Apple answers Greenpeace

Since I am right in the middle of rolling out the environmental policy for the company I work for, I can appreciate how much effort Apple must have put in to get this together. Tracking down the components of each and every item in your company's workflow and ensuring that they are environmentally responsible is a painful task.

Bravo Apple - well done.
 
I'm probably not what you would call an "environmentally friendly" guy, but it is nice to know that the elements in a Macintosh are a little less toxic than other computers.
 
I agree this is good news and the article was interesting to read. symphonix makes a good point, that it cannot be easy to track down every last environmentally unfriendly component or raw material in a workflow. I would expect this sort of investigation could go even further, and companies might need to determine what are particularly wasteful stages of manufacturing too. Lt Major Burns mentioned the arsenic-free displays, coming in 2007, and it seemed to me this is one of the few times when Apple gives hints about future products.

Apple seem to have been dogged by allegations of being environmentally unfriendly. At the same time, I thought Apple was near the bottom end of things but was not actually the worst culprit. So it bugged me a bit that I was always reading about Apple's terrible environmental record, seeing environmental protestors complaining about Apple, and so on. I do agree with making things more environmentally friendly, but I felt like Apple was perhaps getting a little bit too much targetting, and it seemed a bit like media bias. Either that or my sensitivity comes from my own bias! ;)

Greenpeace released a document called the "Guide to Greener Electronics," which is a PDF. From that, it seems like the rankings (out of 10) were as follows:
Greenpeace said:
  • Dell 7
  • Nokia 7
  • Sony Ericsson 5.3
  • Samsung 5
  • Sony 4.7
  • HP 4.7
  • LG Electronics 4.3
  • Panasonic 3.3
  • Toshiba 3
  • Fujitsu-Siemens 3
  • Apple 2.7
  • Acer 2.3
  • Motorola 1.7
  • Lenovo 1.3
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The news today is that Greenpeace have responded to Apple's article.

BBC article said:
Greenpeace has given a cautious welcome to Apple's ambitions to be more environmentally friendly.
In a statement Steve Jobs said the company would stop using toxic and hazardous chemicals in manufacturing.

Greenpeace praised Apple for its decision to phase out the most harmful chemicals but said the electronics giant could do more.

The group wants Apple to improve its recycling policy and stop dumping old products in other parts of the world.

...

The statement of Apple's green credentials comes in the wake of criticism by environmental groups. In early April Greenpeace put Apple bottom of its rankings of green electronics firms.

The company's headquarters and conferences have been picketed by banner-waving activists calling on Apple to be greener.

In its own statement Greenpeace said Apple's announcement was "something we've all been waiting for" and it praised the decision to stop use of PVC and BFRs before other computer makers.

But Greenpeace said Apple still had ground to make up on its recycling policy.

The green group pointed out that Apple's pledge not to dump returned gadgets and computers in Asia and India only applied to US customers. It called on Apple to offer a global takeback and recycling service.

It said it wanted to see an Apple that was "green to the core".
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Ah well...
 
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