Updated criteria to aid in responsible purchasing choices.
Earlier this week, the world-leading sustainability certification for IT products, TCO Certified, launched the latest generation - the eigth, in fact - of its set of criteria.
The TCO Certified labelling scheme is the brainchild of Sweden-based TCO Development, and the scheme exists to help drive progress towards more sustainable IT products. Products with the TCO Certified label (which covers eight product categories and is product, not brand, specific) provide purchasing organisations with the confidence that they're purchasing a product that has passed the organisation’s sustainability criteria.
This criteria has now been updated to further help organisations make more responsible choices when purchasing IT products, such as displays, notebooks and desktop PCs. This new TCO Certified now takes a ‘circular approach’, ultimately meaning more sustainable IT products available on the market, with 72 products already certified from brands including Dell, Lenovo, Eizo and HP.
The key new addition to the TCO Certified criteria is a move towards extending the lifespan of IT products, with product durability, repairability and upgradeability all being taken into account, together with prior criteria on material recovery and recycling. The result of this approach is a demand for products that can be repaired, upgraded and recycled, and this focus on circular solutions is a conscious move away from a model of what TCO Certified describes as ‘take, make and dispose’. As such, materials are kept in use for longer, and environmental concerns such as toxic waste are lessened.
Furthermore, the new criteria looks at reducing or eliminating the use of hazardous substances in IT products, and workers in factories must wear protective equipment and be educated on the risks of handling hazardous process chemicals.
Sören Enholm, CEO of TCO Development, says, “It is our largest step yet toward a circular and sustainable life cycle for IT products. Supporting progress toward the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, TCO Certified generation 8 helps brands and buyers contribute to a more sustainable future”.
TCO Certified offers organisations a clear and independently verified choice in making more responsible and sustainable product choices. For a full list of certified products, look at TCO Certified’s Product Finder page at its website.
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