Apple bows out of green tech certification programme

Apple will no longer participate in a programme that grants environmentally-friendly certifications for technology.

The US government-backed EPEAT body rewards manufacturers for creating easily recyclable and energy-efficient electronics.

However, Apple has asked the agency to pull the certification from all 39 of its applicable products, including its MacBook laptop range, citing a different design direction.

"They said their design direction was no longer consistent with the EPEAT requirements," Robert Frisbee EPEAT CEO said.

"They were important supporters and we are disappointed that they don't want their products measured by this standard anymore."

Retina Display MacBook to blame?

Apple had been one of the key tech manufacturers that helped establish the EPEAT standards, along with the US government and environmental groups.

It is suspected that the new Retina Display MacBook Pro may be behind the decision to move away from EPEAT certification.

The agency specifies that electronics must be easy for recyclers to disassemble and that particular product has proved more or less impossible to take apart.

What would Steve do?

Regardless, it's still a surprising move from Apple.

At keynote addresses of yesteryear, late CEO Steve Jobs seemed to take joy in regaling audiences with how environmentally-friendly Apple products were, right down to the minimalist packaging.

What would Steve say?

Via: WSJ