Where is Steve Jobs' Greener Apple? (Exclusive Greenpeace Comments)
In a rare Apple letter to consumers titled “A Greener Apple” in 2007, Steve Jobs wrote about Apple’s desires and plans to become greener. He confirmed that Apple had not been very clear about its environmental policies with its customers, shareholders, employees and the industry. By sharing the plans to remove toxic chemicals from its new products and promoting its recycling programs, Apple even received accolades from Greenpeace which responded with an article titled “Tasty News from Apple.” Greenpeace is an international organization that seeks to protect and conserve the environment through individual contributions and global campaigns.
Since then, Apple has been leading the industry by designing environmentally friendly products and accelerating recycling. Five years later, it has taken two steps back when it recently notified the EPEAT (Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool) organization that it:
- Is withdrawing its products from the EPEAT registry and
- Will no longer submit its products to EPEAT for environmental rating.
How does Greenpeace react to Apple’s retreat from EPEAT? Below are comments from David Pomerantz, a spokesperson for Greenpeace International:
"Apple is pulling out of EPEAT so it can make some products in a way that's less recyclable. In doing so, Apple is pitting design against the environment, and choosing design as the priority. That's a false choice, and Apple should know better: historically Apple has been a leader in designing products with the environment in mind.”
“Customers who have expressed their concerns to Apple in recent months about the energy it's using to power its iCloud will be disconcerted to hear that Apple is now backsliding on making its products recyclable. Apple can resume its position of leadership on the environment, but right now it seems to be incorrectly betting that people don't care."
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