Apple Gets Poor Marks in Greenpeace Report || The Mac Observer

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Apple Gets Poor Marks in Greenpeace Report

by , 2:55 PM EDT, August 25th, 2006

Apple has scored a 2.7 on Greenpeace's latest quarterly Guide to Greener Electronics, ahead of only Acer (2.3), Motorola (1.7), and Lenovo (1.3). Nokia and Dell tied for the top spot with a 7, while Hewlett-Packard was number two with a 5.7.

Greenpeace said in its report: "For a company that claims to lead on product design, Apple scores badly on almost all criteria. The company fails to embrace the precautionary principle, withholds its full list of regulated substances and provides no timelines for eliminating toxic polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and no commitment to phasing out all uses of brominated flame retardants (BFRs). Apple performs poorly on product take back and recycling, with the exception of reporting on the amounts of its electronic waste recycled."

The company scored Partially Bad or Bad in every category but two -- Amounts recycled and Reports on amount collected and recycled -- where it scored Partially Good.

Greenpeace explained: "The ranking criteria reflect the demands of the Toxic Tech campaign to the electronics companies. Our two demands are that companies should: clean up their products by eliminating hazardous substances; and take back and recycle their products responsibly once they become obsolete. The two issues are connected. The use of harmful chemicals in electronics prevents their safe recycling when the products are discarded. Companies scored marks out of 30 this has then been calculated to a mark out of 10 for simplicity."

Thanks to MacNN for the heads-up.

Observer Comments

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Close Name:Bosco Posts: 999 Joined: 03 Jun 2002
Fri Aug 25, 2006 3:15 pm Subject: Doncha think....

In light of the battery recall, brominated flame retardants seem like a good thing to me today, no disrespect to the environment.

Also, "Brominated Flaming Retards" would be a great name for a rock band!

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Close Name:Benton Posts: 62 Joined: 07 Jan 2005
Fri Aug 25, 2006 3:48 pm Subject:

These groups can't understand how challenged Apple is trying to innovate and attempting to use "inert" elements. All electronics sold worldwide now must meet EU stringent standards. USA is far behind the leaders.

http://www.rohs.gov.uk/Default.aspx

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Close Name:Small White Car Posts: 1950 Joined: 02 Jul 2004
Fri Aug 25, 2006 4:38 pm Subject:

Quote
Benton wrote:
These groups can't understand how challenged Apple is trying to innovate and attempting to use "inert" elements.

They came up with criteria and rated different companies by them. That's about as fair as you can get. What else do you want? Bonus point awarded to companies that you like?

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Close Name:drlonghair Posts: 1 Joined: 25 Aug 2006
Fri Aug 25, 2006 5:22 pm Subject: USA is far behind the "leaders"?

I suppose we can look to some company from the EU to come up with a better product than the iPod, or the Mac, or OSX, etc. Conversely, maybe if Apple came up with poorer products, no one would buy them, and then there would be no pollution problem at all.

Either way, I could care less what the whackos from Greenpeace think.

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View Name:Guest
Fri Aug 25, 2006 7:07 pm Subject: Apple-The pitfalls of corporate irresponsibility!

View Name:Guest
Fri Aug 25, 2006 8:10 pm Subject: WACKO

Close Name:Work Horse Posts: 2 Joined: 25 Aug 2006
Fri Aug 25, 2006 8:42 pm Subject:

Quote
drlonghair wrote:
I suppose we can look to some company from the EU to come up with a better product than the iPod, or the Mac, or OSX, etc. Conversely, maybe if Apple came up with poorer products, no one would buy them, and then there would be no pollution problem at all.

Either way, I could care less what the whackos from Greenpeace think.

Agreed.

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Close Name:Work Horse Posts: 2 Joined: 25 Aug 2006
Fri Aug 25, 2006 8:45 pm Subject:

Quote
Guest wrote:
Insted of knocking Greenpeace, a thank you would be better..unless you're into suicide by air, water, etc...(and wackos really are)

Dear Greenpeace,

Thank you for being a bunch of wacko tree hugging nut jobs. You provide much comic relief.

P.S. I've planted a tree for your group in my back yard. I can't wait to chop it down.

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Close Name:Rainy Day Posts: 607 Joined: 07 Jun 2005
Sun Aug 27, 2006 5:54 pm Subject: Hugging a tree

I’m a tree-hugger, but suspicious of Greenpeace. I think they’ve earned their “wacko” reputation. So i’m suspicious of this report.

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