TCO launches This is IT education initiative

TCO Development, the company behind the TCO Certified mark for sustainability in technology, has released a video through which it hopes to highlight the impact information technology (IT) products have on the environment: This is IT.

Originally launched in 1992 as a certification scheme for cathode-ray tube (CRT) monitors, the TCO Certification recently entered into its eighth generation with a new focus on taking a circular approach to the production, sale, reuse, recycling, and disposal of technology. Key to its success, TCO Development claims, will be making consumers aware of the impact their gadgets have on the environment - with UN and World Economic Forum figures suggesting that 50 million tons in electronic waste is generated every year, equivalent to the weight of every commercial aircraft ever built, while only 20 percent is ever recycled.

'The new generation of TCO Certified is our largest step yet toward circular and sustainable IT products,' claims TCO Development's Clare Hobby, director of purchaser engagement, of the mark's eighth generation. 'Through This is IT, we want to help people better understand the problem of today's linear "take, make, dispose" thinking around IT products and its effects like e-waste, pollution, and climate change. Most importantly, we want to inspire action and talk about how we all need to contribute to solving these problems.'

TCO's attempt at this: A two-minute video dubbed This is IT, reproduced above, which ties in to the company's supporting website which highlights key issues surrounding the IT supply chain including social responsibility, handling of hazardous substances, the use of conflict minerals and the generation of electronic waste, before closing with a look at 'the circular economy' as 'a way of building a brighter and more resourceful future'.

More information on the TCO Certified Generation 8 programme is available on the official website.