According to the last quarterly update on the IT industry's performance regarding environmental care issued by the
environmental group Greenpeace on Wednesday, Apple remains in last place, although many other companies seem to be improving.

Rick Hind, the legislative director of Greenpeace USA's Toxics campaign said that "Despite being a leader in innovation and design, Apple has made absolutely no improvements to its policies or practices since the ranking was first released three months ago". But what happened three months ago with Apple and what should have been improved since then?

Back in September, Greenpeace said that Apple doesn't publish a list of regulated substances it uses in its products, and the Cupertino-based company was also faulted for not releasing a schedule for eliminating polyvinyl chlorides and brominated flame retardants (PVCs and BFRs), as well as for selling only a few peripheral free of PVCs. Although Apple has started to take-back programs in some countries, it reports the weight of recycled products but not the percentage of sales, according to Greenpeace. Apple received got one good mark for not exporting e-waste, a tactic that became a real problem for developing countries in the last years.

Apple disagreed with Greenpeace's ratings and criteria, saying they eliminated CRT monitors that contained lead from its product lines, along with hexavalent chromium and cadmium in manufacturing.

It seems no company can score higher than 7 out of 10 in Greenpeace's eyes yet, and Rich Hind stated recently that "Apple's bad green policy is not a wonderful life for workers in the scrap yards of the developing world, and we can't imagine that Steve Jobs would want to be the Mr. Potter of the high-tech industry this holiday season.".

Everything takes time, and until we're going to see computers that can be eaten after being outdated and, of course, with no sugar included... I only hope I'll live to see that day, and I am waiting for the next Greenpeace report, because I am confident that Apple will improve its rating.