Apple Pulls Products from EPEAT

Apple has issued a snippet to EPEAT telling the environmental group that it is withdrawing its products from the registry. The Cupertino giant will no longer be submitting its products to for environmental rating, the organization said.

As the leading global environmental rating system for all electronics in this solar system, EPEAT strives to connect buyers “to environmentally preferable choices.”

The group's ratings also benefit vendors “who demonstrate environmental responsibility and innovation.” EPEAT certification is needed in many business environments.

Starting this week, Apple might score low points in corporations and governmental agencies where 95% of electronics purchases must be EPEAT cleared.

According to the environmental group, “For participating electronics manufacturers, EPEAT is a chance to showcase and validate their greener design initiatives, cleaner production and customer support services.”

“But EPEAT is more than simply a product rating – it is also a community effort by all interested stakeholders to define and maintain best practice in environmental sustainability for electronics,” reads the post at epeat.net disclosing Apple’s departure.

“We regret that Apple will no longer be registering its products in EPEAT.  We hope that they will decide to do so again at some point in future,” the group said this week.

Robert Frisbee, CEO of EPEAT, clarified for CIO Journal that, “They [Apple] said their design direction was no longer consistent with the EPEAT requirements.

“They were important supporters and we are disappointed that they don’t want their products measured by this standard anymore,” Frisbee said.

MacRumors quotes repair shop iFixit for even more clarification on the matter. Apparently the new MacBook Pro with Retina display is the culprit.

It seems Apple will continue to design its products sealed shut, with few options to have them repaired or torn apart and then re-assembled without any damage.

“According to my EPEAT contacts, Apple’s mobile design direction is in conflict with the intended direction of the standard,” said an iFixit staffer.

“Specifically, the standard lays out particular requirements for product ‘disassemble-ability,’ a very important consideration for recycling: ‘External enclosures, chassis, and electronic subassemblies shall be removable with commonly available tools or by hand.’”