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How green is that iPhone?
How green is that iPhone?
At the end of June Apple will launch its first major product since Steve Jobs 'A Greener Apple' statement. So how green will the iPhone be?
Like everyone else we don't know what's in the iPhone yet. It debuts June 29th. But we already know how green a phone can be. Nokia, Sony Ericsson, and Motorola have both removed some of the worst chemicals from their phones and identified extra toxic chemicals they intend to remove in the future -- even beyond the minimal legal requirements.
Nokia and Sony Ericsson have a global take-back policy for their phones and accept their responsibility to reuse and recycle the phones they manufacture. That saves resources and helps prevent old phones ending up as e-waste dumped in Asia.
"There's already phones that do this"
Due to our successful Green my Apple campaign Steve claimed: "Apple is ahead of, or will soon be ahead of, most of its competitors" on environmental issues. This is Apple's chance to prove it.
To be only as good as Nokia and Sony Ericsson, Apple should:
Not use toxic chemicals like
brominated flame retardants and Polyvinyl Chloride in the
iPhone.
Offer for free worldwide take-back for the
iPhone.
Analysts are projecting between 4 to 10 million iPhones will be sold in the first year. This is a big chance for Apple to avoid the use of a lot of toxic chemicals. And how soon will those 4 to 10 million iPhones be made obsolete by Apple's next big innovation? Because millions of them will be cast aside as old gadgets when the latest arrives. Will Apple offer global options to prevent them from becoming e-waste?
Some might point out that the iPhone has already been made and shipped so it's too late to make any changes. But Apple uses the same supplier (Foxconn) as Nokia for parts of its iPhone. So theoretically Apple could have specified parts free of the worst toxic chemicals from a supplier already meeting Nokia's strict chemicals requirements.
Carbon calling
What will Apple do to address the extra energy iPhones will consume? Nokia and Motorola are focussing on making their phone chargers more efficient; Nokia is developing user warnings to unplug when the phone is charged.
Will the iPhone have a user replaceable battery, to prevent iPhones with broken batteries become premature e-waste?
Dell vs Apple: Eco-Rumble in the Electronics Jungle
If Steve was serious that Apple was already making environment considerations a priority then the iPhone launch will be the first chance to prove it with a greener product. With Steve and Michael Dell seemingly publicly slugging it out for the title of greenest computer company, maybe Steve will land the next green blow by launching a phone even greener than those currently on the market. This is his chance to demonstrate a major Apple product that has been designed with environmental concerns as a priority.
There's a lot of people expecting nothing less from Steve.
ENDS
Greenpeace
Greenpeace exists because this fragile earth deserves a voice.
Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning organisation that acts to change attitudes and behaviour, to protect and conserve the environment and to promote peace.
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