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The Electronics TakeBack Coalition (ETBC) promotes green design and responsible recycling in the electronics industry. Its goal is to protect the health and well being of electronics users, workers, and the communities where electronics are produced and discarded by requiring consumer electronics manufacturers and brand owners to take full responsibility for the life cycle of their products, through effective public policy requirements or enforceable agreements. ETBC plans to accomplish this goal by establishing extended producer responsibility (EPR) as the policy tool to promote sustainable production and consumption of consumer electronics (all products with a circuit board). The Campaign will focus first on establishing EPR for personal computers.

Product stewardship is a term used to describe a product-centered approach to environmental protection. It calls on those in the product life cycle -- from designers, manufacturers, retailers, consumers, waste managers and disposers -- to share responsibility for reducing the environmental impacts of products. Product stewardship activities have been taking place globally for over a decade. In the United States, this idea is gaining interest as more state and local governments cope with large, ever-changing, and complex waste streams.

South Korea's Samsung Electronics has said it will invest $4.3B (£2.6B) as part of an initiative to develop new energy-efficient products and halve carbon emissions from its factories by 2013. The consumer electronics giant today unveiled its Eco-Management 2013 plan, under which it will spend $2.5B on improving the energy efficiency of its products -- including TVs, refrigerators and air conditioning systems -- with a goal of delivering the highest levels of efficiency in the consumer electronics industry. Under the plan, standby power consumption on many products will also be halved from 1W to just half a watt, while the company has said it will work to identify new recyclable and organic materials that could be used in the manufacture of consumer products such as laptops and mobile phones. Meanwhile, $1.8B will be invested in halving greenhouse gas emissions from Samsung manufacturing plants. Article by Yvonne Chan, Greener Computing, 7/20/09.

'Analysts say going green has become a business plan for some of the biggest personal computer (PC) makers as a way to differentiate themselves from their competition, reports Reuters. The "green" talk is going over the top as computer makers spar with one another over who has the most "green" platform.' Discussion of some environmental claims made by top PC manufacturers, such as Dell, HP, & Apple. Environmental Leader, 6/22/09.

Two Democratic U.S. Senators -- Amy Klobuchar of Minn. and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York -- introduced earlier this month legislation aimed at funding R&D efforts to improve to recycle e-waste and develop best practices and innovation in greener design of electronics. The Electronic Device Recycling Research and Development Act, a nearly identical version of which passed the U.S. House of Representatives in April, provides almost $85 million over the next three years to help spur the growth of electronics recycling practices in the U.S. The bill, S. 1397, includes four main initiatives: providing grants for R&D into e-waste processes and practices, funding research into environmentally friendly materials for use in electronics, establishing educational curricula for engineering students at all levels to incorporate green design practices into electronics, and publishing a report from the National Academy of Sciences laying out the good and the bad in the current state of electronics recycling.

From Environmental Leader, 7/6/09. Highlights of IBM's 2008 Corporate Responsibility Report. Includes link to PDF of the report.

As Kyocera appears to be giving up on Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) technology, Casio is getting into the game. OLED technology promises to unleash a wave of improved energy efficiency in the displays market, making televisions, mobile phones and other gizmos brighter, thinner and more innovative in their utility. One benefit is that the displays can be flexible, meaning they can be put on curved walls or other surfaces that previously did not make sense for video displays.

IBM yesterday announced the top five technologies developed under its Corporate Environmental Innovation Program in the past year, the five solutions that can have a significant impact on energy efficiency or environmental impacts. Of the top five, only three are traditional IT-related technologies, with the remaining two falling under what has become known as "Green IT 2.0," or technologies that can be applied to business operations beyond the data center or computer fleet, putting computing power to work on the firm's environmental footprint. Blog post by Matthew Wheeland, 11/11/09.

The mobile communications industry has released its Green Manifesto, setting out industry-wide goals for reducing energy use and greenhouse gas emissions while proposing policy recommendations for the upcoming U.S. conference in Copenhagen.