Documents obtained by Motherboard: "No reuse. No parts harvesting. No resale."
Apple released its Environmental Responsibility Report Wednesday, an annual grandstanding effort that the company uses to position itself as a progressive, environmentally friendly company. Behind the scenes, though, the company undermines attempts to prolong the lifespan of its products.
Apple's new moonshot plan is to make iPhones and computers entirely out of recycled materials by putting pressure on the recycling industry to innovate. But documents obtained by Motherboard using Freedom of Information requests show that Apple's current practices prevent recyclers from doing the most environmentally friendly thing they could do: Salvage phones and computers from the scrap heap.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by julian on Sunday April 23 2017, @11:41PM (1 child)
It wasn't always this bad.
I use a MacBook Air from 2013. My next notebook computer will almost assuredly not be from the fruit company. Apple has been eroding all the things I liked about their notebooks, while the rest of the market has caught up significantly compared to the 2000-2010 era. The MacBook Pro 15-inch I had before that was just about perfect. You could open the back (with standard phillips screws!) and everything was laid out nicely, standard notebook parts; you could fix it yourself.
The MacBook Air is far less repairable, but at the same time it doesn't show any signs of fatigue or wear. I have no reason to doubt that it'll go on working for another 4 years.
System76 and Dell are making great laptops these days that support Linux well. That's where I'll go next when it's time to retire the MBA...but that could be quite some time.
(Score: 1) by anubi on Monday April 24 2017, @07:58AM
When stuff is made like the disposable dollar-store flashlight I saw... made to run till the battery dies ... then throw it away, or those cheap cameras that were only designed to expose one load of film, I also expect to pay a disposable's price.
Maybe $5?
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]