Sounding off

Scott Clouder tunes in to the latest news on hi-fis.

It's hard to imagine a household without music, and with falling prices and the proliferation of products on the market, audio systems are now seen as a standard household appliance, rather than a luxury. Because hi-fi prices are likely to continue to fall in real terms, consumers may be tempted into buying new goods just because they look innovative and cheap, and not because their old system is unserviceable. In fact, about 63% of UK households have a mini, midi or micro system and 14% own hi-fi separates already.(1)

Because most people already have a hi-fi, 'replacement purchasing' is the key goal for most companies. Mintel state that the industry is "...very active in nurturing demand for products and reducing the replacement cycle of its products".(2) A report commissioned by Friends of the Earth says, "The current economic system is dependent on the continued social construction of consumer desire. In saturated markets for consumer durables, producers are reliant on replacement purchases and modifications to existing models to induce sales by expanding perceived necessities. Manufacturers operating in this environment are positioned in an ambiguous state, their role of supplying durable products to meet consumer needs conflicting with that of maintaining high levels of demand in order to continue production."(3)

The audio market has witnessed several false dawns concerning new technology (remember laser discs?). MiniDisc, MP3 and DAT have produced mixed success but, fortunately for the environment, there is general reluctance to embrace new technology on a mass level.

Buying a hi-fi

For readers concerned about environmental issues, the best advice is to choose separates. This approach allows consumers to obtain or replace only the functions they really want (CD, Tuner, speakers etc) and leave behind the unnecessary features (remote controls, lots of flashing lights). Generally speaking, separates are easier to repair and longer lasting. They are also of course, more expensive.

It is also worth trying to identify durable products. Which? magazine rated separates systems in September 2000, and almost all the models tested got a good rating in terms of sound quality, although the magazine's reliability feature (July 00) told a more complex story. Aiwa was consistently unreliable in both systems and separates, with Technics, Panasonic and Pioneer performing best.

Buying separates second-hand is an excellent way of 'recycling' products, since consumers who upgrade their systems are often left with items that are redundant to them, but can give years of listening pleasure to anyone who isn't concerned about keeping up with the latest gimmicks. Although the Mintel marketing report noted "a degree of apathy towards new technology", surprisingly, in their survey about purchasing goods, only 5% said, "I tend to buy second hand audio visual goods."(4)

Some dealers, retailers or manufacturers will take back old equipment when new equipment is purchased.

Manufacturing and maquiladoras

Although lobby groups, NGOs and the public are slowly becoming more aware of sweatshop issues in the garment industry, the issues around rights and working conditions of employees in the electronics sector are broadly similar. Big name brands contract out labour to sweatshop-style factories in any country that is 'economically preferential'.

The cheapest production costs are not based solely on wages, but also on factors such as levels of tax and health, safety and environmental regulations of the host country. Corporations claim they need to locate manufacturing operations offshore to stay competitive, and poor countries encourage the use of their export processing zones because they rely on the investment that the transnational corporations bring.

A prominent example of this philosophy is to be found in the Mexican maquiladora industry. A maquiladora is a Mexican corporation that operates under a maquila programme approved for it by the Mexican Secretariat of Commerce and Industrial Development (SECOFI). This programme entitles the company to freely access foreign capital and management without need of any special authorisation. Also it entitles the company to special customs treatment, allowing duty-free, temporary import of machinery, parts and materials, and administrative equipment such as computers. These free imports are subject only to posting a bond guaranteeing that such goods will not remain in Mexico permanently - which is a perfect scenario for the electronics companies who wish to export the products anyway. The programme allows almost any product or part to be made, assembled, finished or produced - and it is this extraordinary willingness to attract foreign money that ensures that environmental protection laws do not get too stringent.

According to one study, 45% of the workers interviewed said they had been exposed to toxic vapours whilst working,5 but there is plenty of anecdotal evidence to substantiate the intimidation that potential whistle-blowing workers have to face. "The irony is," noted Mexican economist Jaime Cota, "that transnational corporations could pay a living wage, enforce environmental and occupational health standards and still make massive profits. If wages were increased by 300% to $2.00 per hour, the standard of living would rise incredibly and there would still be multimillion dollar savings in labour costs for the companies."

Codes of Conduct

Because of the workers' rights issues surrounding the manufacturing of all high tech equipment, Ethical Consumer asked each of the companies in this report if they had a code of conduct regarding factories and outsourcing. It appears that the consumer electronics industry has a long way to go before presenting itself as having any degree of social accountability in this respect. Only one company replied to our requests with an actual policy document, and most of the others just ignored that aspect of our inquiries. Marantz sent us a code that did protect workers rights but crucially did not apply to contract workers, or make a provision for independent monitoring of conditions.

