Environmental Leader

Apple ranks dead last in Greenpeace’s latest green list. The report (PDF) of top electronic manufacturers is based on the recycling and toxic content policies of the companies and is intended to pressure them to reduce electronic waste, Infoworld reports.

Apple’s ranking might not surprise many since it’s the only one of the 14 companies that Greenpeace has devoted a campaign Web site against (Green My Apple). Greenpeace also demonstrated outside Apple’s Fifth Avenue store in December. What is surprising is that China’s Lenovo Group is at the top of the list. Lenovo was ranked at the bottom of 14 companies surveyed when Greenpeace first published the report less than one year ago.

Lenovo jumped to the top spot because Greenpeace found that the company has committed to halting or mitigating the use of chemicals that could be harmful. It’s also offering a recycling program in all countries where it operates.

According to a BusinessWeek article, both Apple and Dell use harmful chemicals in their PCs, but Dell says it will stop using them by 2009. Apple hasn’t pointed to a precise date that it intends to stop, but it is otherwise equally committed to the issue. Businessweek goes on to say that after being hit with high-intensity protests, Dell, which finished fourth on the list, decided to play ball with Greenpeace, creating a wide-ranging recycling program.

Rounding out the top five on the list are Nokia, Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications, Dell, and Samsung Electronics. Toshiba, Sony, LG Electronics, and Matsushita Electric Industrial finished just ahead of Apple.

Many on the list participate in EPEAT, the EPA-funded green computer standard released in July. More than 300 computers are now registered.

The manufacturers are (links lead to EPEAT profiles): Apple, CTL, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, NEC Display Solutions, Northern Micro, Panasonic, and Sony.