San Francisco stops buying Apple computers

SAN FRANCISCO — Apple’s withdrawal from an environmental ratings registry has prompted at least one city — San Francisco — to stop buying its computers.

The decision does not apply to iPads or iPhones. But Francis Tsang, spokesman for Mayor Edwin Lee’s office, says the city’s rules require that laptops, computers and monitors comply with the registry’s requirements.

Late last month, Apple Inc. told the nonprofit EPEAT, short for Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool, to remove its products from its registry. It also plans to stop submitting its products to EPEAT for environmental ratings.

EPEAT is an industry standard that seeks to make it easier for customers to buy environmentally friendly electronics. Manufacturers still participating include Dell Inc., Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Samsung and Sony.

Apple did not respond to messages for comment Wednesday afternoon.

Although it pulled out of the environmental registry, Apple has long pointed to its environmental track record. On the “environment” section of is website, Apple says it “reports environmental impact comprehensively. We do this by focusing on our products: what happens when we design them, what happens when we make them, and what happens when you take them home and use them.”

For example, the Cupertino, Calif.-based company has replaced many of the hazardous materials in its gadgets with less harmful and more recyclable ones and has designed longer-life batteries for its computers, media players and phones. Its recycling program offers gift cards to people who send in their old Apple gadgets for recycling.