Apple’s Green Efforts
About year ago, in May 2007, Steve Jobs published a letter regarding the environmental aspects of the company. At that time, Apple was the focus of an environmentalist group called Greenpeace, criticizing it about toxic chemicals in Apple’s products and not having pro-active recycling program for used Macs. Almost a year has passed and let’s see what Apple has done to be true to its word.
Lead
Lead is a toxic substance found in cathode-ray tube (CRTs) displays.
-In mid 2006, Apple completely eliminated the use of CRTs.
Arsenic and Mercury
Arsenic is added during the making of the high-performance glass used in LCD displays, and the fluorescent lamps used to illuminate LCDs contain minute amounts of mercury.
-Apple is transitioning from fluorescent lamps to LEDs to illuminate their displays, eliminating mercury. The MacBook Air and MacBook Pro are already in this category, along with all iPods. Apple plans to completely eliminate the use of arsenic in all of its displays by the end of 2008 & reduce and eventually eliminate the use of mercury by transitioning to LED backlighting for all displays when technically and economically feasible.
Polyvinyl Chloride and Brominated Flame Retardants
PVC is found in computer parts and cables; and BFR reduces the risk of fire.
-Apple began phasing out PVC twelve years ago and began restricting BFRs in 2001 and it’s close to eliminating PVC and BFR in their products altogether. By the end of 2008, Apple plans to completely eliminate the use of PVC and BFRs in its products.
Cadmium, Hexavalent Chromium & Decabromodiphenyl Ether
Apple phased out these and many other chemicals several years ago through design innovations and the use of higher quality metals and plastics.
-Apple products met both the spirit and letter of the RoHS restrictions on cadmium, hexavalent chromium and brominated flame retardants years before RoHS went into effect.
Recycling
Apple started recycling in 1994 and today it operates recycling programs in countries where more than 82% of all Macs and iPods are sold.
-Apple recycled 13 million pounds of e-waste in 2006, which is equal to 9.5% of the weight of all products Apple sold seven years earlier.
In his letter, Steve said:
“We expect this percentage to grow to 13% in 2007, and to 20% in 2008.”
