Apple Pulls Products from Environmental EPEAT Registry
Quote:
Apple has notified the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) that it is withdrawing its products from the EPEAT registry and will no longer be submitting its products to EPEAT for environmental rating. CIO Journal spoke with Robert Frisbee, CEO of EPEAT, who offered slightly more color to the decision:
“They said their design direction was no longer consistent with the EPEAT requirements,” Frisbee said. The company did not elaborate, Frisbee said. “They were important supporters and we are disappointed that they don’t want their products measured by this standard anymore.”
EPEAT certification requires certain standards that make the machines easy to disassemble and recycle using common tools. Apple's recent Mac products, such as the Retina MacBook Pro, are difficult to fully disassemble making them ineligible for certification. iFixIt explains:
According to my EPEAT contacts, Apple’s mobile design direction is in conflict with the intended direction of the standard. Specifically, the standard lays out particular requirements for product “disassemble-ability,” a very important consideration for recycling: “External enclosures, chassis, and electronic subassemblies shall be removable with commonly available tools or by hand.”
The move could have a financial impact on Apple's sales. CIO Reports that many corporations require EPEAT certified computers. Meanwhile, the U.S. government requires 95% of electronics purchases also be EPEAT certified.
The move does not seem to affect Apple's popular iPhone and iPad devices, as they are presently a class of product not certified by EPEAT.
I honestly would have not cared but a few years back they were promoting their products as eco-friendly and now they pulled out from the Environmental Registry.
Steve Jobs again, being contradicted by the present management.
The iPad and iPhone didn't pass the EPEAT requirements too.
I think the reason behind this is because for 5 years, their products are not eco friendly so decided to pull out their products. They should have gone the eco-friendly route or if they started it before, continued it. Bad move for Apple.
I really don't care about this. If I ever want to recycle any of my Apple products, I'll just drive or take the subway to one of the five Apple stores located within 20 minutes of me, or I could ship it to Apple free of charge. I really wonder who would actually put an aluminum MacBook Pro into a recycling bin. That just seems silly.
