How green is Apple now?
Apple touted its new MacBooks unveiled on Tuesday as the "industry's greenest notebooks," and on reduction of toxic chemicals they may be. But environmental groups point to greenhouse gas emissions and recycling as areas where more needs to be done.
The notebooks do seem to lead the industry in the elimination of toxic chemicals by having a Mercury-free LCD display, arsenic-free display glass, Polyvinyl chloride (PVC)-free internal cables and components, and being free of brominated flame retardant (BFR), according to the Apple news release.
"This is greener than what Apple has been putting out," said Casey Harrell, toxics campaigner for Greenpeace International. "It's welcome news and it is also in line with their commitment to phase out all PVC and BFRs from all their products by the end of the year."
Steve Jobs goes through an environmental checklist for the MacBook Pro.
(Credit: James Martin/CNET News)"The elimination of BFR in the notebooks is definitely a bar raiser for the industry," he said. Other notebook makers have made similar commitments on PVC and BFR and "are making baby steps," he added.
In its "2008 Environmental Update" released Tuesday and signed by Chief Executive Steve Jobs, the company says it is removing all forms of bromine and chlorine from the product line, not just PVC and BFTs, and is in the final stages of certifying PVC-free power cables.
Along with the latest release, the pledges to remove Mercury from displays and arsenic from display glass, the release of an arsenic- and Mercury-free MacBook Air, BFR- and PVC-free iPods, and Mercury-free iPhone 3G display, "Apple's new product designs are on track to meet our 2008 year-end goal," the Update said.
Another criteria for green-ness is recyclability. The newest MacBooks also have a "highly" recyclable aluminum and glass enclosure.
"Sounds like Apple has made some significant steps since we first looked at their iPod several years ago" and its non-replaceable battery, said Sheila Davis, executive director of the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition. "It will be interesting to see how recyclable it is. Are they willing to have a more aggressive takeback program?"
Apple says its takeback programs are expanding, with its recycling volume growing 57 percent in 2007, and the recycling rate reaching 18.4 percent of sales, according to the Environmental Update. Apple provides takeback options for customers in 95 percent of the countries where its products are sold; offers free recycling of any manufacturer's computer or monitor if it is replaced with an Apple product, takes back any make or model of cell phone and does not ship waste from its U.S. recycling program outside North America and processes products in the country or region in which they are collected, Apple's recycling Web page says.
With Al Gore being on Apple's board you'd expect the company to take the lead on policies affecting the climate crisis. But that isn't necessarily the case, according to Wood Turner, director of Climate Counts, a nonprofit that ranks companies based on their commitment to addressing climate change. The group gave Apple low marks for corporate climate leadership earlier this year.
The progress on reducing toxics "is heartening and demonstrates that Apple is on the right track," he said. "But we'd like to see that same commitment to addressing global climate change." Apple should set goals and targets to reduce the ecological impact caused by the production and distribution of its products, he added.
Apple is now offering environmental reports for its products that provide details on all ecological aspects, including measurement of emissions produced at each stage of a product's lifecycle. For instance, a pie chart for the new MacBook shows that manufacture of the product accounts for half of the total 460 kg of greenhouse gas emissions. But no goals are listed.
The MacBook has new efficient packaging using corrugate cardboard made from 25 percent recycled material. And the notebooks also meet Energy Star 4.0, EPEAT Gold and Restriction of Hazardous Substances environmental standards.
Standards and percentages aside, Apple has done an excellent job marketing itself as a leader in green practices. A report released last week shows that nearly one-third of Internet users view Apple as the most environmentally friendly brand, compared with Dell at 21 percent and Hewlett-Packard at 15 percent.
That's quite a shift from 2005 when Apple's recycling and other environmental policies prompted protests outside the company's annual meeting.
A Greenpeace Guide to Greener Electronics Report released in September ranked Apple 13th, with a point score of 4.1 out of 10. Dragging Apple down was its recycling rate, but that rate has nearly doubled since 2006.
"There are many people in the environmental movement who have been highly critical of Apple. They have complained that Apple has not been as progressive with its environmental movement as it has been with its marketing," said Bruce Olszewski, an environmental studies professor at San Jose State University who runs a recycling information center. "So this is really a positive step Apple has taken."
