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You have just purchased a TCO’95 approved and labelled product! Your
choice has provided you with a product developed for professional use. Your
purchase has also contributed to reducing the burden on the environment and
to the further development of environmentally-adapted electronic products.
In many countries, environmental labelling has become an established method
for encouraging the adaptation of goods and services to the environment. The
main problem as far as computers and other electronic equipment are
concerned is that environmentally harmful substances are used both in the
products and during their manufacture. Since it has not been possible so far
for the majority of electronic equipment to be recycled in a satisfactory way,
most of these potentially damaging substances sooner or later enter Nature.
There are also other characteristics of a computer, such as energy
consumption levels, that are important from both the working and natural
environment viewpoints. Since all types of conventional electricity generation
have a negative effect on the environment (acidic- and climatic-influencing
emissions, radioactive waste, etc.), it is vital to conserve energy. Electronic
equipment in offices consumes as enormous amount of energy, since it is
often routinely left running continuously.
This product meets the requirements for the TCO’95 scheme, which provides
for international environmental labelling of personal computers. The labelling
scheme was developed as a joint effort by the TCO (The Swedish
Confederation of Professional Employees), Naturckyddsföreningen (The
Swedish Society for Nature Conservation), and NUTEK (The National Board for
Industrial and Technical Development in Sweden), and SEMKO AB (an
international certification agency).
The requirements cover a wide range of issues: environment, ergonomics,
usability, emission of electrical and magnetic fields, energy consumption and
electrical and fire safety.
The environmental demands concern, among other things, restriction on the
presence and use of heavy metals, brominated and chlorinated flame
retardants, CFCs (freons), and chlorinated solvents. The product must be
prepared for recycling, and the manufacturer is obliged to have an
environmental plan, which must be adhered to in each country where the
company implements its operational policy.
Environmental Labelling of Personal Computers
Congratulations!
Why do we have
environmentally
labelled computers?
What does the
environmenal
labelling involve?
What does the
environmenal
labelling involve?
