Nothing Green about Apple

Nothing Green about Apple

Our Planet weekly newsletter
8 April 2007
Reporting by Roddy Scheer

Chinese PC maker Lonovo is the computer company with the biggest eco-conscience according to Greenpeace.

In its latest global “green” ranking of consumer electronics manufacturers, the nonprofit Greenpeace International crowned a new king of environmental responsibility in Chinese PC maker Lenovo. California’s Apple Inc. qualified as the worst of the bunch for the second year in a row.

Lenovo, which bought IBM’s consumer electronics division in 2005, edged out last year’s champ, Nokia, for the top spot this year because of its forward-thinking policies and practices to reduce so-called e-waste (old electronic equipment that can leach toxic substances into landfills and water tables). The company offers take-back and recycling in all of the countries where it sells products. While Greenpeace gives Lenovo high marks for reporting the amount of e-waste it recycles as a percentage of sales, it would like to see the company phase some harmful chemicals out of its product line entirely. Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Dell and Samsung rounded out Greenpeace’s top five.

Apple Inc. was ranked last in Greenpeace’s original ranking last year due to its use of polluting toxic chemicals and its lack of resolve on recycling. In response, Greenpeace launched the “Green My Apple” campaign, which asks people to send a letter to Apple founder and CEO Steve Jobs asking him to address the issues.

In releasing the ranking, Greenpeace praised Michael Dell, founder and CEO of Dell Computers, for challenging “the entire industry to adopt a worldwide takeback policy, something we put on our wish list to Dell when the campaign first started, and several companies have met and even exceeded our demands.” The organization maintains that ongoing dialogues with Greenpeace campaigners have helped several of the 14 companies ranked to improve their overall environmental performance.

Source: Greenpeace USA