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ECO-Circle
Since information technology equipment is used more and more in daily office work, it has become necessary to evaluate the effects of such equipment on man and the environment.
Noise, bad image quality or hard-to-handle equipment are factors that have a negative influence on the users' work and should be corrected. To protect the environment and to save resources, equipment should be low on emissions as well as easy to recycle.
Manufacturers who can prove that their IT equipment is up to the latest developments in technology can demonstrate this to their customers with the Eco-Circle mark. The Eco-Circle shows that all modern requirements concerning safety, ergonomics and ecology are met.
Only manufacturers who run a quality management system according to
ISO 9000 can obtain the Eco-Circle mark. Of course they also have to get
CE marking to sell their product in the EU.
Currently the Eco-Circle can be awarded for PCs, laptops, monitors and keyboards. The following list shows the strict criteria equipment has to meet in order to obtain the Eco-Circle:
- Electrical and mechanical safety according to EN 60950
- Monitors must be of high quality according to ISO 9241
- Keyboards must comply with the ergonomic standards of ISO/DIS 9241-4
- Manuals must be easy to understand
- The equipment must emit only low noise
- Keyboards must emit only low noise
- The equipment must be easy to take apart in order to simplify recycling according to VDI 2243. The buyer must be allowed to return the equipment to the manufacturer for recycling and the manufacturer is responsible to make the reuse of the product/its materials possible.
- The equipment's construction must not contain any substance harmful to the human body or the environment according to MAK list
- Equipment must automatically switch to stand-by mode according to Energy Star.
The Eco-Circle's standards are much stricter than those stipulated by law. The Eco-Circle criteria are adjusted to the latest developments in technology every year. For this reason the test mark shows the year of the test. However, the certificate does not expire. The manufacturer can have his product re-tested after several years as an option.
