Apple to address environmental policies?

The Greenpeace activists behind GreenMyApple.org claim that Apple may begin taking steps to address several of the company's environmental issues, despite their denial of said concerns because of a disagreement with Greenpeace's ratings and criteria. In particular, Greenpeace is concerned with Apple's use of several hazardous chemicals in its products which can have adverse effects on the environment and people's health once the equipment is disassembled. Other manufacturers have already begun to ditch some of these same toxic chemicals, and Greenpeace claims Steve Jobs recently met with a Social Responsibility Fund investor to discuss some of these environmental matters.

Apple has not yet responded to this claim of meeting with Greenpeace, but they did issue a statement to a new report, which ranks Apple lower than HP, Dell, Nokia, and Sony for its global policies and practices on eliminating dangerous chemicals and on taking responsibility for products once they are thrown away by consumers. ``We disagree with Greenpeace's rating and the criteria they chose. Apple has a strong environmental track record and has led the industry in restricting and banning toxic substances such as mercury, cadmium and hexavalent chromium, as well as many BFRs (brominated flame retardants)." Despite the arguments, let's hope Apple can come to terms with stronger and more effective policies in this delicate day and age of increasing environmental concerns.

[via MacNN]
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