The new color of Apple is green

Steve Jobs, CEO, Apple Inc believes that the company’s environmental record is far better than some of its peers in eliminating toxic chemicals and ramping up recycling plans. Long criticized by groups such as Greenpeace and the Computer TakeBack Campaign for not trying harder on environmental issues, Jobs issued a statement titled ‘A Greener Apple’. Within these pages, he laid out what Apple has already done and will continue to do in the future for the environment. He also said a failure to communicate ‘both internally and with the public’ was at least partly at fault for the recent protests against Apple’s environment policies.

One reason why this problem was compounded is the company’s reticence in disclosing its plans, added Jobs.

To kick off a change in that policy, Jobs noted that Apple no longer sells CRT monitors, which contain significant amounts of lead. He also said that the company has completely eliminated hexavalent chromium and some brominated flame-retardants from its products. Competitors, including Dell, HP and Lenovo, still market tube monitors. As for the toxics Jobs said, “Some electronics companies, whose names you know, use these toxic chemicals in their products today.” Jobs also promised that Apple would eradicate arsenic and polyvinyl chloride from its products by the end of next year.

He also took a shot at Greenpeace, whose annual Green Electronics Guide scores companies on their efforts to remove harmful chemicals from products and on their policies regarding take-back efforts through which vendors assume responsibility for their products once consumers discard them. In the December 2006 scorecard, Apple ranked lowest, with a mere rating of 2.7 out of a possible
10. Lenovo, HP and Dell rated 5.3, 5.7 and 7, respectively.

“In one environmental group’s recent scorecard, Dell, HP and Lenovo all scored higher than Apple because of their plans (or ‘plans for releasing plans’ in the case of HP),” said Jobs. “In reality, Apple is ahead of all of these companies in eliminating toxic chemicals from its products.” Jobs also set a goal that called for Apple to recycle nearly 30 percent of its products, by weight, by 2010.

“I hope you are as delighted as I was when I first learned how far along Apple actually is in removing toxic chemicals from its products and recycling its older products,” Jobs concluded.