A follow up article to Sony document issue.

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Subject:        	IPS news on Sony offensive against NGOs 
Date sent:      	Mon, 18 Sep 2000 19:14:44 -0700
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ENVIRONMENT: Electronics Giant Tracks Environmental 
Organisations

By Danielle Knight

WASHINGTON, Sep 15 (IPS) - One of the world's largest 
electronics manufacturer is tracking the detailed activities of 
environmental organisations seeking to regulate high-tech 
industries.  

A leaked document written by Sony Corporation, obtained by IPS, 
outlines a presentation made in July to fellow electronics 
companies at a conference in Brussels illustrating the various 
activities of environmental groups. It names specific US activists 
who seek to regulate waste caused by the electronics industry.  

The presentation describes the various campaigns of Greenpeace, 
Friends of the Earth, the European Environment Bureau, the Silicon 
Valley Toxics Coalition, and the Northern Alliance for 
Sustainability. It then suggests that a counter-strategy by the 
industry would be discussed at the meeting.  

Ted Smith, executive director of the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, 
an advocacy group based in California's high-tech hub, told IPS he 
was startled to discover that the Japanese-based company was 
discussing his group's activities.  

''It seems that industry has spent an inordinate amount of time 
fighting the tide instead of doing what they need to do to clean up 
the industry,'' he says.  

Mark Small, vice president of environment and health and safety 
issues with Sony in the United States, acknowledged that Sony 
was tracking environmental groups.  

''We are obviously concerned about our image and we want to 
make sure that if Greenpeace is pushing something we want to be 
on top of it,'' says Small, who is based in San Diego, California.  

He admits that the presentation was not put together in the ''most 
tasteful'' way but explains that it was not meant for public release.  

Electronics industries, including 54-year-old Sony, have been 
fighting efforts by environmentalists and the European Union which 
would legally force manufacturers to be responsible for their 
products and the environmental or health damage they could 
cause.  

In Europe these efforts have culminated in what is known as the 
European Commission Directive on Waste from Electrical and 
Electronic Equipment (or WEEE). The premise of the regulation is 
that the producer of all electronic products and electrical equipment 
must be financially responsible for managing their products 
throughout their lifecycle, including when the product is no longer 
useful and thrown away.  

''The public should not have to pay extra taxes for waste 
management costs of hazardous materials that producers choose 
to use in electrical and electronic equipment,'' says Smith.  

The directive also includes a phase-out by 2008 on mercury, lead, 
cadmium and other toxic chemicals commonly used in electronics. 
 
Environmentalists in Europe began pushing the legislation as it 
became an increasing burden for local governments to deal with the 
amount of electronic waste generated by the booming expansion of 
the computer industry.  

In general, computer equipment is a complicated assembly of more 
than 1,000 materials, many of which are highly toxic, including 
toxic gases, toxic metals, biologically active materials, acids, 
plastics and plastic additives.  

Apart from the well-known substances like mercury and lead, the 
health impacts of many of these chemicals and the mixtures and 
material combinations in the products often are not known, warn 
environmental groups.  

The production of semiconductors, printed circuit boards, disk 
drives and monitors involve particularly hazardous chemicals, and 
workers involved in chip manufacturing are now beginning to come 
forward and reporting cancer clusters, according to the Silicon 
Valley Toxics Coalition.  

The organisation notes that by 2004, there will be an estimated 315 
million obsolete computers in the United States. Since fewer than 
10 percent of the high-tech machines are now recycled, most of 
them will be destined for landfills or incinerators, says Smith.  

Small with Sony opposes regulations on the high-tech industry and 
argues companies are already undertaking voluntary efforts to 
better design products so that they cann be more easily recycled.  

He says Sony is working with the state of Minnesota and some 
cities to develop recycling and ''take-back'' programmes for used 
electronic equipment, including stereos and television sets.  

While a recent three pilot-study in Minnesota proved that collecting 
and recycling old televisions and computers was not currently cost 
effective, Small says Sony is willing to meet these costs as it 
works on manufacturing products to be more easily recyclable.  

Part of the problem, he says, is not the new products, but older 
stereo equipment or televisions which contain parts that were never 
labelled in anticipation of being recycled.  

''If we get this working in the United States we will show Europe 
and Japan that this is a working model that makes economic 
sense and will be more effective than regulation,'' says Small.  

But activists campaigning for tighter controls on the toxics used in 
the industry say such voluntary efforts do not address the phase-
out of toxic chemicals or if companies will accept responsibility for 
their products.  

''The rest seems to be window dressing,'' says Smith, with Silicon 
Valley Toxics Coalition.  

The electronics industry and the US Trade Representative have 
been actively campaigning against Europe's effort to adopt health 
and environmental safety laws regulating the industry.  

Since the European legislation surfaced several years ago, the 
American Electronic Association (AEA) - with 3,000 member 
companies, including IBM, Microsoft, Motorola, and Intel - and the 
US Trade Representative launched a major offensive against the 
WEEE directive.  They charge that the legislation violates the 
World Trade Organisation (WTO) because it imposes requirements 
on foreign manufacturers.  

Environmentalists and three US lawmakers have written to Vice 
President Al Gore, urging the presidential hopeful to intervene and 
put an immediate stop to the USTR's lobbying.  

''We must level environmental standards up, not down,'' says a 
letter signed by more than 100 pressure groups. ''Trade 
Associations must not be allowed to dictate environmental health 
policy.''  

_______
Visit www.svtc.org to view our site.

An article that was published in Inside EPA will follow shortly.
Leslie Byster
Communications Director
Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition
International Campaign for Responsible Technology
760 N. First Street
San Jose, CA 95112
Phone: 408-287-6707
Fax: 408-287-6771
http://www.svtc.org
e-mail:  [log in to unmask]
+++++++++++++++++++++
Michael R. Meuser,
Environmental Sociologist
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http://www.mapcruzin.com/
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Pollution Maps, WebMaps, Training, Research
Environmental Justice, Right-to-Know Advocacy
"Making Data Make Sense"

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