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Uploaded: Tuesday, July 28, 2009, 12:29 PM
Updated: Tuesday, July 28, 2009, 4:58 PM
Greenpeace mounts morning protest at HP
Activists paint headquarters roof, employees greeted by phone message from William Shatner
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by Kristen Barta
Palo Alto Online Staff
Photos
 
| Employees of Hewlett-Packard Co. in Palo Alto were greeted Tuesday morning by protesters from the environmental group Greenpeace, who dressed in hazmat suits and scrambled onto the roof of the company's headquarters in the Stanford Research Park to paint "Hazardous Products" in large capital letters.
The rooftop sign, applied in non-toxic children's finger-paint, covered 11,500 square feet, the size of two-and-a-half basketball courts, according to a statement released by Greenpeace.
Palo Alto police, responding to a call from HP security at 7 a.m., escorted the activists off the roof without incident or arrest by 8 a.m., police Agent Max Nielepko said.
The demonstration came in a response to HP's postponement of its 2007 commitment to phase out the use of toxic substances such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastics and brominated flame retardants in its products, which was expected at the end of this year, Greenpeace organizers said.
"When we need to raise the stakes on an issue, we do creative confrontation," said Casey Harrell, Greenpeace international toxics campaigner. "We feel that companies should keep their word, first of all, and that they're really only as good as their word."
HP employees were reportedly also greeted by automated phone calls with a recorded message from actor William Shatner of "Star Trek," urging the company to phase out the use of toxic chemicals.
"Given the stereotype of a lot of IT folks being into sci-fi, we thought they'd appreciate the reference," Harrell said.
Eliminating polyvinyl chloride and brominated flame retardants are of particular interest to Greenpeace, as the chemicals cannot be recycled and release dioxin, a toxic substance and known carcinogen, when burned, the group's press release stated.
Greenpeace and HP have been in talks since 2006 as part of a larger initiative with other "big five" computing companies -- Apple, Dell, Lenovo and Acer -- to reduce the use of dangerous substances in their products, Harrell said.
According to Greenpeace, Apple has nearly fulfilled its commitment, and Acer is "well on its way" to reaching its goal by the end of the year.
HP has postponed its compliance until 2011, and Dell and Lenovo have similarly delayed full implementation of their plans, Harrell said.
However, the latter two have eliminated the toxic substances from some product lines, he added.
Demonstrations at Dell and Lenovo are "to be determined," he said.
"It makes sense to us to go after the company that's the poorest, to push them," Harrell said.
Greenpeace also planned to demonstrate at HP offices in Holland and China.
An HP spokesperson defended the company's environmental record and chastised Greenpeace.
"The unconstructive antics at HP´s headquarters today did nothing to advance the goals that all who care about the environment share," Medalla Bautista said in an e-mail.
The company has pledged to eliminate the use of the two chemicals in its technology and this year introduced new products that use less PVC plastics and brominated flame retardants (BFR) than prior versions, she said.
HP will release a notebook free of the two toxins in September, she said.
"By fall 2010, all new commercial PC products released will be BFR/PVC free. By the end of 2011 all new PC products released will be free of BFR/PVCs," she added.
Between 1987-2007, the company recycled one billion pounds of electronic products and plans to recycle another billion pounds between 2008-2011, making it a worldwide leader in e-waste recycling, she said.
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| Comments
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Posted by Toady, a resident of the Old Palo Alto neighborhood, on Jul 28, 2009 at 1:17 pm [Post removed by Palo Alto Online staff.]
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Posted by Not unreasonable, a resident of the Charleston Meadows neighborhood, on Jul 28, 2009 at 1:59 pm The point is pretty clearly to pressure HP (and other manufacturers) into using less hazardous materials and manufacturing processes. Protest theater is a part of that, simply because it brings attention to the issue.
The value-add for society comes from reducing costs which are, to HP, an externality: the health consequences of toxic materials, whether they be used during manufacturing, a consequence of ordinary use of the products, or the result of exposure after the product is discarded.
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Posted by Chris Zaharias, a resident of the Crescent Park neighborhood, on Jul 28, 2009 at 2:16 pm Kudos to Greenpeace for their creativy, but 99% of my kudos go to HP, whose decades of technological creativity have positively impacted the lives of hundreds of millions of people worldwide.
If Greenpeace was willing to walk the walk, they would have simply stopped buying HP products *as individuals*, and bought Apple products instead - that would be much more likely to hasten HP's phasing out of these chemicals.
I will say this - dioxin is bad, bad stuff.
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Posted by Eggs Plazadict, a resident of the Downtown North neighborhood, on Jul 28, 2009 at 2:36 pm Disposing hazardous waste is simple: shape it into a giant egg and sell it to the city as art.
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Posted by anonymous, a resident of the Meadow Park neighborhood, on Jul 28, 2009 at 3:05 pm [Portion removed by Palo Alto Online staff.]
These are mostly young, highly educated individuals. Who believe in a cause. people who want to make a difference in the world. They are the ones who donate their time and money to groups like this. This group of individuals, weren't paid do do this.
