Zero out of ten. That’s the not-so-flattering rating given to Nintendo recently. Out of all the companies Greenpeace studied for their Greener Guide to Electronics report, Nintendo placed dead last. Basically, this means that the millions of Wiis and DS Lites sold today are likely to pollute the environment in the near future, after gamers give them up for the next generation of consoles. Thanks, Nintendo. That’s a very comforting thought.

Other gaming giants Sony and Microsoft got approximate scores of 7/10 and 3/10, respectively. Those that got the highest ratings were Sony Ericsson and Samsung, followed by Dell and Lonovo.

The study focused on two interconnected issues:

• the chemicals used for manufacturing products, and
• the recycling efforts being undertaken by these companies

Substituting harmful chemicals in the production of electronics will prevent worker exposure to these substances and contamination of communities that neighbour production facilities. Eliminating harmful substances will also prevent leaching/off-gassing of chemicals during use, and enable electronic scrap to be safely recycled. The presence of toxic substances in electronics perpetuates the toxic cycle – during reprocessing of electronic waste and by using contaminated secondary materials to make new products. Until the use of toxic substances is eliminated, it is impossible to secure ‘safe’ recycling.

This is pretty bad rep. Nintendo, you better clean up your act.