.
- HP’s LaserJet P1005 printer series and the HP LaserJet P1505 printer, which began shipping in November 2007 and have the most compact design to date of any HP LaserJet printer, consume less material and less energy than previous models. The new compact cartridge design uses 10 percent less plastic (by weight) than previous generations, and the precise toner placement of the new printing system uses 9 percent less toner per page without compromising output quality. The new toner formulation requires 15 percent less energy to reach its melting point than the conventional toner. These factors contribute to the energy efficiency of the HP LaserJet P1505 printer, which uses almost 25 percent less energy to print a page than its predecessor.
- The HP Compaq 2710p Notebook PC is just 2.82 cm (1.11 inch) thick and weighs 1.63 kilograms (3.6 pounds). This is made possible by the HP Illumi-Lite Light Emitting Diode (LED) displays, which are thinner and lighter than traditional screens. The Illumi-Lite display also requires less energy and does not use mercury. The case is built using lightweight and durable magnesium, which is easily recyclable. The smaller notebook packaging allows HP to transport 60 units on a pallet instead of 48, which saves energy in transportation.
- HP’s Smart Web Printing saves paper by enabling simple, predictable printing of web pages. Users can combine portions of numerous web pages onto one page and avoid extra pages printed with just a few lines of text. Using HP Web Jetadmin and Universal Print Driver to configure printers for duplexing (double-sided printing) also saves paper. For example, this technology is helping us to achieve our goal for 80 percent of general office printing and copying to be double-sided by the end of 2008, saving HP up to 726 tonnes of paper a year and $7.7 million. The potential for customers to save paper is even higher.
- HP has reduced the amount of paper shipped from Shanghai to Europe by 1,800 tonnes a year by consolidating user documentation for notebook products and printing it on lighter paper. In Asia Pacific and Japan, we have consolidated documentation from eight languages to single-language versions. Together, these measures saved HP more than $12 million a year.
Innovative and recycled materials
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:
- Most recycled plastics contain substances such as BFRs, which we have eliminated from the external cases of our current products.
- Mixed plastics do not have the mechanical properties necessary for use in new IT products.
- It is difficult to separate dissimilar plastics during recycling to produce a homogenous material
Printer emissions
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.
The future
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.