From Ecopedia

Overview

Apple Inc. is a US-based multinational corporation, engaged in design and manufacturing of consumer software, consumer electronics as well as personal computers. Established in 1976 by Steve Wozniak, Ronald Wayne and Steve Jobs in California, Apple is best known for some of the popular hardware products such as Macintosh computers, Apple iPad, iPod and iPhone, as well as their internally developed Mac OS operating system.^[1] Most of Apple's portable devices use lithium-ion batteries, which the U.S. Federal government have deemed environmentally safe for landfills. The company’s operations are carried out through 284 retail stores spread across 10 countries. With $42.91 billion sales revenue, Apple Inc. is recognized as the world’s leading technological corporation, going by revenue.^[2]

In 2008, Apple began releasing an "Environmental Status Report" that provides information on how all of their products affect the environment, and which highlights all of the eco-friendly substances used in manufacturing their products.

Primary Products

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Macintosh Computers

Main Article: Macbook, Macbook Pro, iMac

Over the years, Apple Inc. has released a competitive lineup of laptop computers and desktop computers including the Macbook and Macbook pro personal computers and the iMac desktop machines. All of these machines traditionally run off of the proprietary Mac OS operating system, and tend to be sold pre-loaded with popular software such as the iTunes media browser which syncs with many mobile phones and MP3 devices, the iLife multimedia and creativity software, and the iWork productivity software.

Most of the Macintosh computer line-up are manufactured using aluminum-unibody enclosures with polycarbonate plastic pieces throughout the composition.

iPod

Main Article: iPod

The iPod is a revolutionary portable music player which has changed the music industry since it's release date of October 23rd, 2001. Though it has undergone many revisions in its design, the iPod is primarily made of either polycarbonate plastic or aluminum enclosures, and a traditional disc-like hard drive or flash storage for the data stored on the device.

iPad

Main Article: iPad

The iPad is a personal computing device that was released to consumers in April 2010. Though not quite a laptop computer, the iPad falls under the category of a "tablet" computer, in which you can operate the device without the use of a keyboard, as it runs off of the same touch-screen operating system as the Apple Iphone.

iPad's utilize arsenic-free display glass, mercury-free LCD displays, and remain Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and BFR free.

iPhone

Main Article: iPhone

Apple's iPhone was released in January 2007 exclusively on the AT&T wireless network. The iPhone is a mobile phone which operates on Apple's proprietary iPhone operating system, and also offers consumers with the unique ability to download and store software directly from the device.

From a resource standpoint, the iPhone uses Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) free materials in producing the handset and headphones, mercury-free LCD displays, bromine-free printed circuit boards, and Arsenic-free display glass. Additionally, much of the packaging used for shipping the iphone is made of post-consumer recycled fiberboard and biobased materials.

Environmental Information

Keeping in line with the company’s ongoing environmental progress, Apple’s products are specifically designed to minimize environmental impacts.

Some such features are:

• Mercury-free LCD display
• Arsenic-free display glass
• BFR-free
• PVC-free
• Recyclable glass and aluminum enclosure^[3]

Apple’s products also adhere to most of the environmental requirements including Maximum operating altitude of 10,000 feet (3000 m), Relative humidity of 5% to 95% noncondensing Nonoperating temperature of -4° to 113° F (-20° to 45° C), and Operating temperature of 32° to 95° F (0° to 35° C)^[4]

The company’s regulated substances specification lists a wide range of substances banned from use in Apple’s products, packaging as well as manufacturing.

Apple is also in compliance with the environment-friendly European RoHS Directive that restricts lead usage in product manufacturing. Apple managed to phase out lead-containing plastic parts, packaging material, paint and many more environmentally-harmful materials from use in the company’s products and manufacturing.

Apple also abides by the Montreal Protocol and refrains from using any ozone-depleting substance in manufacturing materials, components or packaging materials of the company.^[5]

Environmental Quotients

Keeping in view of most of the environmental concerns, Apple Inc. on its part strives to significantly reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions through environment-friendly product designing. For instance, Apple iPad manufacturing, involving raw material extraction as well as product assembly would account for a reasonable 38% (3,873,000 metric tons) of the total greenhouse gas emissions of the company. Also, Apple’s product usage generates 53% (5,352,000 metric tons) of total greenhouse gas emissions by Apple.

Recycling

Apple’s products are recycled by initially dissembling the key product components including glass and metals, which are reprocessed and reused for new product manufacturing. Only one percent (90,600 metric tons) is related to Apples’ total emissions of greenhouse gases.

Through such material reprocessing and component reuse, Apple managed to achieve around 90% recovery rate by the product’s original weight.

Facilities: Apple’s production sites, which include corporate facilities, distribution centers, retail shops and data centers account for 3% of the overall greenhouse gas emissions of the company. In 1996, Apple received ISO 14001 certification for one of the company’s manufacturing site in 1996. The certification aids in establishing the organization’s EMS (environmental management system) standards.^[6]

Greenpeace Criticism

Greenpeace, an environmental group, criticized Apple policies on many environmental issues such as promotion of end-of-life- recovery plan, iPhone hardware toxins and non-recyclable hardware components.

Greenpeace strongly criticize Apples’ inclusion of environmentally-hazardous BFRs and PVC in the company products.

Greenpeace opines that Apple is “not green enough” and needs to totally ban the use of hazardous PVC plastic and BFRs in all Apple products to attain the title of an eco-leader.

As a reaction to the criticism, Apple introduced in June 2009, a new improvised iPhone 3GS, which is free of arsenic, PVC and BFRs and incorporated an energy-efficient power adapter. In addition, Apple also managed to achieve EPEAT’s “gold” status.^[7]

References

1. ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Inc.
2. ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Inc.
3. ↑ http://www.apple.com
4. ↑ http://www.apple.com
5. ↑ http://www.apple.com
6. ↑ http://www.apple.com
7. ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Inc.