City of San Francisco Will No Longer Buy Apple Products

Apple’s Cupertino headquarters may just be a few miles away from San Francisco, but the city won’t be spending any more cash on its products.
According to the Wall Street Journal, city agencies in San Francisco will no longer be able to purchase Apple products after the company asked the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) — the group that sets environmental standards for electronics — to remove all 39 of its products from the agency’s green registry.

The standards set forth by EPEAT require products to be easily disassembled by consumers — so that they can remove toxic components such as batteries – in order to be considered green. Apple’s newest products can’t be easily taken apart, and thus can no longer be considered green under the standards.
A 2007 policy requires San Francisco city agencies to purchase 100% EPEAT-certified desktops, laptops, and monitors.

“We are disappointed that Apple chose to withdraw from EPEAT, and we hope that the city saying it will not buy Apple products will make Apple reconsider its participation,” Melanie Nutter, director of San Francisco’s Department of Environment said in an interview with the Journal.

Only between one and two percent of San Francisco’s municipal computers are Macs. In 2010, for instance, the city spent $45,579 on Apple products, compared to $3.8 million it spent overall on desktop and laptop computers in the same year.

While mostly symbolic in nature, the move is one that Chris Geiger, manager of green purchasing at San Francisco’s Department of Environment, hopes will influence how other cities who may not require 100% EPEAT certification make their purchases as well.

What do you think about Apple removing its products from the EPEAT green registry? Does its removal affect your decision to purchase Apple products in the future? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
[via WSJ]