For complete coverage of the Apple notebook news, see "Apple polishes up its MacBook line."
Elinor Mills covers Internet security and privacy. She joined CNET News in 2005 after working as a foreign correspondent for Reuters in Portugal and writing for The Industry Standard, the IDG News Service, and the Associated Press. E-mail Elinor. 
Buy a PC - PC billionaires actually do something for the world, plus youy won't have to wait until people get around (or never get around) to port to OSX like Google Chrome
LOL!!!!!
If you'd assign reporters who have covered this story before, they would remember the nonsense that Greenpeace is foisting on the world with their disinformation campaign designed more to solicit donations and to get attention than to telling the truth about the industry. Or the fact that Apple is in leading in terms of their green record. Do they need to do more? Oh yeah, they sure do. Does Dell need to do even more? You bet! Everyone needs to work harder. But let's give credit where credit is due.
As a journalist, I'm really sick of seeing such sloppy reporting on this subject, and on coverage of the environmental issues were are facing in most publications and online fora. Not to mention sloppy reporting on just about any subject that can be termed controversial where such reporting simply becomes click-baiting.
Dvorak would be proud.
American excellence and continual improvement is made possible by inexpensive energy. Once you get over the fact that there's no way we can emit enough CO2 to make any difference in earth's climate, then maybe you'll realize that the more energy we have available, the better. Conserve all you want, but the innovators can do their best when they aren't limited by a faux "crisis."
Apple has a history of incrementally lowering their prices after initial releases, but including design improvements across their product lines. I remember paying $2200 for my PowerBook 4 years ago, and being fine with it. Pros will continue to pay a premium for the best OS and as much power in their Mac as is available. The consumer versions have their market, and surging sales rates show a definite demand for this quality of design in this price bracket.
American excellence and continual improvement is made possible by inexpensive energy. Once you get over the fact that there's no way we can emit enough CO2 to make any difference in earth's climate, then maybe you'll realize that the more energy we have available, the better. Conserve all you want, but the innovators can do their best when they aren't limited by a faux "crisis."
Apple has a history of incrementally lowering their prices after initial releases, but including design improvements across their product lines. I remember paying $2200 for my PowerBook 4 years ago, and being fine with it. Pros will continue to pay a premium for the best OS and as much power in their Mac as is available. The consumer versions have their market, and surging sales rates show a definite demand for this quality of design in this price bracket.
Both the aluminum and injection moldings are recylcable. Aluminum recycling is very very expensive compared to plastics however. Once again, this is due to the energy required for the process.
This is more of a feel-good move and not one that is based on economic 'green' factors.
How about the new 4th generation ipod nanos, that from early reports right now appear to be "throw away" items... Replace the battery when you're done? Nah, the internal cables break as they're not designed to be disassembled. How many ipods do they sell? How many are destined for the landfill in two years time when they won't hold a charge and people don't want to pay $60 or more for a new battery?
Yeah, apple is green all right. Green with money, but certainly not an environmental leader.
China is not very well known for their eco-friendly manufacturing. Look to the smogged-out Olympics for that result.
The Apple product itself is green.
The process to make it is not.
How can they get more aggressive?! Will Apple come to my house, knock on my front door, and ask me if I have any computers to recycle?
Environmentalists: Stop saying things that are so easily debunked. It makes you and your cause look stupid.
The fact they are doing it - and still working on it, while PC/Windows makers are busy churning out piles of cheap junk is very good.
With a PC notebook - like the ones my brother gets - they run for a year or so, then its time to be replaced, because the battery is dead, the display won't stay upright or whatever. Being a joe sixpack guy, he pitches it as soon as he finds a cheap laptop, so he can continue surfing the web and doing basic writing and accounting things on it. My old refurbished iBook is still going strong in the same time he's been through 3 PC notebooks - and I'm essentially doing the same things with it.
So - not only am I being environmentally friendly by getting Apple, I'm saving money in the long run too.
- by ferretboy88 November 14, 2008 8:52 PM PST
- We might as well shut down every company because they all produce waste of some kind. Democrats will never bring jobs in the country.
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