EPEAT
ELECTRONIC PRODUCT ENVIRONMENTAL
ASSESSMENT TOOL
A VOLUNTARY ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE STANDARD
FOR DESKTOP COMPUTERS, NOTEBOOK COMPUTERS AND MONITORS
EPEAT is an environmental procurement tool designed to help institutional purchasers in the
public and private sectors evaluate, compare and select desktop computers, notebook computers
and monitors based on their environmental attributes.
The development of EPEAT was prompted by a growing demand by institutional purchasers for
an easy-to-use evaluation tool that allows the selection of electronic products based on
environmental performance. The electronics industry welcomes EPEAT as a tool to provide a
consistent and harmonized set of environmental criteria for all purchasers and an opportunity to
gain market recognition through providing environmental leadership.
EPEAT includes two major elements:
1. A set of environmental performance criteria for computers and monitors that have been
adopted as an American National Standard1 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers through a voluntary consensus process. The Standard is IEEE 1680.
2. An organization, the Green Electronics Council, that operates a web-based product
declaration system for manufacturers, a verification system to ensure accuracy and
credibility, and a listing of all registered products for purchasers.
How EPEAT Works
EPEAT evaluates electronic products according to three tiers of environmental performance –
Bronze, Silver and Gold. The IEEE 1680 Standard consists of 23 required criteria and 28
optional criteria in 8 categories. A product must meet all the required criteria in order to qualify
for EPEAT bronze. Manufacturers may pick and choose among the optional criteria to boost
their EPEAT “score” to achieve a higher level.
Bronze: Product meets all required criteria
Silver:
Product meets all required criteria plus at least 14 optional criteria.
Gold:
Product meets all required criteria plus at least 21 optional criteria.
1
For information about American National Standards and the open and balanced consensus process used in their
adoption see the overview of the standards setting process at www.ansi.org.
© Green Electronics Council
January 2006
The three-tier system provides purchasers with the flexibility to select equipment that meets their
minimum environmental performance requirements or to give preference to models with more
environmental attributes. For manufacturers, EPEAT provides flexibility to choose which
optional criteria they would like to meet to achieve higher levels of EPEAT qualification.
Most criteria refer to environmental characteristics of the product, and the manufacturer declares
conformance to those criteria on the Green Electronics Council website for each model of their
choice. Some criteria refer to general corporate programs, such as a Corporate Environmental
Policy, and the manufacturer declares conformance to those criteria in an annual report.
Before listing their products with the Green Electronics Council, a manufacturer signs a
Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that commits them to provide accurate information and
provides for remedies should inaccuracies be discovered. Once they sign the MOU and pay their
fee, a manufacturer can self-declare which of their products which achieve EPEAT rating.
To ensure that the self-declaration system functions in a reliable and credible manner, each year
the Green Electronics Council will select some registered products to verify their conformance
with the IEEE 1680 standard. For each criterion, manufacturers must, on request, provide
specified data that demonstrates EPEAT conformance as a basis for these verification checks.
EPEAT Performance Categories
 Reduction / elimination of environmentally
sensitive materials
 Material selection
 Design for end of life
 Product longevity / life extension



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Energy conservation
End of life management
Corporate performance
Packaging
How EPEAT Was Developed
The environmental criteria and the procedures for declaration and verification result from a twoyear multi-stakeholder process. The EPEAT development teams were composed of stakeholders
that represented manufacturers, trade associations, institutional purchasers, environmental
advocacy organizations, electronics recyclers, academic experts, the EPA and others.
The EPEAT criteria were developed to be balanced and to cover environmental attributes
throughout the product’s life cycle. The Standard promotes improved environmental design,
manufacture, end-of-life management and corporate performance, while reflecting existing
technologies and technical limitations. To avoid redundancy and conflict with other
environmental requirements, criteria are drawn heavily from existing U.S. and international
programs – such as ENERGY STAR® and the European Union’s Directive on the Restriction of
Hazardous Substances – while creating new elements that were agreed upon by the team.
EPEAT is unique in:
 The highly successful stakeholder consensus process that developed the standard
 The reliance on existing environmental standards where possible while adding new
criteria where stakeholders agreed
 The combination of manufacturer self-declaration – which assures no delay in time to
market – backed up by a strong verification program
 Balancing the assurance of an adequate supply of product for purchasers with a
standard that will drive the environmental improvement of electronic equipment.
© Green Electronics Council
January 2006
The IEEE 1680 Standard
for Environmental Assessment of Personal Computer Products
1.0 Overview
This section describes the scope of products covered, the purpose of the standard, how it
is intended to be applied, what is required for conformance with the standard,
responsibilities and processes for accepting applications from manufacturers and
maintaining a registry, and how conformance is verified.
2.0 Normative references
Other standards, governmental requirements and documents that are essential for
conformance with the standard are referenced.
3.0 Definitions and acronyms
Key terms are defined.
4.0 Summary of Environmental Performance Criteria
R = Required Criterion; O = Optional Point Criterion
Annual Report Criteria are designated in parentheses
.
4.1. Reduction/elimination of environmentally
sensitive materials
4.1.1 Reduction of Use of Hazardous Substances
R 4.1.1.1 Compliance with provisions of
European RoHS directive upon its effective
date
4.1.2 Cadmium
R 4.1.2.1 Elimination of intentionally
added cadmium
4.1.3 Mercury
R 4.1.3.1 Reporting on amount of mercury
used in light sources
O 4.1.3.2 Low threshold for amount of
mercury used in light sources
O 4.1.3.3 Elimination of intentionally
added mercury used in light sources
4.1.4 Lead
O 4.1.4.1 Elimination of intentionally
added lead in certain applications
4.1.5 Hexavalent chromium
O 4.1.5.1 Elimination of intentionally
added hexavalent chromium
4.1.6 Flame retardants and plasticizers
R 4.1.6.1 Elimination of intentionally
added SCCP flame retardants and
plasticizers in certain applications
© Green Electronics Council
O 4.1.6.2 Large plastic parts free of flame
retardants
4.1.7 Batteries
O 4.1.7.1 Batteries free of lead, cadmium
and mercury
4.1.8 PVC and chlorinated plastics
O 4.1.8.1 Large plastic parts free of PVC
4.2. Materials selection
4.2.1 Total recycled plastics content
R 4.2.1.1 Declaration of post-consumer
recycled plastic content
O 4.2.1.2 Minimum content of postconsumer recycled plastic
O 4.2.1.3 Higher content of post-consumer
recycled plastic
4.2.2 Renewable/bio-based plastic materials
R 4.2.2.1 Declaration of renewable/biobased plastic materials content
O 4.2.2.2 Minimum content of
renewable/bio-based plastic material
4.2.3 Dematerialization
R 4.2.3.1 Declaration of product weight
January 2006
4.3. Design for end of life
4.3.1 Design for recovery through recycling
systems that utilize shredding
R 4.3.1.1 Identification of materials with
special handling needs
R 4.3.1.2 Elimination of paints or coatings
that are not compatible with recycling or
reuse
R 4.3.1.3 Easy disassembly of external
enclosure
R 4.3.1.4 Marking of plastic components
R 4.3.1.5 Identification and removal of
components containing hazardous materials
O 4.3.1.6 Reduced number of plastic
material types
O 4.3.1.7 Molded/glued in metal
eliminated or removable
R 4.3.1.8 Minimum 65 percent
reusable/recyclable
O 4.3.1.9 Minimum 90 percent
reusable/recyclable
4.3.2 Design for recovery through disassembly
O 4.3.2.1 Manual separation of plastics
O 4.3.2.2 Marking of plastics
4.4. Product longevity/life cycle extension
4.4.1 Manufacturer warranty/service agreement
R 4.4.1.1Availability of additional three
year warranty or service agreement
4.4.2 Upgradeability
R 4.4.2.1 Upgradeable with common tools
O 4.4.2.2 Modular design
4.4.3 Product Life Extension
O 4.4.3.1 Availability of replacement parts
4.5. Energy conservation
5.1 Power management system
R 5.1.1 ENERGY STAR®
O 5.1.2 Early adoption of new ENERGY
STAR® specification
5.2 Use of renewable energy
O 5.2.1 Renewable energy accessory
available
O 5.3.2 Renewable energy accessory
standard
© Green Electronics Council
4.6. End of life management
4.6.1 Product take-back
R 4.6.1.1 Provision of product take-back
service (Annual Report Criterion)
O 4.6.1.2 Auditing of recycling vendors
4.6.2 Rechargeable Battery Recycling
R 4.6.2.1 Provision of a rechargeable
battery take-back service (Annual Report
Criterion)
4.7. Corporate performance
4.7.1 Corporate environmental policy
R 4.7.1.1 Demonstration of corporate
environmental policy consistent with ISO
14001 (Annual Report Criterion)
4.7.2 Environmental management system
R 4.7.2.1 Self-certified environmental
management system for design and
manufacturing organizations (Annual Report
Criterion)
O 4.7.2.2 Third-party certified
environmental management system for
design and manufacturing organizations
(Annual Report Criterion)
4.7.3 Corporate reporting
R 4.7.3.1 Corporate report consistent with
Performance Track or Global Reporting
Initiative (Annual Report Criterion)
O 4.7.3.2 Corporate report based on
Global Reporting Initiative (Annual Report
Criterion)
4.8. Packaging
4.8.1 Toxics in packaging
R 4.8.1.1 Reduction/elimination of
intentionally added toxics in packaging
4.8.2 Recyclable packaging materials
R 4.8.2.1 Separable packing materials
O 4.8.2.2 Packaging 90% recyclable and
plastics labeled
4.8.3 Recycled content
R 4.8.3.1 Declaration of recycled content
O 4.8.3.2 Minimum post-consumer content
guidelines
4.8.4 Take-back option
O 4.8.4.1 Provision of take-back program
for packaging
4.8.5 Reuse option
O 4.8.5.1 Documentation of reusable
packaging
January 2006