An EU-made product will not only bypass some of the worst labour rights concerns but also be less environmentally damaging since it has travelled less distance to get to the retailer.

Environmental reporting

At one level, the publicising of a company's environmental 'orientation' can be viewed by consumers as a welcome and informative look into the priorities of a business which values transparency. To take a more cynical perspective, environmental reports are a useful propaganda tool, which if not closely monitored, can form part of a disinformation stream that is controlled by transnational corporations to tap into an ecological concern that they view merely as the next consumer zeitgeist. Hi-fi companies provide an interesting case study in this area since, unlike some product sectors, no brands position themselves as 'environmental alternatives'. This is indicative of the lack of awareness of environmental considerations in the electronics sector as a whole - hence approaches to green concerns were in some cases crude and simplistic. Some of the companies that received the worst rating on our table are small enterprises, but the differences in reporting amongst the transnational corporations (TNCs) featured is remarkable - from the deluge of information in Hitachi's report to Yamaha's six bland statements.

Companies can take various steps to both adopt and present a more holistic outlook, including corporate restructuring (environmental deepest), environmental programmes (such as 'waste' management), 'green' themed advertisements and public relations, along with voluntary codes of conduct and policies. "With the creation of such programs, we are asked to believe that corporations are now something fundamentally different than what they were before. But the addition of an 'environmental department' does not change the raison d'?tre of a corporation. It is critical that citizen activists and governments look under the surface of such announcements and be aware of the overall context in which they exist."(6)

It is difficult to start criticising the enterprises that have an environmental report or ordinance, since so many others do not, but it is important to remain aware that the motivations behind such a policy may not be entirely altruistic. Consumers must bear in mind that some transnationals spend more money on promoting their environmental kudos than they do on actually implementing it. Unless consumers take control of the questions, then crafty companies can answer their own selective inquiries. Hitachi's in-depth environmental report reveals that "in fiscal 1999, by telephone, post and email from our home page and through other means, Hitachi responded to some 200 requests for more information about its environmental policies.(7)" Two hundred enquiries? For a company with net sales worth 67,879 million US dollars?

Another environmental report profiles some 'green products'. One of these is a pack of alkaline batteries. They are described to be 'green' because the blister pack they are presented in is made with recycled cardboard. They use no mercury, which again, is an improvement, but surely, there is no such thing as an environmentally friendly battery that isn't rechargeable. This exemplifies the way in which companies can set whatever benchmarks they please in order to fulfil a criterion as nebulous as "eco-friendly".

Environmental impact

Trade bodies - protecting the industry

A prominent trade body in the hi-fi sector is called EICTA - the European Information, Communications and Consumer Electronics Technology Industry Association. It was borne out of a merger with EACEM; the European Association of Consumer Electronics Manufacturers and it combines 45 major multinational companies as direct members and 28 national associations from 18 European countries. This association lists Bang & Olufsen, Hitachi, JVC, Kenwood, Matsushita, Philips, Pioneer, Samsung, Sanyo, Sharp and Thomson Multimedia among its members.

EICTA believes that the proposed WEEE (waste electrical and electronic equipment) and RoHS (restriction of the use of hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment) European parliament directives "do not effectively balance environmental concerns with economic and societal considerations". In other words, they oppose the principle of the manufacturer taking responsibility for historic electrical equipment waste, and believe recycling targets are too high. Quite aside from any environmental concerns, the organisation is confident that "market forces are shaping, and will continue to shape, the improved eco-design of ICT products as well as improving recycling systems." EICTA also maintains that the European WEEE directive, upon which it was consulted, is "too prescriptive", a position that shall be explored in the environmental section of this report.(10)

EICTA is also strongly in favour of the trade liberalisation efforts of the WTO, and in an open letter to Pascal Lamy, prior to November's Qatar conference, stated its support for GATS, reckoning that "the liberalisation of government procurement of services remains an important objective of world business since it would open up a vast potential market to international competition."(11)

Waste

Because of this replacement cycle, a major feature of the environmental profile of both hi-fi systems and separates concerns waste. In the USA, electronic equipment represents only 1-2% of the waste stream.(12) However, the rapidly expanding and constantly changing supply of electronic products in general represents a real challenge for the future. Reducing life cycle impact is possible in this sector by employing good product stewardship principles that incorporate fewer toxic constituents and easier disassembly into the initial design. A full life cycle assessment of each product is needed at the design stage - to take into account the cumulative environmental effect of the product materials' entire existence, not just the impact of materials as they are being employed as parts of a hi-fi.

