Environmental Toxins: Apple Eco-Unfriendly?

The environmental group Greenpeace has ranked Apple low with respects to its eco-policies. Apple ranks fourth from the bottom, only ahead of Acer, Motorola, and Lenovo. “For a company that claims to lead on product design, Apple scores badly on almost all criteria,” Greenpeace said in its Green Electronics Guide. The Greenpeace report is published every three months and scores companies on the use of hazardous chemicals, recycling, and take-back policies.

Apple has failed to release a list of regulated substances it uses in its products and has not released a timelime for elimination of polyvinyl chlorides (PVCs) and brominated flame retardants (BFRs.) Apple disagrees with Greenpeace's ranking, stating they have eliminated cathode ray tube monitors from their product lines along with cadmium and hexavalent chromium in manufacturing.