I never thought I'd say that Apple and I have something in common. But after Apple's blush-worthy meeting with investors over its shabby recycling efforts, I related, remembering my own boyfriend shocked to find a wine bottle in my trash can. 

 

 

"We recycle!" he declared, holding up the offensive bottle.

 

Apple's shareholders said as much. Apple originally had a dismal recycling program where customers had to cough up $30 to use its take-back programs. It revamped the program to make it free, but it's still well behind Dell and HP, which have had free take-back programs for years. 

 

Apple was caught red-handed by As You Sow , a socially responsible investing group that pounded the company with some hard-hitting questions at its April 27 investor's meeting.

 

Conrad McKerron, a director for As You Sow , calls Apple's new recycling program a move from "laggard" to "more on a par" with its competitors. Steve Jobs tried to win points during the meeting by pointing out that Apple has eliminated use of CRT monitors, which contain heavy metals, and that this has helped the environment more than recycling. 

 

McKerron said to Wired News that Apple is still losing to its competitors because Dell and HP have publicly stated goals for how much waste they're going to take back, and Apple does not.