Green iPhone

User created design from the Green my Apple campaign.


How green is that iPhone?

At the end of June Apple will launch its first major product since

Steve Jobs 'A Greener Apple' statement. So how green will the

iPhone be?
Like everyone else we don't know what's in the iPhone yet. It

debuts June 29th. But we already know how green a phone can

be. Nokia, Sony Ericsson, and Motorola have both removed some

of the worst chemicals from their phones and identified extra toxic

chemicals they intend to remove in the future -- even beyond the

minimal legal requirements.

Nokia and Sony Ericsson have a global take-back policy for their

phones and accept their responsibility to reuse and recycle the

phones they manufacture. That saves resources and helps prevent

old phones ending up as e-waste dumped in Asia.


"There's already phones that do this"

Due to our successful Green my Apple campaign Steve claimed:

"Apple is ahead of, or will soon be ahead of, most of its

competitors" on environmental issues. This is Apple's chance to

prove it.

To be only as good as Nokia and Sony Ericsson, Apple should:

* Not use toxic chemicals like brominated flame retardants and

Polyvinyl Chloride in the iPhone.
* Offer for free worldwide take-back for the iPhone.


Analysts are projecting between 4 to 10 million iPhones will be

sold in the first year. This is a big chance for Apple to avoid the

use of a lot of toxic chemicals. And how soon will those 4 to 10

million iPhones be made obsolete by Apple's next big innovation?

Because millions of them will be cast aside as old gadgets when the

latest arrives. Will Apple offer global options to prevent them from

becoming e-waste?

Some might point out that the iPhone has already been made and

shipped so it's too late to make any changes. But Apple uses the

same supplier (Foxconn) as Nokia for parts of its iPhone. So

theoretically Apple could have specified parts free of the worst

toxic chemicals from a supplier already meeting Nokia's strict

chemicals requirements.

Carbon calling

What will Apple do to address the extra energy iPhones will

consume? Nokia and Motorola are focussing on making their

phone chargers more efficient; Nokia is developing user warnings

to unplug when the phone is charged.

Will the iPhone have a user replaceable battery, to prevent iPhones

with broken batteries become premature e-waste?

Dell vs Apple: Eco-Rumble in the Electronics Jungle

If Steve was serious that Apple was already making environment

considerations a priority then the iPhone launch will be the first

chance to prove it with a greener product. With Steve and Michael

Dell seemingly publicly slugging it out for the title of greenest

computer company, maybe Steve will land the next green blow by

launching a phone even greener than those currently on the

market. This is his chance to demonstrate a major Apple product

that has been designed with environmental concerns as a priority.

There's a lot of people expecting nothing less from Steve.


Take action

* Challenge the major computer makers to see who will be the

first to match their promises by putting a less toxic computer on

the market.