Toshiba and Samsung top green rankings

The Greener Electronics Guide encourages the industry to face up to the problem of electronic waste

Toshiba has risen through the green IT rankings to share the top spot with Samsung as the world's most environment friendly consumer electronics companies.

The latest Greenpeace name and shame list is part of The Greener Electronics Guide, positioned by Greenpeace as a means of encouraging the electronics industry to face up to the problem of electronic waste.

The Guide ranks leading companies in the mobile phone, computer, TV and games console markets according to policies and practices on toxic chemicals and recycling.

Greenpeace said that Nokia would have claimed the top spot if it had not been penalised for its "inconsistent" recycling programme.

The organisation found that Nokia staff in the Philippines, Thailand, Argentina, Russia and India were insufficiently informed about the company's recycling policy.

Nintendo, meanwhile, failed to make any headway on previous editions of the Guide, with no public policy on toxics elimination or recycling, unlike the other 17 companies in the rankings.

"We want to see an end to the stories of unprotected child labourers scavenging mountains of cast-off gadgets created by society's gizmo-loving ways, " Greenpeace said in a statement.

The global information and communication technology industry is estimated to be responsible for approximately two per cent of global carbon dioxide emissions, a figure equivalent to aviation, according to Greenpeace.