A Guide to the Top Computer Companies Going Green

From bamboo laptops to gas-free vehicles, technology is bursting with new green products that are healthy, eco-friendly and innovative. This guide will tell you what to look for in the new green products hitting the market today, as well as the best brands and other details to keep you in the know.

Best Brands Going Green:

Apple™. The green movement now has major electronics manufacturer Apple® striving to keep up with the competition. They are now changing certain materials in their products, as well as recycling their old products. Listed below are other ways Apple is making their products greener:

Removing lead. In 2006, Apple became the first company in the computer and electronics industry to completely remove and eliminate CRTs (cathode-ray tube), which contains almost 3-pounds of dangerous lead. CRTs are vacuum tubes that contain an electric gun and fluorescent screen that’s used to view images, and are used in computers and electronics products. According to Apple the following manufacturers are still currently shipping products that contain CRTs: Dell, Gateway, Hewlett Packard and Lenovo.

Eliminating arsenic and mercury. These two toxic substances are commonly found in and used for liquid crystal displays (LCDs). Apple eliminated both of these materials by the end of 2008.

E-waste. Apple started recycling their old technology products in 1994; in 2006, they had recycled 13 million pounds of e-waste, mostly in countries where more than 82% of Macs and iPods are sold. This number is expected to increase as Apple rolls out more recycling programs.

Dell™. Thanks to its "no computer should go to waste" campaign for computer and electronics recycling, Dell has become a leader in the green computer industry. This program lets consumers return any Dell product back to the company for free. Dell has also established many programs that allows computer, printers or monitors to be returned to Dell from other companies for safe, eco-friendly disposal.

Hewlett-Packard. This computer industry bigwig has established huge "e-waste" recycling plants that safely dispose of computers (including monitors and printers) by shredding these components, turning them into raw materials that can then be recycled into other products.

IBM®. Another of the major computer companies, IBM has set in motion many programs to go green, including their IBM Environmental Initiative for Retail. This program promises their retail customers to deliver quality products that meet all rigorous requirements, including the following: