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Energy efficiency Does the company have policies in place to ensure its own facilities are low on waste and energy efficient? At base level, manufacturing plants should comply with the ISO 14001 environmental management standard, but compliance with the Europe-wide EMAS scheme or, for smaller companies, BS 8555, is also a good indication.

Packaging Has the company made any effort to replace harmful packaging materials (plastic, polystyrene) with recyclable alternatives (cardboard, paper)?

These programmes should always be taken with some caution. As Greenpeace International's Iza Kruszewska noted, "Global citizenship and other CSR [corporate social responsibility] initiatives are all voluntary, with companies setting the criteria against which they measure themselves". In other words, the corporations can set themselves soft targets, then fail them without penalty. "At best," Kruszewska continued, "CSR can be a way for companies to lead the way. At worst, CSR initiatives can be a diversionary tactic, used by industry to pretend they're taking action and to avoid regulation." So don't just check the company's promises - try to evaluate its targets, then see how close it gets to achieving them. Above all, don't be afraid to ask questions. If the sales guy at company X doesn't know what materials are used in the system's packaging, ask him to find out. The more these questions are asked, the more companies will think about these issues.

That's why Dell monitors the chemicals used and waste produced at every stage of a PC's production and offers free recycling on all of its products: it should be "as easy as it is to order a machine" said Pripp-Kovac. Iza Kruszewska agreed. "Greenpeace believes that Extended Producer Responsibility is a more certain way to discern if a company is really 'walking its talk' on corporate responsibility," arguing that "by taking back their end-of-life products" manufacturers will be encouraged to "design cleaner, more resource-efficient products". After all, if you have to recycle something, you're less inclined to use hazardous materials and more inclined to use easily recycled alternatives. HP's UK environmental manager, Bruno Zago, talks of "working towards a utopia of cradle-to-cradle product cycles", adding "we believe that if we've spent the time and invested in designing a product for recycling, we want to get our product back because we know how we've made it and what the materials are".

Standards always help, as does clear information. "People looking for green attributes have a hard time," said Iza Kruszewska. "This is why Greenpeace is asking the top 14 mobile and PC producers to provide better information on their corporate websites." While organisations such as OEKOM in Germany or eco-labels rate products on a comprehensive range of specific environmental criteria, these aren't as tough on chemicals and waste as Greenpeace would like.

Check the chemicals