The co-founder and CEO of iFixit has a few choice words for the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) after the registry verified Apple's 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display with a Gold rating.
Wired published an editorial from the co-founder and CEO of iFixit, a company well-known to MacLife.com readers for their extensive teardowns of our favorite Apple computers and gadgets.
In the opinion piece, iFixit's Kyle Wiens takes EPEAT to task for slapping a "Gold" verification on Apple's latest 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display -- along with four other Ultrabooks -- despite the fact that the notebook is what he calls "the least repairable, least recyclable computer I have encountered in more than a decade of disassembling electronics."
Referring to the Gold verification as "a clear case of greenwashing," Wiens calls the latest interpretation of the EPEAT Gold standard "laughably out of touch."
"At worst, it means recyclers a decade from now may be faced with a mountain of electronic waste they cannot affordably recycle without custom disassembly fixtures and secret manufacturer information," Wiens warned.
"Apple’s MacBook Pro with Retina display is not repairable, it’s not upgradeable, and it’s not easy to disassemble for recycling," the iFixit co-founder concludes at the end of his extensive opinion piece. "Yet it is EPEAT Gold. The Product Verification Committee’s decision essentially greenwashes the Retina.
"We need to act now -- or it won’t be long before every manufacturer is gluing in their batteries, unable to stand the test of time."
The entire Wired opinion piece is online and well worth a read for those concerned about the environmental impact of their computers.
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SarahOB
October 18, 2012 at 4:14pm
As we have since the launch of the EPEAT registry six years ago, EPEAT continues to impartially apply and verify the standard.
A few observations on the recent Verification investigation (Round 2012-05) of multiple ultralight products from multiple manufacturers:
Regarding upgrade capability, the criteria specifically state that products may be upgraded or extended “by a high performance serial bus (IEEE Std 1394™ [B4]) or Universal Serial Bus (USB)”. Regardless of opinions about whether or not that is appropriate or acceptable language, the hard fact is that EPEAT has no authority to ‘flunk’ products if they meet the explicit terms of the standard.
Regarding disassembly: The criteria under discussion are located in the section of the standard that addresses Design for End of Life – that is, design for effective recycling. The criteria investigated are not aimed at refurbishment or repair. Again, people may think that there should be more in the standard about disassembly for repair and refurbishment – and we welcome their views – but these criteria do not apply to that topic.
The standard also doesn’t forbid specific construction methods such as fasteners versus adhesives – it just requires products to be easy to disassemble for recycling. The test lab went through the disassembly process and reported that the products were all easy to disassemble with commonly available tools.
But pursuing this debate over the details of one investigation is a distraction from the purpose and significance of the EPEAT system and what it has accomplished.
After the PC/Display registry was launched, it took a year for any products to meet the Gold rating requirements, because it was extremely challenging. Over time, the EPEAT PC/Display criteria have become more familiar and companies have designed them into their products and supply chain requirements. That’s a good thing. In fact the whole point of the EPEAT system is to drive change. Our goal is to create a new bottom line for environmental innovation that affects the whole global industry for the better.
New and very challenging Imaging Equipment and TV standards were just published and the PC/Display standards is slated for revision very soon in an open public process - join us in improving on an already powerful system!
