Canadian Mac Forums at ehMac banner

Environmentalists target Apple/Jobs at AGM

2K views 1 reply 2 participants last post by  ArtistSeries 
#1 ·

MacCentral said:
Jobs rebuts eco-group claims at annual meeting
Thu Apr 21, 6:04 PM ET

By Jim Dalrymple MacCentral

Apple on Thursday held its annual shareholders meeting at the company’s headquarters in Cupertino, Calif. While the majority of the question and answer period went smoothly, a group of environmentalists drew the ire of Apple CEO Steve Jobs as he sought to set the record straight. Jobs also used the opportunity to take a swipe at Microsoft’s upcoming “Longhorn” operating system.

Down to business

The first order of business was to vote on resolutions, including the re-election of the current Board of Directors. All current members of the board, including Fred Anderson, William Campbell, Millard Drexler, Al Gore, Steve Jobs, Arthur Levinson and Jerome York, were re-elected for another term.

Shareholders also voted on on a performance bonus plan, amendments to the employee stock option plan, and the ratification of independent auditors KPMG — all passed the preliminary vote without comment from the shareholders.

One shareholder motion asked the Board of Directors to implement a performance and time-based restricted share grant program for senior executives. This did not pass the preliminary vote.

Jobs defends Apple’s environmental policies

A group of environmentalists at the meeting chastised Jobs for Apple’s policies on recycling. Specifically, the group recommended that Apple should collect unwanted computers at no cost, suggesting that PC makers like Dell and HP take back systems for free. Currently Apple will recycle computers for a US$30 charge.

“There is a lot of inaccuracy here — I’ll give you an example. Dell and HP don’t do it for free,” said Jobs. “HP charges $40 and Dell charges $20 — we are right in the middle. Apple has a really strong environmental policy.”

Jobs took on the group’s charges one at a time until he had covered all of the topics. The specific issues the group had that were:

1. Apple should start a consumer take-back program where Apple recycles old equipment.

“We’ve had this program for the last four years,” said Jobs. “In the last year alone we have recycled over 1,500 tons of equipment. The group protesting that believes we should do this for free, but we don’t because we believe the responsibility lies not just with us, but also the consumer.”

2. The group says that Apple has been lobbying against state legislation in Minnesota and Maine requiring companies to setup take-back programs.

“This is just not accurate,” said Jobs. “We have been working with Minnesota to create an electronics waste program — we absolutely believe they should have a take-back program. In Maine, we were the only electronics company to get involved.”

3. The group says Apple uses prison or forced labor in the recycling programs.

“This completely untrue. We don’t use any prison or forced labor in our recycling programs or anywhere else,” said Jobs.

“It’s been suggested we do this in software development,” joked Jobs, which brought laughter from the crowd.

4. The protesters say Apple ships hazardous e-waste overseas.

“This is untrue, we don’t ship any e-waste overseas,” said Jobs. “The only thing we ship overseas is ground up plastics that are shipped to make new recycled plastics — this is a good thing.”

5. The protesters call the iPod “a time-bomb for our health and environment because of the toxic materials that will either go into incinerators or landfills.”

“This is untrue,” said Jobs. “There is a small amount of lead in the iPod and we are working to get that out. To call the iPod an environmental time-bomb is just inexcusable.”

6. The group is saying the batteries in the iPod are environmentally irresponsible because they’re not easily user-serviceable.

“We completely disagree,” said Jobs. “As you know most consumers simply throw batteries away when they wear out — this is not the environmental outcome we all want. Apple already has a battery and take-back program in place for both the iPod and the iPod mini.”

“Why is this group spreading this disinformation about Apple’s environmental policies?” asked Jobs.

“We don’t really know, but we think their goal is to use Apple’s visibility to gain publicity for their own group,” said Jobs.

According to Jobs, the leader of the group told the Kansas City Star last month, “We picked the iPod to go after because it’s the hippest thing around.”

“Well they have good taste in picking the iPod, but that doesn’t make their false statements true.” said Jobs.

“This is just [nonsense],” said Jobs to the clapping shareholders.
 
See less See more
2
#2 ·
Environmental group shoots back at Apple
By Jim Dalrymple jdalrymple@maccentral.com

The Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition (SVTC) — the same environmental group that drew the attention of Apple CEO Steve Jobs at the company’s shareholder meeting yesterday — on Friday shot back at statements Jobs made about the company’s environmental policies. While the groups initial charges were broad, they narrowed the focus on many of the issues in their responses today.

Jobs countered claims that Apple did not have an effective computer takeback program by pointing out that Apple has had such a program for four years, recycling over 1,500 tons in the last year. The SVTC said in response that while that may sound like a lot, it doesn’t compare to the 5,000 tons that HP collected in a six-week program.

However, the SVTC did not counter claims that it made saying that Apple charged for recycling, while HP and Dell did not. Jobs said that both companies charged for their recycling programs.

The SVTC also said Apple has been lobbying against state legislation in Minnesota and Maine requiring companies to setup take-back programs, a claim Jobs flatly denied. The group says Apple hired lobbyist Dan Riley to oppose the State e-waste legislation—the legislation passed with the help of HP and Dell, the group says.

After making an initial claim against Apple in Minnesota, the SVTC did not address this issue in their response today.

Claims that Apple uses prison or forced labor in their recycling programs were categorically denied by Jobs, saying that Apple nor their partners use such labor forces. The SVTC countered saying they have proof.

“Jobs has set up a straw man here,” the SVTC response reads. “By not creating effective pathways for clean, responsible recycling for the vast majority of their products in the waste stream, computer producers such as Apple guarantee that a significant amount of e-waste will be handled by recyclers who use prison labor for disassembly of computers. We have contacts inside the prison system who confirm that Apple computers and other products DO end up in the prison disassembly programs.”

Jobs said that Apple ships ground-up plastics overseas to make new recycled plastics, but the SVTC counters it’s Apple’s inaction on this issue that “assures that e-waste winds up in Asia. We know from allies overseas that Apple products do end up in China and India, sent there via disreputable ‘recyclers,’” according to the response from the group.

Calling the SVTC’s claim that the iPod “a time-bomb for our health,” inexcusable, Jobs did say that there is a small amount of lead in the iPod, which the company is working to get rid of.

“Even small amounts of lead can be very, very harmful,” said the SVTC response. “And because the iPod is so small, it is much more likely to get tossed into the trash (instead of recycled) and end up in the landfill.”

The group also said that even though Apple has set up an iPod battery replacement program that consumers would not take advantage of it, instead choosing to “toss it in the trash.”

Jobs said yesterday that he thought the group was using Apple’s visibility to gain publicity for their own group. Quoting a report in the Kansas City Star, the leader of the environmental group said they “picked the iPod to go after because it’s the hippest thing around.”

Apple representatives were not immediately available for comment
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top