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Posted by Toady, a resident of the Old Palo Alto neighborhood, on Jul 28, 2009 at 3:24 pm [Post removed by Palo Alto Online staff.]
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Posted by Steve, a resident of the Old Palo Alto neighborhood, on Jul 28, 2009 at 3:30 pm If Apple can manufacture their computers without this toxic waste, why can't HP?
Is HP still a Superfund toxic waste site?
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Posted by Walter_E_Wallis, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Jul 28, 2009 at 4:36 pm
Walter_E_Wallis is a member (registered user) of Palo Alto Online [Post removed by Palo Alto Online staff.]
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Posted by Not unreasonable, a resident of the Charleston Meadows neighborhood, on Jul 28, 2009 at 6:47 pm I hope the Weekly is archiving the deleted posts and turning them over to the police. Implicitly encouraging the murder of environmentalists is WAY outside the bounds of reasonable discussion.
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Posted by Palo Alto Worker, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on Jul 28, 2009 at 7:32 pm I drove by the Greenpeace protesters this morning on the way to work and applaud their creative and peaceful protest. If the other manufacturers can phase out these toxic chemicals, what's HP's excuse? A leading company like HP should also be a leader in clean and safe best practices, especially since clean technology is a significant growth sector for Silicon Valley. Hopefully, HP can and will "invent" a way to catch up.
PA Weekly, thanks for covering this story.
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Posted by Walter_E_Wallis, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Jul 29, 2009 at 5:58 am
Walter_E_Wallis is a member (registered user) of Palo Alto Online So Greenpeace is beyond criticism? When signed, debatable criticism of a public entity is unacceptable then this forum has lost its usefulness.
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Posted by Toady, a resident of the Old Palo Alto neighborhood, on Jul 29, 2009 at 6:17 am [Post removed by Palo Alto Online staff.]
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Posted by Not unreasonable, a resident of the Charleston Meadows neighborhood, on Jul 29, 2009 at 6:46 am When the best argument that is left to the defenders of HP's practices is that they're not being allowed to use the Weekly to organize a lynch mob, its a pretty good indicator that HP needs to change what they're doing.
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Posted by Don G., a resident of the Community Center neighborhood, on Jul 29, 2009 at 9:05 am If these protesters are so dedicated to their purpose, why do they hide their faces? The Weekly should print their names so that people will either give them praise or scorn.
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Posted by Walter_E_Wallis, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Jul 29, 2009 at 9:17 am
Walter_E_Wallis is a member (registered user) of Palo Alto Online I defend not HP but due process. The last time I looked I was still not plural. That white suited cone-headed mob is not the first white sheeted bunch I openly opposed. That other white sheet bunch also thought their feelings transcended the law and excused hooded demonstrations. Read the 33rd word.
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Posted by Not unreasonable, a resident of the Charleston Meadows neighborhood, on Jul 29, 2009 at 10:17 am Don G: Probably because you need to cover your mouth and nose for hazmat suits,which they were wearing to make a point, to be effective. Other Greenpeace events have historically shown peoples' faces.
Given that we have a small number of people here who are out encouraging people to commit murder, when the appropriate penalty for graffiti is to spend a few weekends removing graffiti, I think the Weekly is making the right decision to withhold names.
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Posted by Concerned Retiree, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Jul 29, 2009 at 10:51 am [Post removed by Palo Alto Online staff.]
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Posted by McGrude, a resident of the College Terrace neighborhood, on Jul 29, 2009 at 2:36 pm I support their right to protest but can't support vandalism. The individuals responsible for painting on their roof should pay for it to be removed or repainted.
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Posted by jb, a resident of the Leland Manor/Garland Drive neighborhood, on Jul 29, 2009 at 4:18 pm There must be an exquisitely delicate sense of political correctness and libel at work here. I don't think I've ever seen such a heavily redacted conversation on this site.
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Posted by Now I understand, a resident of the College Terrace neighborhood, on Jul 29, 2009 at 4:40 pm A male claiming to be William Shatner left a garbled message on my answering machine, although I have never had any connection with HP.
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Posted by Annette, a resident of the Barron Park neighborhood, on Jul 29, 2009 at 5:59 pm The outfits the protestors are wearing are the same as those worn by people that work in the "clean rooms" of electronics manufacturers and assemblers. Gloves, tyvek suits, tyvek booties cover the human so the human does not contaminate the product. It is a quality control issue to protect the product; however, ironically these people risk exposure to chemicals by working in these environments.
There have been improvements over the years in reducing exposure but there is a long history of expsoure to electronics workers which was the reason the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition was formed. If you go to their website you can find information on how the chemicals used in electronics can be harmful and how the bioaccumulation of toxins that can pass from mother to child in breast milk.
There is good information to inform consumers and help us make better purchasing decisions. www.svtc.org Web Link
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Posted by Toady, a resident of the Old Palo Alto neighborhood, on Jul 30, 2009 at 3:03 pm [Post removed by Palo Alto Online staff.]
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Posted by Walter_E_Wallis, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Jul 31, 2009 at 6:30 am
Walter_E_Wallis is a member (registered user) of Palo Alto Online Might as well cut off comments here - obviously no comment critical of Greenpeace will survive.
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