O2 gave phone makers a list of 63 questions that it used to rank products on a scale of one to five. The questions covered the ecological impact of the device’s raw materials, how long the devices will likely last, energy efficiency, and ease of reuse or recycling.
The environmental activist group Greenpeace took the opportunity to call Apple out for a lack of manufacturing transparency. “While Apple has recently made important strides in eliminating toxic chemicals from its products and the reporting of their environmental footprint, it still lags behind others in transparency,” commented Geenpeace IT analyst Gary Cook.
Along with Apple, RIM declined to participate. The Blackberry maker, however, said it plans to get in on O2’s program sometime next year.
Apple had no comment on why it isn’t participating.