Apple Goes Back To EPEAT

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Posted by Soulskill on Friday July 13, 2012 @07:12AM from the it's-not-easy-being-green dept.

An anonymous reader writes with a followup to news from last weekend that Apple had turned its back on the EPEAT hardware certification standard. After hearing criticism from customers, the media, and governmental organizations that Apple wasn't being environmentally friendly, the company's Hardware Engineering VP, Bob Mansfield, wrote today that its earlier decision was a mistake, and all of Apple's eligible products are back on EPEAT. (EPEAT welcomed Apple back with open arms.) Mansfield repeated an earlier statement from Apple that EPEAT does not measure all the ways in which the company's products are environmentally friendly. Mansfield said, "For example, Apple led the industry in removing harmful toxins such as brominated flame retardants (BFRs) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC). We are the only company to comprehensively report greenhouse gas emissions for every product we make, taking into account the entire product lifecycle. And we’ve removed plastics wherever possible, in favor of materials that are more highly recyclable, more durable, more efficient and longer lasting. Perhaps most importantly, we make the most energy-efficient computers in the world and our entire product line exceeds the stringent ENERGY STAR 5.2 government standard. No one else in our industry can make that claim."

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And another thing by plover · 2012-07-13 07:12 · Score: 5, Funny

Mansfield went on to state that Apple would use only genuine Congalese tantalum, African conflict diamonds, rainforest teak, and Iranian oil based lubricants; and furthermore the iOS developers would smoke only Tibetan opium. "No one else in our industry can afford to make those claims, bitches!" he cackled.
At press time, the reporters were too mellow from the complimentary Afghan bud to harsh his groove. Steve Jobs could not be reached for comment.

--
John
1. Re:And another thing by Tough+Love · 2012-07-13 07:21 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  ...Steve Jobs could not be reached for comment.
  Now, that's what I call digging for a story.
  
  --
  When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
2. Re:And another thing by v1 · 2012-07-13 07:43 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Now, that's what I call digging for a story.
  Yes, a grave situation to be in for sure....
  
  --
  I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
Brilliant PR move by MrEricSir · 2012-07-13 07:17 · Score: 5, Interesting

1. Tell everyone you're leaving an environmental program
2. Issue press release saying you're not leaving
3. Use this chance to tell reporters that your products are more environmentally friendly than the competition
I have to admit it's a clever strategy.

--
There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
1. Re:Brilliant PR move by FellowConspirator · 2012-07-13 07:24 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Lather, rinse, EPEAT.
2. Re:Brilliant PR move by StuartHankins · 2012-07-13 07:34 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  If Apple takes them all back for recycling, doesn't that work? I imagine that since we're talking very popular products, anyone who receives one for recycling (and isn't Apple) will send them to Apple because of Apple's agreement. Plus they get a gift card, which is an incentive for everyone to participate. http://www.apple.com/recycling/
3. Re:Brilliant PR move by Tough+Love · 2012-07-13 07:57 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  In what universe is two hundred dollars to replace a battery not exhorbitant?
  
  --
  When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
4. Re:Brilliant PR move by westlake · 2012-07-13 08:24 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Or maybe not so brilliant.
  
  We've recently heard from many loyal Apple customers who were disappointed to learn that we had removed our products from the EPEAT rating system. I recognize that this was a mistake. Starting today, all eligible Apple products are back on EPEAT.
  A Letter From Bob Mansfield
  The mistake was in ignoring the needs and values of institutional, enterprise, and governmental markets where Apple had been finally making some headway.
  
  Organizations which have policies to require EPEAT compliance include Ford Motor Co., KPMG and Kaiser Permanente, in the private sector, as well as several universities and federal, state and municipal agencies. The U.S. government requires that 95% of the electronics purchased by its agencies be certified by EPEAT.
  According to the DOE, environmental benefits of EPEAT purchasing in FY11 included an energy savings of 50 million kilowatt hours and a projected cost savings of $4.8 million.
  [David Daoud, research director, PCs and Green IT, at IDC] said Apple is bound to find some resistance from buyers who aren't happy about the decision, but believes it needs only to have "a PR discussion" as to "why they're not being environmental. If you're Apple you have to look at the implications of certifying every single product. As much as I'd love to say it's a bad move, the financial guys are looking at it differently."
  EPEAT Customers React to Apple's Withdrawal
  PR was not enough.
EPEAT caves by jbolden · 2012-07-13 07:19 · Score: 4, Insightful

I think the /. summary has this a bit backwards. Just read the letter from EPEAT:

