Greenpeace gives Apple a boost while Samsung takes a hit

Former Greenpeace foe Apple jumped from 9th to 5th in the latest “Guide To Green Electronics” unveiled at the  Consumer Electronics Show (CES). The guide rates companies on whether their wares like laptops or LCD TV’s are earth friendly.

Apple and Greenpeace aren’t known as best buddies. Greenpeace went after Apple and headlines with mock sites, store stunts, and protesting outside product launches like the iPhone. They irked Steve Jobs so much at the event he suggested the group should "get out of the computer business [and] go save some whales."

Perhaps Apple was tired of Greenpeace nabbing headlines or thought it made business sense to be responsible on all levels. It looks like they’ve taken some steps to change their practices.

Apple’s score increased by ditching brominated flame retardants (BFRs) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) from their product lines. They also worked on combating e-waste and launching recycling programs that extend to the growing Asia Pacific market.

They earned additional praise because of Greenpeace’s latest indicator, lobbying. Greenpeace wants big companies that stop using toxic materials like PVC to make it an industry wide practice through lobbying and legislation.

Greenpeace noted that Apple lobbied the European Union during the change of the RoHS Directive (Restriction of Hazardous Substances in electronics). The revised document would add a ban of BFRs, chlorinated flame retardants (CFRs), and PVCs from use in making electronics. Nokia, which earned the number one slot, lost a point because they didn’t back the change.

Apple’s jump in the guide is also due to the procrastination of other companies. Major players like Dell, Lenovo, LG and Samsung vowed to eliminate BFRs and PVCs from their product lines by the end of 2009. Greenpeace claims that the companies have stalled on the pledge and delayed the move until at least 2011. Of that group Samsung took the biggest hit falling from second to seventh place because they missed their BFR timeline.

Due to the slide Samsung is in Greenpeace’s crosshairs. They’ve started a petition on the social networking site Twitter to urge the company to cut PVCs from their products. This is a far cry from some of their earlier wacked out stunts but none the less a respectable start.