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Today, Apple Inc. (formerly Apple Computer) is probably no stranger to anyone. With innovations—and extremely hot marketing items—such is the iPod and iPhone, they are well known everywhere. It’s been a hard-won battle; although Apple was one of the first companies (some argue the first) to place a user-friendly personal computer on the market, and remained chief innovators and favorites in the graphics and motion- picture industries throughout the years, it wasn’t until the 1998 release of the iMac—a computer which could be set up and used by even a child in minutes—that they managed to put a dent into the locked-down market controlled by Microsoft and its supporting hardware vendors. With recent releases, their artistic innovation is finally paying off and they are truly getting their due. Those innovations have not been limited to technology, however—even if the world wasn’t quite aware of it.
In the last few years, with worldwide attention on climate change, a new “green computing” movement has been taking place in earnest in northern California’s Silicon Valley, the world headquarters for all major computer technology. In fact, green computing has been about the only topic on which hardware and software manufacturers could wholeheartedly agree. Instead of focusing strictly on computer performance, which has always been the norm, this movement has switched the emphasis to computer energy efficiency, recycling of hardware, and the use of environmentally friendly materials in packaging and manufacturing.
But where was Apple in all this? With their cutting-edge products, they have certainly been in the limelight. As a result of this attention, a few environmental groups have taken Apple to task for (these groups have claimed) lack of environmental policy. Recently, however, Apple CEO Steve Jobs has been speaking out, protesting these statements and demonstrating that Apple, even long before warnings of climate change and “green computing” trends, had been making considerable headway in their environmental solutions.
“Upon investigating Apple’s current practices and progress toward these goals, I was surprised to learn that in many cases Apple is ahead of, or will soon be ahead of, most of its competitors in these areas,” Jobs says. “Whatever other improvements we need to make, it is certainly clear that we have failed to communicate the things that we are doing well.”
A prime example is the company’s elimination of CRT (cathode ray tube) displays, which Apple completely eliminated in mid-2006. A typical CRT contains approximately 3 pounds of lead, and other manufacturers are still making and shipping these lead-rich CRTs today. Apple has managed to bring their lead content down to a miniscule 1 gram in their latest LCD-based iMac.
Another example is Apple’s phasing out of hexavalent chromium—the carcinogen against which Erin Brockovich famously campaigned—and the flame retardant decabromodiphenyl ether (DecaBDE), which is also feared to have adverse heath effects. Apple eliminated these and other substances such as cadmium as part of their compliance with the European Union’s strict toxic-substance restrictions known as RoHS, which the company met several years before the restrictions even went into effect.
Apple currently has strict environmental policies in place that affect every stage of a product’s lifecycle. These begin with product design, during which raw materials are specified along with their recyclability and energy use, and continue through the manufacturing stage where the use of ozone-depleting products and heavy metals is heavily restricted. The last stage is the final product—energy efficient and recyclable.
And speaking of recycling, Apple began their recycling program all the way back in 1994, when they initiated the very first voluntary “take back” program. Since that time, they have launched such programs in the United States, Canada, Japan and throughout Europe, diverting over 34 million pounds of electronic equipment from landfills worldwide. All the waste Apple collects is processed according to the highest environmental standards in the industry, and they conduct annual compliance audits and even review the performance of downstream vendors.
For the future, it only gets better. Apple is working on the elimination of other environmentally unfriendly elements well ahead of other manufacturers. These include arsenic and mercury, industry-standard materials used in liquid crystal displays, and polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a type of plastic found in computer parts and cables. They are on track to introduce their first arsenic-free displays in 2007, will have completely eliminated PVC by the end of 2008, and are working on eliminating mercury by transitioning to LED backlighting for all displays as soon as technologically and economically feasible.
“I hope you are as delighted as I was when I first learned of how far along Apple actually is in removing toxic chemicals from its products and recycling its older products,” Jobs concludes. “We apologize for leaving you in the dark for this long. Apple is already a leader in innovation and engineering and we are applying these same talents to become an environmental leader.”
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