By Dee Anne Finken

Erin Gately can't take all the credit, but technology giant Hewlett-Packard is a little greener these days because of her efforts. For instance, when a plan called for painting a new product, Gately went to the management team at HP and explained that painted plastic isn't recyclable. So thanks in part to her, HP's DeskJet 6540, the home and office printer that has won rave reviews from consumer and computer magazines, doesn't feature non-recyclable painted plastic. Scores of other products made by the international firm that boasts more than $20 billion in annual revenues are environmentally friendly in similar fashion.

One of 50 product stewards for HP, Gately is an educator who informs designers, engineers, and other staff members about government regulations related to energy standards and toxic wastes. She also encourages innovation among her peers, like the day she brought a biodegradable spoon to work and asked some designers to consider using the same type of material as they developed a design for another printer.

A job like this affords Gately the best of all worlds: an opportunity to use her skills and expertise as an engineer while working to protect the planet. It allows her to make a significant contribution to society. "I own an expertise on environmental attributes," she explains. "I'm not a designer, but I'm always looking at our products and considering ideas."

Trained as an industrial engineer at the University of Miami in Miami, Florida, Gately, 37, had been working in the marketing department for HP when she suffered what she calls a crisis of faith. She was creating marketing materials for new products and training trainers to promote their wares in stores when she came across some troubling information: Americans make up five percent of the world's population but consume a quarter of the earth's resources. It came during a class on voluntary simplicity she took through the Northwest Earth Institute, an environmental awareness and education group based in Portland, Oregon.

"After the class, I thought, maybe I don't want to work anymore for a big company that makes more things for people to buy," recalls Gately, who lives in Portland. Fortunately, a solution to her dilemma arose, and she didn't have to switch companies to find it. HP had launched its Design for Environment program in 1992, creating a staff of product stewards, professionals who help craft products and services that affect the environment less severely than previous models and designs. It served as the company's next step in an ongoing effort to be more socially and environmentally responsible.

David Lear, an HP vice president, noted that more than 15 years ago, environmental awareness in the industry generally was limited to manufacturing processes. "The focus was on factories, and we looked at emissions into water, smokestacks and those issues," he says. The target now is much wider and includes a focus on a multitude of products and services. "We're dealing with design and the logistics in shipping and what to do at the end of a product's life." In the case of the DeskJet 6540, Gately encouraged designers and engineers to switch out a painted plastic casing with a metal cover, a feature that would make the device more recyclable at the end of its useful life.

Disposal of electronic equipment such as printers, computers, and cell phones poses a significant problem worldwide. "Our waste stream is growing," explains Jan Whitworth, a policy analyst for the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. "We all know how much more electronic equipment we have in our lives than 10 years ago. The main problem is there aren't many convenient places to have electronics recycled or reused."

Across the Atlantic Ocean, manufacturers in European Union nations have taken a progressive step in dealing with the problem. In 2005, thanks to the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive, manufacturers became financially responsible for recycling all their electronic equipment. The law means landfills throughout Europe will no longer serve as improper dumping grounds for electronic and electrical discards, says Gately. Consumers will be able to return their worn out computers, printers, cameras, and other devices to a store or recycling center. For a number of reasons, Gately has tracked the developments overseas. First, HP sells internationally and therefore has had to craft a plan of its own to abide by the law. Second, Gately says WEEE is a rule from which the U.S. would benefit as well.

In the class on voluntary simplicity, Gately studied how people's eating, driving, and spending habits gobble up a lion's share of the globe's oil, air, water, and food resources. "My eyes opened wider to the human footprint on the environment," she reveals. Feeling compelled to leave her work, Gately was told that people whose conscience have been so pricked often should stay put, so they can work from within the system and make changes. Gately had spoken with Jeanne Roy, one of the founders of the Northwest Earth Institute. "She told me, 'You need to stay where you are. We need people like you in big corporations,'" Gately recalls.

Of course, during her past five years as a product steward, not all of Gately's efforts have proved as successful as the DeskJet 6540. The prototype printer casing made from the same material as the biodegradable spoon turned out too brittle. But Gately isn't dissuaded. She knows opportunities abound where she can make a difference. And she's not alone, she notes.

By this, Gately means that along with the inroads she has helped foster in the design of HP equipment, everyone can do better for the environment, even consumers. She explains that a printer's impact on the environment stems not so much from the materials it's made of as from the amount of paper it uses. "People ought to print on both sides of the paper," she states simply. "It's the biggest way to help save planet Earth."

Dee Anne Finken is a freelance writer in Vancouver, Washington

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