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By Ross Kerber BOSTON (Reuters) – Apple Inc, criticized in the past for greenhouse gas emissions, use of toxic materials and the hiring of underage workers, has improved its practices and earned better scores from groups such as Greenpeace. Thats good news for environmentally-aware mutual funds that hold Apple for another big reason – it makes money. The Cupertino, California-based maker of the iPhone, the worlds biggest public company by market capitalization, has adopted a slew of green policies such as expanded product recycling and using solar power at its data centers. For managers who have made it a favorite of the largest green mutual funds tracked by Thomson Reuters Lipper unit, the improvements bolster the appeal of a stock thats risen 15 percent this year, 19th best among the Standard Poor’s 100 index.