The importance of eco-ratings to consumers is a lesson that Apple recently learned, after getting heat for dropping out of the US federal EPEAT registry, and quickly recommiting to submitting its devices for EPEAT ratings. Now AT&T will is making its eco-ratings on branded postpaid mobile devices available in-store. 

AT&T's Eco Rating scale (which was announced in February) measures mobile products according to criteria including hazardous substances, environmentally preferable materials, energy efficiency, end of life take back and environmentally responsible manufacturing. 

"AT&T's eco-ratings give consumers product information they want," said Jeff Bradley, SVP, Devices, AT&T Mobility. "Consumers want the best and fastest devices while being able to make an empowered choice about environmental impacts of the device. Our eco-ratings accomplish just that."Continue reading...

Apple has pulled out of EPEAT, a global non-profit eco-rating service sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and will no longer label its electronic products according to their environmental impact as a result.

In stating its disappointment at the move, EPEAT noted that its certification program is "more than simply a product rating – it is also a community effort by all interested stakeholders to define and maintain best practice in environmental sustainability for electronics."

Tech Week Europe sees it as "a setback to Apple’s green campaign and may have come about because of difficulties in dismantling and recycling new MacBook products."Continue reading...