Cupertino (CA) - Apple may be the leader in the market of MP3 players, but in the world of environmental friendliness, the company holds an entirely different distinction. According to Greenpeace, Apple is ranked dead last on the scale of green electronics, failing to make virtually any accommodation to lessen its output of electronic waste.

Click through the Greenpeace December 2006 ranking ...

Several electronics companies were ranked based on a handful of criteria and given a score of 1 - 10. Apple ranked in at 2.7 on the Greenpeace scale, with the organization noting "low scores on almost all criteria and no progress."

"For a company that claims to lead on product design, Apple scores badly on almost all criteria. The company fails to embrace the precautionary principle, withholds its full list of regulated substances and provides no timelines for eliminating toxic polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and no commitment to phasing out all uses of brominated flame retardants (BFRs)," Greenpeace writes in its report.

Each company was ranked in nine different categories, including chemical management, personal initiative, and customer awareness. In all but one of these criteria, Apple was ranked as "bad" or "partially bad". The saving grace was the criteria on reporting output and recycling of electronic waste. "On the positive side, Apple acknowledges importance of responsible recycling," says the report.

Greenpeace is singling out Apple, motivating the company to conform to greener standards by creating the "Green my Apple" campaign as a push to get consumers to speak out against Apple's poor level of environmental awareness.

In the August edition of Greenpeace's reports, though, Apple was not the worst offender. Acer had received a score of 2.3, while Motorola and Lenovo ranked in at 1.7 and 1.3, respectively. However, these companies took action and raised their scores, with Acer and Lenovo each jumping to 5.3, and Motorola rising all the way to a 6. Apple, on the other hand, had the exact same ranking in August, a 2.7, and according to Greenpeace, failed to do anything to bring that score up, causing Apple's score to fall to the bottom of the pack.

Nokia is the company distinguished for being at the top or near the top of the rankings seemingly forever. Currently, Greenpeace ranks it at 7.3, higher than any other electronics corporation. No one has reached the very top of the 10-point scale, leaving Greenpeace to ask the question and put forth the challenge, "Who will be the first to go green?"

Source : Tom's Hardware US