Tag: Macbook

The city of San Francisco has said no more Apple computer purchases for now. City employees will no longer be able to use city funds to buy Apple laptops, and desktops. This comes after Apple pulled their computers off of an environmentally friendly list of computer equipment called EPEAT.

EPEAT was created by government agencies, activist groups and manufacturers, including, at the time, Apple. The list is a grouping of computer equipment that is easily recyclable. San Francisco requires that all of their computer equipment purchases by EPEAT compliant. There is a waiver but it’s typically only granted for equipment purchases that are required and can only be outfitted with a piece of equipment off the list. CNET gave an example of a piece of police computer equipment that wasn’t EPEAT listed.

So why would Apple remove themselves from the list they helped create?

The latest Apple MacBook Pro, the one with the amazing Retina display is not EPEAT compliant. The battery on the newest MacBook Pro (that also costs over $2500) is glued into the computer making it harder to recycle the toxic materials in the battery itself.

This may not be a permanent ban though. San Francisco’s Chief Information Officer, John Walton, says there is a dialogue open with Apple and he’s hoping Apple will reconsider and re-list themselves on the EPEAT list.

“I’m hopeful since we haven’t had a dialogue with Apple on this, and we’re not really clear why they chose to do this, that they may have other standards,” Walton told CNET

Source: CNET