Apple's decision to withdraw from green registry irks S.F. officials

Apple’s decision to withdraw from green registry irks S.F. officials

By Andrea Chang

July 11, 2012 1 PM PT

Turns out consumers aren’t the only ones disappointed with Apple’s decision to withdraw from a registry of green products.

Department of Environment officials in San Francisco -- land of the environmentally friendly -- have pledged to inform all 50 of the city’s agencies that Apple’s laptops and desktops will no longer qualify for purchase with city funds, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The move comes after Apple notified the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool that it was withdrawing its products from the EPEAT registry and will no longer be submitting them for environmental ratings.

EPEAT is a global environmental rating system for electronic products, “connecting purchases to environmentally preferable choices and benefiting producers who demonstrate environmental responsibility and innovation.”

EPEAT, in a statement, said: “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 the future.”

The Journal, citing EPEAT staffers, said Apple requested that all 39 of its certified MacBooks and desktops be pulled from the registry in late June.

For San Francisco, “the move by city officials is largely symbolic,” the Journal said, because only about 1% to 2% of municipal computers are Macs.

The city’s Department of Environment did not return calls seeking comment. An Apple spokesperson could not be reached for comment.

Despite pulling its products from EPEAT, Apple has made efforts this year to be more transparent about how its products are made. In January the Cupertino, Calif., company for the first time disclosed the names of its suppliers and manufacturing partners, and detailed its efforts to monitor its suppliers for compliance on environmental standards.

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