Apple pulls out of environmental rating initiative
Monday, July 16, 2012 - 11:28:06
Apple has been criticised regularly over the years for its lack of integrity when it comes to sustainability and eco-friendliness in its products and business practices.
This was exacerbated earlier in the month, when it announced that it would no longer be subscribing to the EPEAT environmental standard, which rates major corporations on the greenness of the items which they produce.
Interestingly, this move has come just weeks after Apple released its newest MacBook range of laptops and it has pulled all of these items from EPEAT accreditation, despite the fact that some of those produced in previous years were actually rated gold, indicating that they were sustainable products.
Part of the reason observers believe that Apple has ended its association with the rating system, is that it has made the new MacBooks much harder to actually recycle than their predecessors.
In the days after the launch of the new range, a number of sources pointed out that disassembling the MacBooks was very difficult since Apple had chosen to solder components in place, when in the past they might have been easily detachable.
This means that it is difficult to repair a MacBook and is also tough to take out old components from an unwanted used device and then transplant them into a refurbished model, because of these hindrances.
Those speaking out in favour of Apple said that it has ducked out of the EPEAT process because it believes that getting involved in it takes too long and provides too many frustrations along the way.
In the US, there are some businesses which will not invest in new IT equipment unless it has gained the EPEAT seal of approval, although PC Advisor points out that this represents a small part of Apple's market.
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