Apple has agreed to pay $450,000 to settle claims it improperly dealt with e-waste at facilities in Cupertino and Sunnyvale, the California Environmental Protection Agency said on Tuesday.
In Cupertino, Apple allegedly operated an e-waste shredding facility between 2011 and 2012 without informing regulators, also mishandling metal dust from the facility, Reuters reported. The complex took in 1.1 million pounds of waste before being closed in Jan. 2013.
The Sunnyvale complex is said to have processed 800,000 pounds of waste before regulators were told it existed. On top of this, the company is accused of taking toxic dust swept off the floor to a site lacking the authority to handle it.
Apple further failed to report and track waste exports, regulators said, or mark used oil containers as hazardous.
The incidents conflict with the public image Apple has crafted for itself, which depict it as one of the most environmentally responsible companies in the world. Its electronics have been stripped of many dangerous chemicals, and the company has worked aggressively to use renewable energy at as many of its stores and offices as possible.
24 Comments
I really, really doubt it was Apple that was running this e-waste facility. More than likely they subcontracted this activity.
Sog35, You are in a bubble of your own making.
Apple has every reason to stand on the correct side of the countless ethical, environmental and social ills that confront humanity.
are you so shallow, you haven't heard that equality is the goal of a more perfect union, or company, society or marriage?
As for the environment, have you not heard, Sog, we have a big problem with climate change? You may not care, but Apple as an institution, most of Apples employees, many of its customers, many of the nationals of its home nation, the nations and treaties upon which it is regulated and .... most marginally enlightened people throughout the world understand and expect that companies and governments must lead the way and will be held to that standard. As well it should be! A lot more people would be bitching, I assure you, if the held the opposite opinion about the worlds ills.
Come out of your cave.
Also, realize Tim Cook is a good man, represents Apple in an exemplary manner as an administrator, front man and lead strategist. He has served as a role model, going forward for countless Executives, both corporate and Government.
is he perfect, no. Only those in the rarefied world of s...5 are so prescient.