Apple promises to get greener

Apple Inc., responding to criticism from environmental groups, promised to change its image, getting greener than most of its competitors, U.S. media reported Thursday.

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.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs posted a letter on the company website Wednesday detailing present and future plans to make a greener Apple.

Included among the iPod maker's green initiatives is a push to remove toxic chemicals -- such as lead, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, arsenic and mercury -- in its products.

Jobs emphasized that Apple completely eliminated the use of CRTs, which contain lead, in mid-2006. Moreover, Apple plans to completely eliminate the use of arsenic in all of its displays by the end of 2008.

Apple also plans to reduce and eventually eliminate the use of mercury by transitioning to LED backlighting for all displays when technically and economically feasible.

He also touted Apple's recycling efforts, with comparison to HP and Dell.

Apple recycled 13 million pounds of e-waste in 2006, which is equal to 9.5 percent of the weight of all products Apple sold seven years earlier. Apple expects this percentage to grow to 13 percent in 2007, and to 20 percent in 2008.

"By 2010, we forecast recycling 19 million pounds of e-waste per year -- nearly 30 percent of the product weight we sold seven years earlier, significantly more than either Dell or HP," Jobs said.

All the e-waste Apple collects in North America is processed in the United States, and nothing is shipped overseas for disposal, Jobs noted.
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