How green is the New iPad - part 4: Restricted substances

Last week we started a 7-part series in which we explore the carbon footprint and environmental impacts of the new iPad, compare it to those of the iPad 2 and try to figure out if Apple has made any progress from environmental perspective with its new iPad and what's the new breakeven point between books and ebooks on the iPad.

Every day we're looking into another part of the carbon footprint of the new iPad. We already covered production, energy efficiency and packaging. Today we're looking at restricted substances.

Restricted substances:

Here is the information on the restricted substances of the new iPad (source: Apple's report):

Apple has long taken a leadership role in restricting harmful substances from its products and packaging. As part of this strategy, all Apple products comply with the strict European Directive on the Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment, also known as the RoHS Directive. Examples of materials restricted by RoHS include lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, and the brominated flame retardants (BFRs) PBB and PBDE. iPad goes even further than the requirements of the RoHS Directive by incorporating the following more aggressive restrictions:

• Mercury-free LED-backlit display
• Arsenic-free display glass
• BFR-free
• Polyvinyl chloride (PVC)−free

Here is the information on the restricted substances of the iPad 2 (source: Apple's report - revised version):

Apple has long taken a leadership role in restricting harmful substances from its products and packaging. As part of this strategy, all Apple products comply with the strict European Directive on the Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment, also known as the RoHS Directive. Examples of materials restricted by RoHS include lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, and the brominated flame retardants (BFRs) PBB and PBDE. iPad 2 goes even further than the requirements of the RoHS Directive by incorporating the following more aggressive restrictions:

• Mercury-free LED-backlit display
• Arsenic-free display glass
• BFR-free
• Polyvinyl chloride (PVC)−free

Our take: Basically, nothing has changed in the newest version of the iPad when it comes to restricted substances. The text is the same text, which means that no new steps have been taken to improve the new iPad from hazardous substances use standpoint.

Bottom line: Apple is static when it comes to restricted substances. We'll have to see if it gets more innovative about it in the next version or maybe this is as good as it gets.

Next part on our series: Recycling.

Here are the parts of the series that were released so far:

Part 1 - production
Part 2 - energy efficiency
Part 3 - packaging

More resources on how green is the iPad can be found on our website at www.ecolibris.net/ipad.asp

More resources on the ebooks vs. physical books environmental debate can be found on our website at www.ecolibris.net/ebooks.asp.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!