We look forward to Apple’s strong and creative thoughts on ongoing standards development. The outcome must reward new directions for both design and sustainability, simultaneously supporting the environment and the market for all manufacturers’ elegant and high-performance products.
An interesting question for EPEAT is how to reward innovations that are not yet envisioned with standards that are fixed at a point in time. Diverse goals, optional points awarded for innovations not yet described, and flexibility within specified parameters to make this happen are all on the table in EPEAT stakeholder discussions. And of course, timely standards development, as with newly created Imaging Equipment and Television standards, and the current refresh of the PC/Display standard, is critical as well.
This was a messy situation and I think EPEAT did the right thing here in moving forward on recycling standards for computers and smartphones with closed cases and non removable batteries. So I'm happy that we are going to end up with better standards for recycling and at the same time Apple doesn't break with the environmental groups. This is a win-win in terms of policy that probably wouldn't have happened if Apple hadn't publicly stormed off. But /. shouldn't be writing this up as Apple caving to criticism. Their policies on recycling (i.e. the need for an expert recycler like http://www.werecycle.com/ ) haven't changed its EPEAT that is altering policy.
1. Re: EPEAT caves by daveschroeder · 2012-07-13 07:42 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  If you actually care about the environment more than you hate Apple, you'd realize that Apple is more green in terms of how it makes (AND recycles) its products than any other major electronics manufacturer. Environmental groups just like to eviscerate Apple for PR, even though it's one of the most transparent and aggressive on protecting the environment and green tech.
  The funniest thing? In a few years we'll see every other vendor following Apple's lead, as they always do.
2. Re: EPEAT caves by daveschroeder · 2012-07-13 07:57 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Apple is more green in terms of how it makes (AND recycles) its products than any other major electronics manufacturer.
  Given that Apple's credibility has dropped straight through zero into the negative zone, I for one won't be taking that claim at face value.
  How do you figure, "Apple's credibility has dropped straight through zero into the negative zone"?
  http://www.apple.com/environment/
  http://www.apple.com/environment/faq.html
  http://www.apple.com/environment/renewable-energy/
  http://images.apple.com/environment/reports/
  http://images.apple.com/environment/progress/
  http://www.apple.com/supplierresponsibility/reports.html
  Find any other vendor with this level of commitment, or even this level of detail on what they're doing with their products on the environment front.
3. Re:EPEAT caves by daveschroeder · 2012-07-13 08:31 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Oh yeah, Apple caved.
  That must be why the Retina MacBook Pro — you know, the reason why Apple pulled out of EPEAT? — is now EPEAT Gold certified.
  ...
  I'm sure your reply will ignore that simple, clear fact. I do applaud your trolling in this thread, though! It's entertaining!
4. Re:EPEAT caves by daveschroeder · 2012-07-13 08:51 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  Actually, that's exactly what happened. The Retina MacBook Pro is EPEAT Gold certified. EPEAT's standards have NOTHING to do with "repairability". It has to do with the products being able to be easily disassembled by conventional tools so that the constituent parts can be recycled by any recycler. It's a baseline standard. But Apple recycles all of its products for free, and does not send anything to the landfill. Nothing.
  And the simple truth, which you deny because you are either a troll or hate Apple, or both, is that Apple's products (and their datacenters, physical plant operations, etc.) and the entire product lifecycle are more recylcable, made with more recycled and non-toxic content, and more green than any other major electronics manufacturer. That's why you can't respond with facts, just trolls.
5. Re: EPEAT caves by BronsCon · 2012-07-13 09:21 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  They have negative credibility and you want me to trust the text of their website?
  
  --
  APK quotes people (including myself) without context and should not be trusted. Just thought you should know.
6. Re: EPEAT caves by Sir_Sri · 2012-07-13 09:26 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  It's probably a fair point that Apple gets a lot of unfair criticism because they disclose quite a lot, and they are individually one of the bigger and more profitable outfits. But that doesn't make them saints.
  Making devices harder to repair is/was a step backwards. Even if everything they had done to that point was a good idea (which by no means is it), it was still a bad idea to make devices into a metal box of glue and solder.
  Besides that, the reason you do business in china is that it's cheap, and it's cheap because they have lax labour and environmental laws, and are happy to pay people shitty wages. In the long run that's the only way china will develop into having decent wages, so fair enough, it's going to happen, and Apple is there to take advantage of that, just like everyone else. No one with any sort of soul is particularly pleased with this arrangement, including I'm sure a huge portion of apple or their competitions staff, but they're still doing it.
epeat? by chinton · 2012-07-13 07:20 · Score: 5, Funny