This concept is vociferously resisted by EICTA, which states: "The application of life cycle assessment cannot prioritise the various parameters influencing product design, and does not lead to the creative basis necessary to stimulate innovation and improved environmental product performance(13)". This is a trade body trying to convince the European Commission that fully taking environmental considerations into account when designing electrical goods constrains the designers (well, obviously) and doesn't allow them the creativity to design environmentally friendly products. With logic like that, the industry rep who drafted that particular position would be well suited to a career in politics!

The good news is that the EC environment ministers have largely ignored the trade body's filibustering and unanimously agreed on a draft of the WEEE directive that is tougher on the industry than previously assumed. For consumer electronics they agreed a recovery target of 75% and a recycling and reuse target of 65% - both targets were significantly above the European Commission's original recommendations, and there will also be an annual collection target of 4kg of WEEE per household.(14) However, the industry was appeased by the ministers, who agreed not to impose the entire cost of collection and recovery on the producers, and small companies will be exempt from this ruling for a transitional period whilst the electronics industry as a whole gears itself up for the new responsibilities. The cost of recovering equipment will then be shared proportionately between the manufacturers operating in the sector at the time the costs arise. This means that current manufacturers will have to pick up the tab for hi-fis from companies which are no longer trading.

The industry is predictably far from happy about the idea of responsibility for these abandoned "orphan" products and EICTA wants to remove the requirements for manufacturers to provide information on how to return products for disposal. In practical terms this means that some companies are currently trialling 'take-back' schemes on small scales. From the information that was available, it seems the companies do not want such schemes to work - take the example of Sony, which is proud to participate in such a scheme in the USA. Not the whole country of course, just Minnesota, at a few set locations and times. Other brands can be recycled for a fee. All of this does not augur well for increasing public awareness and participation in the recycling. Thus, it is most likely that old music systems will just get dumped in with domestic rubbish, only to end up in landfills where the toxic constituents of the internal components will remain until they are dealt with by future generations or until they leak out into the environment.

Alternatives

The trouble with the drastic cutting of prices in the audio sector means that many buyers believe it will cost almost as much to repair their old hi-fi as it will to buy a new one. This assumption can be proved false on two counts. Firstly, it is a false economy to throw out an old system with one broken part, in order to purchase a brand new one, because the new one you purchase is unlikely to last as many years as your original. It's true - "they don't make 'em like they used to" - and products like mini systems can break down or become 'obsolete' after a very short period of time. Secondly, technophobes must not let fears of being ripped off by unscrupulous repairers stop them mending what could be a perfectly good piece of equipment. For those on a budget, check out a local LETS scheme - there may be audiophiles who will 'trade' an hour of their time to try to resuscitate your old equipment.

Brown goods, which include televisions and other audio-visual appliances such as video recorders and hi-fi systems, account for around one-eighth of total UK electricity consumption.(15) To cut down on wasted energy, avoid leaving appliances on standby - especially older ones which are generally less energy efficient. Either that or use your own energy by winding up a clockwork radio. Freeplay now produces a variety of such items, based on Trevor Bayliss's original invention, and current models can use solar power, clockwork or mains charging. Philips and Sony also make portable windup radios.

Consumers with internet access can always download mp3 files and listen to audio tracks or web radio through speakers on the computer. Obviously the quality is not as good but it is free music, and gives you a chance to listen to musicians, with and without recording contracts, from around the world. You also have the opportunity to share your own music collection and allow other web users to sift through your back catalogue at a media sharing site like www.winmx.com If suitably inspired by listening to other people's artistic endeavours, you can always make your own music - which is frequently more entertaining. Such an approach usually requires tolerant neighbours however. If that fails, then see a band, or go to a club - at least it will get you out of the house.

References
(1) Keynote "Audio Visual retailing 2001", Market Assessment International
(2) Mintel Audio Visual Review 16/08/01
(3) Cooper, T & Evans, S. "Products to Services - a report for Friends of the Earth"
(4) Mintel Audio Visual Review 08/16/01
(5) Light, J. "Engendering Change - Special report for Corpwatch" 26/06/99
(6) Greer & Bruno, 1996 "Greenwash: the Reality Behind Corporate Environmentalism", APEX/TWN
(7) Hitachi Environment Report 2001
(8) The Guardian 05/11/01
(9) www.thomson-multimedia.com/gb/07/0731.htm 08/11/01
(10) EICTA position statement 10/07/01
(11) EICTA position statement on the WTO 18/07/01
(12) EPA Product Stewardship Report 01/08/01 www.epa.gov/epr/products/electronics.html
(13) EICTA position statement 10/07/01
(14) ENDS Report no 317 07/01
(15) Boardman, B. et al, 1997. 2MtC, DECADE report, Environmental Change Unit, University of Oxford