It recently came to Apple Inc. that some environmental organizations are criticizing it for not being a good model in terms of removing toxic chemicals from its new products as well as recycling old products.

CEO Steve Jobs came up then with a press release highlighting his company's plans about the matter. Jobs revealed though that these measures aren't exactly new, and that they've been doing this long before the said complaints made mass media. It's just that he felt the need to inform Apple's consumers and stakeholders because the above mentioned allegations are rather serious.

The list is quite long and the Read link should take to Jobs' complete statement. But some of the most important highlights include:

• Apple completely eliminated the use of CRTs in mid-2006. Dell, Gateway, Hewlett Packard and Lenovo still ship CRT displays today.
• Apple products met both the spirit and letter of the RoHS restrictions on cadmium, hexavalent chromium and brominated flame retardants years before RoHS went into effect.
• Apple plans to completely eliminate the use of arsenic in all of its displays by the end of 2008.
• Apple plans to reduce and eventually eliminate the use of mercury by transitioning to LED backlighting for all displays when technically and economically feasible.
• Apple plans to completely eliminate the use of PVC and BFRs in its products by the end of 2008.
• Apple recycled 13 million pounds of e-waste in 2006, which is equal to 9.5% of the weight of all products Apple sold seven years earlier.
• We expect this percentage to grow to 13% in 2007, and to 20% in 2008. By 2010, we forecast recycling 19 million pounds of e-waste per year Â? nearly 30% of the product weight we sold seven years earlier.
• All the e-waste we collect in North America is processed in the U.S., and nothing is shipped overseas for disposal.
• Apple products are designed using high quality materials that are in high demand from recyclers.