Is that 2.718 championships?
Not stupid at all by Anonymous Coward · 2012-07-13 07:20 · Score: 5, Insightful

They turned their back on EPEAT just to get the news coverage....doing something bad like that made all the haters spread the word just as much as the fans. Then, when they flip-flopped, all the haters suddenly got a nice little spiel about how they are not only EPEAT-compliant, but even better. And the haters actually paid attention because they were interested now.
And the fans are still happy because Apple is still certified now.
Excellent marketing, all-in-all.
1. Re:Not stupid at all by the_B0fh · 2012-07-13 07:44 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  You mean the gold rating listed here?
  http://images.apple.com/environment/reports/docs/macbookpro_retinadisplay_per_june2012.pdf
2. Re:Not stupid at all by beelsebob · 2012-07-13 08:31 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  It looks like they were trying to cut some corners, got caught and slapped down hard.
  Actually, it looks like they were trying to slap EPEAT into engaging brain... EPEAT wouldn't give the retina MBP a rating, apple throws toys out pram and yells about it being aluminium and highly recyclable... EPEAT give it a gold rating ;)
3. Re:Not stupid at all by petsounds · 2012-07-13 16:11 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  I don't think so. Cases that can't be opened means batteries that can't be recycled. So consumers end up throwing away the old iPhone instead of recycling the battery.
  1. Hmm, I can open the case on my Mac Pro just fine and replace anything I like. The Retina Macbook Pro is one product out of their lineup, most of which are fairly customer-maintainable. And the materials Apple uses by-and-large lead the industry in environmental friendliness. Surely the Retina MBP is worrisome in terms of signaling a trend, but I hope this backpedaling will also show in their future manufacturing practices.
  2. Have you ever known someone who actually threw away their iPhone? Come on. I still have one of the original iPhones, and the battery works just fine. And even if they did decide to throw it away, Apple has a recycling program. To wit: do you know anyone that's still rocking a Treo from the 2000s? Smartphones get passed down via the used market, but eventually they all fall out of favor. At least Apple has a path to sustainable recycling for the product when that time comes. You may disagree with the disposable culture that smartphones and tablet devices bring, but that's a different issue and something that applies industry-wide.
  And I can't speak to the sustainability of Apple's headquarters, but California building code requires that commercial building windows be un-openable. At least anything built since the 90's...I'm not quite sure when that code went into effect. I don't know much about green building design, but I would imagine openable windows in a giant air conditioned building would result in a lot of wasted energy. So I'm not sure what your point was there.
  p.s. -- I've been making the point lately of not using the word 'consumer'. That's a word made up by corporations to change our relationship to big business. Customer denotes that the business exists to serve us, consumer denotes that we exist to serve the business. I don't like to give that word or that type of business relationship legitimacy.
Public admission of being wrong by frnic · 2012-07-13 07:28 · Score: 4, Insightful

I commend Apple for saying in public "we were wrong".
Re:How stupid do you need to be? by thetoadwarrior · 2012-07-13 07:58 · Score: 3, Interesting

Can you back that up with proof? They have a recycling program and as long as you're not taking something ancient back you can get a gift certificate for bring it back. I can't think of any other company that gives incentives to bring your shit back to recycle it.

Their issues is that a person can't remove their own battery. That is not an environmental hazard and in fact Apple being the only one that can reomve it guarantees it gets recycled. Where as batteries that consumers can remove and replace can and do end up in land fills.

If you disagree feel free to provide proof.
Re:How much did Apple pay EPEAT? by 93+Escort+Wagon · 2012-07-13 08:13 · Score: 4, Informative

Apple still has many products that met the EPEAT certification requirements. However, the newer products with glued batteries and screen components do not.
The MacBook Pro with Retina Display has an EPEAT Gold rating - so no, that's not it.
If you're talking about phones and tablets... currently EPEAT doesn't rate them - at all - for any manufacturer.

--
#DeleteChrome
transalation incoming... by Cutting_Crew · 2012-07-13 08:14 · Score: 3, Interesting

"wrote today that its earlier decision was a mistake"

we thought we could get away with it. our intentions weren't a mistake. Thinking there wouldn't be as much of an outcry was actually the mistake.
Good troll! by daveschroeder · 2012-07-13 08:34 · Score: 4, Informative

Too bad the truth is that Apple recycles any of their products for free, and any other manufacturer's products, also for free, and it's all zero-landfill, meaning that image is completely, 100%, provably false.
But again, I know you're trolling — I'm just replying so others following this threat won't have any chance of being duped by any of your posts.