Like we said it is a bad day for Apple. Although we have written about this (here and here) we will catch you up a little. You see Apple has made a manufacturing decision. They want to make their products cheaper to build, less user repairable and well basically disposable. However this move means that they are also not easy to recycle. Because of this and in order to keep up the idea that Apple is greener than other companies they pulled all of their systems from EPEAT testing (which is voluntary anyway).

This had an unexpected and immediate backlash on Apple who saw San Francisco publicly state they would no longer purchase from Apple since they were not on the EPEAT list. Apple admitted they made a mistake and put everything back on the list saying they were committed to being green.

In the process of putting everything back on the list they went ahead and gave themselves a gold certification on the MacBook Pro Retina (MBP-R). This has raised the ire of some organizations like the Electronics Take Back Coalition who state quite clearly that the MBP-R fails on two of the mandatory criteria namely;
4.3.1.3 Easy disassembly of external enclosure
4.3.1.5 Identification and removal of components containing hazardous materials

Apple made the choice to glue the lithium polymer batteries to the case of the MBP-R. This makes them not only difficult to remove, but also dangerous. It means that Apple should not qualify for ANY rating much less a gold one. Apple also would know this as they helped to create the standard in 2006.

There is good news for the rest of us (bad for Apple though). It seems that EPEAT gets to review the certifications that a company puts forth so the gold star that Apple has glued on their newest product can be removed. Some think that Apple might get a wave this time like they get at the USP&TO as the EPEAT CEO has already stated that there is flexibility in the standards for companies that create products that are not in the current set of standards. Both of these situations are going to make Apple look bad though. If they get the gold star taken away they will look like they were not honest in the first place. This will hurt their consumer friendly image and consumer confidence in other claims by Apple.

If they get to keep the Gold certification despite not meeting one of the required criteria it will make Apple look like they used their influence with EPEAT to get what they wanted without meeting the same standards that everyone else has to. It will render EPEAT useless as a measure for truly green products and companies that are trying to be more environmentally conscious. We certainly cannot imagine gluing batteries to a case as helping to create a new “green” standard and we are pretty sure that make Apple fans might feel the same way.
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