Greenpeace bites rotten Apple

4 Apr 2007 | 13:14 BST

By Andrew Thomas

MAKER OF ENTERTAINMENT GADGETS Apple has been rated the worst major electronics firm by the environmental group Greenpeace.

In the updated Greenpeace Guide to Greener Electronics, Apple came bottom of the list for its policies on the elimination of toxic substances and recycling and 'scores badly on almost all criteria'.

"Apple fails to embrace the precautionary principle, withholds its full list of regulated substances, and provides no timelines for eliminating toxic PVC and no commitment to phasing out all uses of brominated flame retardants," says Greenpeace. "Apple performs poorly on product takeback and recycling, but it does report on the amounts of its electronic waste recycled."

In the previous edition of the guide, Apple was ranked 10th, but is now 14th out of 14. Chinese PC maker Lenovo replaced Nokia in the number one spot. Apple replied to the criticisms saying it had a strong environmental track record and has led the industry in restricting and banning toxic substances such as mercury, cadmium and hexavalent chromium, although it did not specify what colour they were. µ

Those Greenpeace scores out of ten:

1. Lenovo 8
2. Nokia 7.3
3. Sony Ericsson 7
4. Dell 7
5. Samsung 7.3
6. Motorola 6.3
7. Fujitsu-Siemens 6.
8. HP 5.6
9. Acer 5.3
10. Toshiba 4.3
11. Sony 4
12. LGE 3.6
13. Panasonic 3.6
14. Apple 2.7

L'Inq
Greenpeace

See Also
Apple guns for Greenpeace
Greenpeace slams Apple
How green is your technology?

© 2007 Incisive Media Investments Ltd. 2007