A Greener Apple

Apple’s secrecy is so well known that it is no longer just a curiosity but a fact about the company, a fact that everyone that works or buys from Apple is aware of. However, it looks like all things change sooner or later, and Apple is slowly starting to trim the curtain around the edges and let us see a little more of what is happening behind the scenes.

In an open letter posted by Steve Jobs on the company’s web site, the CEO discusses Apple and the environment.

Apple has been criticized by some environmental organizations for not being a leader in removing toxic chemicals from its new products, and for not aggressively or properly recycling its old products. Upon investigating Apple’s current practices and progress towards these goals, I was surprised to learn that in many cases Apple is ahead of, or will soon be ahead of, most of its competitors in these areas. Whatever other improvements we need to make, it is certainly clear that we have failed to communicate the things that we are doing well.

It is generally not Apple’s policy to trumpet our plans for the future; we tend to talk about the things we have just accomplished. Unfortunately this policy has left our customers, shareholders, employees and the industry in the dark about Apple’s desires and plans to become greener. Our stakeholders deserve and expect more from us, and they’re right to do so. They want us to be a leader in this area, just as we are in the other areas of our business. So today we’re changing our policy.

Undoubtedly a reaction to the Greenpeace reports that consistently place Apple at the bottom of the list, the open letter goes into details about all the steps taken by Apple to eliminate hazardous materials from their products, as well as recycling efforts and plans for new products.

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