A Greener Apple

I commend the efforts that Apple has put forth to this date. If other companies out there had believed the same as Apple, we would be in such the environmental mess that we are.

This is just another reason Apple is so far superior to all of the other computer companies. Just goes to show that a more expensive platform has a real purpose in our society.

Great news.

Period.

Way to go Apple. 

Please don't take this as an anti-Apple observation -- it's really truly not. But it's bothered me that Apple has taken so darn long to get on board. (Laura Scott, pointed this out on The COWBlogs last month.)

As of December, Apple was dead last on the Greenpeace Guide to Greener Electronics, which is what sparked the current hub-bub.

On the same list Motorola, Fujitsu, Lenova and Acer had significantly improved their positions from the previous year. HP was docked a point when Greenpeace found a hazardous chemical that HP said they didn't use anymore. When HP ran an internal investigation and published the findings of what went wrong while affirming their commitment not to let it happen again, the penalty was lifted.

Seriously, how many companies can you imagine running an internal investigation about failures to meet promises made to Greenpeace, then publishing what they found?!?

The finding that Apple was still dead last led to holiday protests at the 5th Ave Apple store. I'm glad that the message is getting through. I really am.

I'm not going to belabor this, but one sentence in the Apple thingy jumped out at me, just below the graph. While noting that their "Weight Recycled as % of Past Sales"is rising, it's still going to take until 2010 to pass HP and Dell. Says so right under the big graph (with my emphasis added of course):

A note of comparison — the latest figures from HP and Dell are each around 10% per year, and neither company has yet disclosed plans to grow this percentage in the future. By 2010, Apple may be recycling significantly more than either Dell or HP as a percentage of past sales weight.

Now read the chart again: Apple has to more than triple its current percentage in the next 3+ years to catch up to those guys!

That also assumes that HP and Dell continuing on their current trajectories. I don't know about Dell, but...given HP's unusual efforts on that count, that seems unlikely.

Having written this kind of marketing response document more times than I want to admit, I could pick it apart even further. But I won't because I don't want to sound insincere when I praise Apple for joining the cause. Showing up late still counts as showing up.

Super-duper important to getting that this isn't a war, or even a little anti-Apple. Everyone has a long, long way to go: no company has ever received better than a 7 out of 10 on Greenpeace's scale. I was shocked by that.

Rather than specific "they do this we do that" marketing salvos, wouldn't it be cool if Apple forgot about what HP and Dell are up to, and aim for a higher overall score? Maybe setting the record with, say, a 9 out of 10. Now THAT would cool.

So while I was looking at Greenpeace's old news about Apple from last December, I missed that they've already replied to Apple's announcement.

It's not everything we asked for.  Apple has declared a phase out of the worst chemicals in its product range, Brominated Fire Retardants (BFRs) and Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) by 2008. That beats Dell and other computer manufactures' pledge to phase them out by 2009. Way to go Steve!

Leave it to Greenpeace to take the high road. I chide them for the nonsense in their announcement. GP doesn't mention it at all, but praises them for what they got right.

So there you go.

Now read the chart again: Apple has to more than triple its current percentage in the next 3+ years to catch up to those guys!

And who's to say they won't? What I've noticed lately is that Apple has really stepped up to the plate with Recycling to where it is now on the sales page. When you are ready to check out, there is a "Are you Recycling an older computer?" prompt box, which I believe is similar to what HP does. I think this went up about a year ago and it's an excellent move by Apple.

Now compare that with one of the largest resellers of Apple, MacMall/MacWarehouse/ClubMac and there is NO option to recycle your old computer during checkout. So it is up to the consumer to go the Apple site or an Apple store on their own to recycle the machines.

Apple really needs to step marketing the recycling program to improve their number, but ultimately is up to the consumer to recycle the machines. Apple can't forcibly take machines back, the buying public is going to have to do their part to bring those numbers up. Apple has certainly taken the initiative through their own stores, now it's time for the resellers to get on board as well.

Thank you much but I will give it to a deserving school kid whose parents can't afford to buy them a computer or to someone we know who wants a computer but can't afford one.

The only issue I have there is the only time I ever did that, the computer died within in a month and that felt really terrible.  So I prefer recycling our machines back to the company.  We did that with our old Compaq computer and will be recycling a couple of our Macs soon as we replace them.