Rick Hind is the legislative director of Greenpeace USA’s Toxics campaign. He is based in Washington, D.C.
There have been times when I almost wished that activist organizations would function more like Apple Computers. Apple has been at the forefront of the many technological revolutions in the last few decades, including getting people to “think differently.” In fact, I own an Apple computer, and bought both of my daughters Apple laptops for college. They’re efficient, well-designed and user-friendly.
However, here at Greenpeace, we just released a global environmental rating of major electronics firms, a “toxic technology report card.” Unfortunately Apple has failed to address the growing issue of toxic chemicals in their products and electronic waste, a.k.a. “e-waste.” Apple received a dismal 2.7 out of 10 possible points.
We all expect a lot more from Apple, a leader in product design and innovation. However, the company continues to withhold from the public the full list of regulated substances in its products, and has yet to provide timelines for the elimination of hazardous substances from their production lines. The first steps to greener computers are simple. Remove the two most toxic elements: polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic and brominated flame retardants (BFRs). When these substances are used in a product it poses risks to human health and the environment—from manufacturing to product disposal.
Apple could also easily become a leader in what’s called “take-back” of their products, which would be a comprehensive recycling program. One bright spot in their score was a new take-back policy in the U.S., but unfortunately outside the U.S. they don’t take their products back unless the government requires it. And here in the U.S. they lobby against new take-back laws. While Apple’s ad campaigns have served them well, they need to start thinking differently about using toxic substances that make recycling into what really is just another polluting process.
Others pay a high price for the dirty recycling of e-waste. When our computers, cell phones and electronics become obsolete, they are often shipped to China, Latin America and other developing regions, where families of migrant workers, including women and children, struggle to reclaim any scrap of value from mountains of products spread across acres of contaminated land. Unfortunately, they often have to burn wires and melt circuit boards and other components to remove heavy metals, releasing even more deadly toxins into the air, water and ground where it pollutes for generations.
We all want to see the electronics industry clean up its act. This is an industry that has changed the way we live. It’s time for these companies, and Apple in particular, to lead a new wave of innovation that is sustainable, clean, and doesn’t hurt our children’s chances of a better and cleaner world. Until the most toxic substances are removed from our gadgets, we’ll never have a meaningful recycling system. Safer alternatives are available but we have to persuade companies, especially innovative leaders like Apple, to use them.
Apple has been introducing new products into our lives for three decades, and you can bet they’ll introduce many more. But with every new generation of products comes a wider stream of waste, growing faster than it can ever be handled. Globally we generate between 20 and 50 million tons of e-waste every year. It’s urgent that we tackle this problem now, before we condemn the next generation to a spiraling e-waste crisis.
As consumers in the richest nations on earth, we cannot allow the people in the poorest regions of the world to be poisoned by the discarded excess of our high-tech gadgets. These products should be designed to be safe, re-usable and long-lasting, not intentionally designed to become obsolete faster than yesterday’s newspaper.
Of course, Apple isn’t alone in failing to address this problem. No company scored a 10 in our green guide. Nokia and Dell were at the top of the list with only a 7, hardly enough to make the honor roll. All of these companies can improve their score, and we as consumers should insist on it at every opportunity. Every company can and should take responsibility for their products’ entire life-cycle.
