Sony Ericsson - Corporate - Company - Sustainability

Full material declaration of our products

Sony Ericsson has implemented and support the precautionary principle defined in the United Nations’ Rio Declaration on Environment and Development . We follow not only laws and regulations such as the EU RoHS directive , but we have initiated actions against a number of substances that we consider unwanted in our products for environmental reasons.

Today, we go beyond current regulations by banning or restricting a good deal of substances and materials in our products.Sony Ericsson lists of banned and restricted substances

GreenHeart™
GreenHeart™ is the result of years of innovation to bring you phones that offer you a greener choice. Sony Ericsson announced the Sony Ericsson GreenHeart™ portfolio, which introduces green innovations that reduce the overall environmental impact of the phone without compromising on style or features. The GreenHeartTM phones are built on our ‘green core’, the result of a long standing commitment to eliminate the use of hazardous chemicals from the product design and manufacturing process. To learn more about our GreenHeart™ products, please visit
www.sonyericsson.com/GreenHeart

Product compliance

Since the beginning of 2006, Sony Ericsson has been fully compliant with the EU RoHS directive (the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment) and has applied this standard globally to all products we manufacture. For more information, please see
Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications RoHS Compliance Statement
Regarding our compliance to the REACH regulation (the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals), please refer to the latest information in
Communication on substances in articles due to regulation EC/1907/2006 (REACH)

Recycled materials

We have been investigating the use of different recycled materials. For GreenHeart™ products we have used post consumer recycled polycarbonate plastics in a content of minimum 50% of total plastics of the phone. Post consumer recycled plastics will be used further in Sony Ericsson products and we are looking into finding reliable sources that can supply us with plastics of high quality.

Substances of concern

Sony Ericsson considers the following substances unwanted in our products from an environmental perspective.

Brominated flame retardants (BFR)

The very first Sony Ericsson branded mobile phone, T68i launched in 2002, was already free from brominated flame retardants (BFR) in boards and casings. Sony Ericsson wasis the first manufacturer to offer a full range of products, including accessories, which were BFR free (free from BFR in boards, cables and casings). BFR are used to reduce the risk of fires. Some BFR are banned in various regulations, such as the EU RoHS directive, while others are still allowed to be used. At Sony Ericsson, however, we decided to use alternatives for fire protection mainly because of the risk that BFR forms dioxins in uncontrolled incineration . Also, it is important to note that 99% of the use of BFR was in cables, casings and boards. We have continuously phased out these substances and at present we are 99,9% free from all halogenated (brominated and chlorinated) flame retardants in our products.

Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC)

At Sony Ericsson we have taken actions to remove Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) from our products. For example, we have worked hard to find alternatives to PVC in charger cables. Since 2007, all new products have been PVC free and in 2009 all our charger cables except one legacy charger became completely free from PVC. One charger with a PCV cable unexpectedly remained in 2008 due to changes in the market, though our original goal was to complete PVC phase out during 2008. Sony Ericsson concerns PVC because it releases hydrochloric acid and dioxins when it is burned. Dioxins are highly toxic and accumulate in the fatty tissues of animals, especially fatty fish like salmon. Dioxins are known mutagens and carcinogens and also cause serious skin diseases.

Antimony, beryllium, phthalates and remaining use of BFR

We are currently finalizing the phase out of antimony, beryllium, phthalates and the very small remaining use of BFR. Many of these substances are considered as very hazardous for both human health and for the environment. All of these substances also cause problems in the waste treatment or product recycling.

Antimony is mainly used in combination with BFR to increase the fire protective properties. This use has been phased out and antimony trioxide is no longer used in any major part. There are also other applications for antimony such as moisture protection and in varistors. For moisture protection, alternatives have been developed and replacement is well on the way but for varistors no alternatives have been identified and this use is exempted from the phase out plan until replacement materials have been identified.Beryllium has been used in the past as beryllium copper in connectors of various sorts. All new Sony Ericsson products are now beryllium free.

Most of the phthalates used in Sony Ericsson products were phased out in combination with PVC. However, we found a few components where phthalates were used with other plastics. These components have now been replaced and Sony Ericsson is phthalate free in all new products.

Although Sony Ericsson has already phased out BFR from all major usage in our products, BFR is sometimes added in very small amounts to some electrical components such as resistors and capacitors. We are on target to become the first mobile phone provider to be completely free of BFR. However, because of the re-use and long life cycles of standard components, BFR cannot be fully avoided and we still have a few components left that contain BFRs.

Material declaration
In order to obtain full disclosure of the material content of all components of our products, Sony Ericsson has introduced a database system named COMET (Compliance On Materials and EnvironmenT). The system generates the list of substances used in our products and enables us to ensure compliance with legal requirements as well as our commitments to phase out unwanted substances. Our suppliers are requested to submit full material content of each new component with the IPC 1752 form, an industry standard template.

Environmental design review

During the development phase, all Sony Ericsson mobile phones and accessories go through a thorough environmental screening. The materials in our products are analysed by third party laboratories to detect the presence of our banned and restricted substances before they are released for mass production.

Collection of the material declaration and screening by the external laboratories are driven by respective Environmental Coordinators who are based in each Sony Ericsson development unit around the world. Our Environmental Coordinators build good environmental practice into the design of our products from the start and ensure that finished products meet the stringent environmental requirements of Sony Ericsson.

Environmental declaration

Through our Environmental Declarations, we invite any interested parties to obtain factual information from us. The Environmental Declarations can be downloaded on the web for each and every phone and gives the end user information on the most relevant environmental aspects of each model such as material content, energy consumption, batteries, packaging and recycling.

To read the Environmental Declaration for a specific product, please select your product in the Environmental Declaration page of your location