With Apple Computer shares having more than doubled during the past year, shareholders turned much of their attention at Thursday's annual meeting to other concerns, including environmental issues and the dearth of women in senior roles at the computer maker.
CEO Steve Jobs defended the company's record on recycling and other environmental concerns, which were the subject of a picket that attracted about a dozen protesters outside the shareholder meeting, held at the company's headquarters.
After Rachel Gibson, who was speaking on behalf of an environmentally oriented mutual fund called Green Century Funds, asked why Apple wasn't doing more to take back its products, Jobs thanked Gibson for the question and launched into a lengthy speech on Apple's environmental efforts, noting that the company took back 1,500 tons of material in 2004 through its recycling program, with 90 percent of the 3 million pounds of keyboards, mice and computers able to be recycled.
News source: C|Net News.com
