Greenpeace rounds on Hewlett Packard
No fags, lead free, flying high no more…
December 2005
MAKER of printer ink HP has found itself on the receiving end of a protest by Greenpeace over its ‘harmful products’.
Greenpeace camped outside Hewlett-Packard’s Palo Alto headquarters carrying signs and launching a blimp with the words ‘HP = Harmful Products’ to all who could see.
They also ran an FM radio station that could only be heard near the company’s site.
Greenpeace is complaining that the outfit uses toxic materials in its computers and other products cannot be disposed of without hurting the environment.
Although HP banned carbon monoxide fumes caused by its many employees smoking, that clearly was not enough for Greenpeace.
David Lear, who has the unfortunate title of HP’s vice president of environmental and social responsibility, said the company was looking into alternative materials.He told the Mercury News that HP had already changed some of its practices to be more environmentally friendly, including removing lead from its products worldwide.
But then it can’t sell the lead based products in Europe which is why Intel is suddenly producing “lead free” chipsets.