The wearin’ of the Green! :-) (…or “Little Green Apples”)
Sure’n’begorrah! 
(…and “it don’t rain in Indianapolis….“)
Today, Apple announced that its decision to abandon a green certification system for electronics was “a mistake” and decided to again submit its products for EPEAT certification.
That’s OK. We all make mistakes. At least Apple does not KEEP making them, like the makers of another very popular (among corporations and similarly clueless types) desktop operating system (I still can’t bring myself to call the other one a “server” operating system).
“We’ve recently heard from many loyal Apple customers who were disappointed to learn that we had removed our products from the EPEAT rating system,” Apple’s senior vice president for hardware engineering, Bob Mansfield, said in a statement. “I recognize that this was a mistake. Starting today, all eligible Apple products are back on EPEAT.”
EPEAT’s ratings were developed in collaboration with industry leaders, including Apple, and are used by some govenments to determine which products are environmentally friendly enought to be purchased with public funds.
There has been wide speculation that Apple’s new line of MacBook Pro laptops might be too hard to recycle to earn the EPEAT ratings, because the MacBook Pro with Retina Display has its battery GLUED to its case!
Apple called on EPEAT to update its standards:
” … Our engineering teams have worked incredibly hard over the years to make our products even more environmentally friendly, and much of our progress has come in areas not yet measured by EPEAT,” the statement says.
“For example, Apple led the industry in removing harmful toxins such as brominated flame retardants (BFRs) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC). We are the only company to comprehensively report greenhouse gas emissions for every product we make, taking into account the entire product life cycle. And we’ve removed plastics wherever possible, in favor of materials that are more highly recyclable, more durable, more efficient and longer lasting. Perhaps most importantly, we make the most energy-efficient computers in the world and our entire product line exceeds the stringent ENERGY STAR 5.2 government standard. No one else in our industry can make that claim.”
The environmental group Greenpeace applauded the decision and challenged Apple to prove that its new generation of laptops can be recycled, as well as to continue to be an environmental leader.
Congratulations, Apple, on doing the “right thing.”
-Bill at
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