How Green is Your Apple?

Apple recently overtook Microsoft as the world's biggest technology company, leaving the former computing underdog second only to Exxon Mobil in terms of market value among U.S. firms. Apple is reaping record profits mainly through digital downloads and popular gadgets, including iPods, iPads and iPhones, as well as more traditional desktop and laptop computers.

But how green are all these Apple gadgets? Here are the latest sustainability ratings for Apple products, from both the company's own PR department and some often-critical environmentalists.

What Apple says

A good starting place for data on Apple's sustainability is the company's own web site. The environment section highlights the company's environmental impact measurements and tracking. The company has been criticized in the past for a lack of transparency on environmental reporting.

The company offers the following self-reported statistics:

- The overall weight of an Apple desktop computer has dropped from 18.3 kg to 8.3 in the past decade, even while increasing the screen size by five inches.

- Between 2006 and 2008, the company removed mercury, arsenic, brominated flame retardants and polyvinyl chloride from its laptops. The computers already were lead-free by 2006.

- In the same period, the company reduced packaging for the laptops by 40 percent, allowing 50 percent more boxes in each shipping container.

What the experts say

Greenpeace is, of course, less biased in its sustainability ratings of Apple products. The environmental activist group publishes a regular green electronics guide, which gave Apple consistently low ratings in the past. The ninth guide ranked Apple 11th out of 19 technology companies, mainly for a lack of transparency and the chemical content of the gadgets.

Apple edges up to ninth place in the latest Greenpeace report. The new 13th edition applauds Apple for its transparency on greenhouse gas emissions, and for making its gadgets greener. "Apple can justly pat itself on the back for listening to their customers who asked for greener gadgets. And all you Apple users should pat yourselves on the back for asking."

On the other hand, Greenpeace would like to see Apple further eliminate harmful chemicals in its products. The group also urges Apple to report its renewable electricity usage, and to take a stronger stance on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Apple pulled out of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce last year because the chamber opposes domestic climate-change legislation. However, it did not make strong statements about a global climate change treaty before last year's Copenhagen conference.

As the Greenpeace folks suggest, Apple's sustainability is not all Apple's job. Consumers should demand sustainable products, and use them more sustainably. One way you can help make Apple products more sustainable is to not replace them with every upgrade. Consider continuing to use the device for a few years, then find a way to sell or give away the device so other people can give it a few more years of use. For example, you can return old iPhones to AT&T for reuse.