Apple has taken another step toward greening its products and image with its latest iPod Nano.
At the company's
September event, CEO Steve Jobs touched on the environmental aspects of the new Nano, which has arsenic-free glass and doesn't contain any PVC, mercury or brominated flame retardants (BFRs).
"We want to be just really environmentally sensitive with these products. We ship a lot of them," Jobs said. "We're constantly worried about reducing the size of the packaging and the transportation carbon that we spend to move these around the world. But the biggest thing we worry about are the toxics."
Jobs said the new Nano is also highly recyclable due to its aluminum and glass content. "We think these new Nanos are the cleanest, toxic-free iPods we've ever built," he said.
Apple has already been selling iPods with mercury-free LED displays and bromine-free components. In recent years the company also released its first MacBooks with arsenic-free glass and mercury-free LEDs.
Apple plans to completely eliminate PVC, BFRs and arsenic from all products by the end of this year, and it provide free takeback for recycling iPods.
For years, Greenpeace has criticized Apple -- and other electronics companies -- for its environmental record. In the group's June
Guide to Greener Electronics, though, it gave Apple high marks for reducing harmful materials and increasing energy efficiency. Apple got lower marks related to using renewable energy, committing to reducing greenhouse gases and using recycled plastic, mostly because no information on those topics was made available.
