Is Greenpeace Off the Mark on Apple?

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The Greenpeace strategy, of course, is to imply that Apple, the crunchy California computer company that sprang from the ferment of the post-counterculture San Francisco, is just another corporate polluter. Meanwhile, Dell, the namesake company of meat-eating, Republican-backing Michael Dell, gets props for environmental responsibility? It's a political-cultural Bizarro world.

Same Boat, Different Waves

But there's a problem with Greenpeace's claims. Let's start with the issue of PVC. Apple and Dell still use it in certain parts, notably the plastic insulators on internal cabling. Still, Dell gets more credit on the PVC issue. Why? Because Dell has said it plans to stop using PVC by 2009. This even though, given its volume, Dell is flooding the world with far more PVC than Apple. Dell shipped 39 million PCs in 2006, more than seven times Apple's 5.3 million, according to researcher IDC. Apple, too, has committed to eliminating PVC but hasn't set a definitive date.

Now let's look at BFRs, which are used to laminate printed circuit boards, in part to keep computers from bursting into flames. As with PVC, Dell has promised to eliminate their use by 2009. Again, Apple has promised to do the same, but hasn't set a date. Meanwhile, both are waiting for the computer industry to settle on better alternatives that don't have such negative environmental impacts.

As of now, neither Apple nor Dell—nor Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) for that matter—is selling a single PVC- or BFR-free computer. So in truth, Greenpeace has graded Apple based on statements, not actions. Both Dell and Apple are in the same boat, but one is saying the right things in public, and getting applause for it. What happens, I wonder, if 2009 comes and goes and Dell finds itself backtracking on its commitment? Nothing good, from a public relations standpoint, I suspect.

There is another authority on this issue: the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which hosts an online tool called EPEAT, the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool. EPEAT uses a set of criteria developed with the IEEE (formerly the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers), which is a global standards-setting body for electronics manufacturing.

False Drama

EPEAT has established 23 required and 28 optional criteria, addressing such issues as reducing and eliminating toxic materials and building machines whose life can be extended by swapping out old parts for new. Using those metrics, Apple acquits itself well. No single maker earned a "gold" rating, which means the vendor meets all of the first 23 criteria and at least 75% of the additional 28. To qualify for "silver" status, you have to meet the first 23 requirements and at least half of the additional 28. Apple's MacBook Pro came within two points of hitting "gold" status, scoring 19 out of 28 on the optional requirements. Dell's highest score was 15, on its Precision and Latitude notebooks.

And how did Apple and Dell score on the "materials selection" portion of their EPEAT tests? Terribly: Both got zero out of three. The same was true of HP.

So if you're evaluating an Apple purchase versus another computer product based on the haranguing that Apple is receiving from Greenpeace, don't be fooled. Apple's no more or less evil than any other computer manufacturer. And while it's one thing to call attention to a problem that an entire industry needs to address, Greenpeace's methodologies, in this particular case, don't paint an accurate picture.

There's a right way and wrong way to respond to these concerns, and the wrong way would to be cave in to rhetorical bullying by a political action group that's well-known for creating drama where there is none.

Hesseldahl is a senior writer for BusinessWeek.com and his Byte of the Apple column, covering all things Apple, appears biweekly at www.businessweek.com/technology.