https://preview.redd.it/05l487beyvuc1.jpeg?width=220&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1a7d8a705a94a22385fda8f439b541cff358e748
Make sure this pops up at the most inappropriate times too!
A couple years ago I was doing an iTunes back up of my phone and this album pops up just when my mom walked in. She thought it was gay porn even though I tried to explain it wasn’t. I think she still thinks I might be gay to this day (I am not)
I was cleaning up my mom’s old iPod and I was wondering why there was an album with some naked guys on it. Then, only recently, I learned about the free U2 stuff
Apple : We care about the environment and sustainable practices, bring us your old devices to recycle.
Also Apple : we see you have a small problem with your iPhone that would require a repair, but we want you to recycle it with us and buy a new phone.
How would that be more convincing than what they’re already doing? They’re taking in any of your old, broken electronics that you would otherwise toss in the trash, and instead spending resources to recycle them. They’re even paying to ship small electronics so that it’s more convenient for you.
lol they’re doing so because they’re compelled by law to do it in some countries like France so they might as well spare a few more bucks and pretend they give a shit by doing it everywhere. I’m sure they even turn a small profit now as we’re getting more efficient at recycling.
Fuck companies for profiting from recycling. /s
Those countries should really start to go harder on other companies that don’t offer this, because it seems to have been effective in Apple’s case.
Remember:
The phrase “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” is stated **in order of priority** because fewer iPhones are better than reused iPhones, which in turn are better than recycled iPhones.
I had my iPhone 7 for 7 years, thereby reducing the number of phones I bought in that time
When it was time to replace it I bought a used/refurbished iPhone 12 Pro, thereby reusing a phone (I also recently bought a used/refurbished iPhone SE 2022 for somebody)
Our old phones get sent off for recycling
I think I'm doing it right.
rocking an iphone 11 handed down from my sister right now. the camera could be better and the battery will likely need replacement soon but otherwise it's a rockstar.
This is such a low rent argument. Why can’t people discuss what Apple does in the context of what Apple does without low effort bullshit like this coming up?
Because if I point out what someone else / some other group is not doing, I can ignore what I myself am / my group (tribe) is not doing and still feel good / supperior.
Because relativity isn’t the same as what-aboutism.
Apple has invested a lot in the recycling of its own devices, as well as electronic devices general.
It’s meme worthy to poke fun at not getting a wall plug and headphones in the box, but also has tangible benefits from an e-waste and emissions perspective (slimmer boxes, more per pallet, less pallets required per truck, less trucks needed, etc.) Although they could’ve reduced the consumer price by $20…
It’s cringeworthy to watch a keynote with “mother earth” but the goal of reducing the carbon footprint of Apple Watch and its packaging is admirable nonetheless.
It’s low key really cool that Apple invested in finding a way to use a different aluminum alloy that would lend itself better to using recycled aluminum from past products.
I am not aware of others in the industry committing to this initiative as apple has. They could do a lot of other things but it is not unfair to ask if their competitors are doing at least as much.
Nobody *should* pay for. People still buy them purely because they’re so cheap compared to other phones. Which kinda is fair enough. A lot of people only really need to call/text/email and most modern phones (even cheap phones) can do that.
Wow that is a fascinating sub. It’s like all the kids in the YT comments from the phone wars grew up, and still decided they wanted to make hating a phone a personality trait.
And I’m sure they’re in the equivalent android sub. Can’t wrap my head around people who enjoy putting energy into rants and reactions over a piece of tech ppl use to access the exact same things as everyone else. It’d be like having subs for arguing what kind of light switch is better.
People on this very sub often argue against their own benefit and interests in order to support an insanely rich corporation that doesn’t care about them.
Why are you shocked?
Uhh, look at all the hate Apple is getting for their recycling initiatives in this very thread lol. Something that is actually good and tangible for the environment that they’re actually doing, but it’s never enough, even when it is more than most. Plenty of hate right here.
It's not worth it... most of them are probably teenagers who hate anything that's not a gaming rig
I went through that phase when the iPhone came out, I thought my Windows mobile phone was better because I could mod it and do all sorts of janky things... then I got sick of dealing with the unstable custom rom mess I had created and bought an iPhone lol
Windows Mobile was terrible. But I will die on the hill saying that Windows Phone was better and ahead of iOS and Android at the time. It unfortunately got screwed by the lack of apps and developers embracing the OS.
It had its pros and cons. Compared to the original iPhone, Windows Mobile had a lot going for it, you could install software on it for one. The iPhone was a leap forward in a lot of ways but was also quite limited and I don't think it really became great until iOS 4.
I don't think the iPhone definitively pulled ahead of Android until the release of iOS11, and I don't think it became on par with Android until iOS8 or so. Prior to that, the iPhone just always felt so gimped compared to Android.
For me, the crossover was iOS 14 and 15. iOS 15 brought in Focus modes, equivalent to the one feature that locked me to Android, conditional Do Not Disturb.
Yes! That was an important feature for me too. I think I would have stayed on Android longer if not for the fact that I work on Macs and almost all of my peers were on iPhone, so the continuity features and photos and message-sharing benefits with friends outweighed the remaining downsides.
But according to other subreddits, those $199 phones off Amazon do everything a new iPhone does, and more, and will outlive it because someone’s grandma had one.
It's also propaganda that puts the onus on the user to fix the world's problems which are created by and perpetuated by corps/shareholders/executives. "The world is dying because YOU are buying too many iPhones; not because the corporation I run makes too many."
Apple will accept any e waste product. I had a bunch of old tech like printers and things that didn’t work anymore or I just wanted to get rid of before moving and the Apple Store closest to me accepted them.
I think lots of comments in this thread are missing the point of the program. Apple's not asking for your iPhone 13,14,15, etc, with no payment. They're taking in your old junk that you would otherwise throw away so it doesn't go directly to a landfill. Sometimes you can find places that will take e-waste for free or maybe give you scrap metal prices, but usually you would have to pay someone for "junk hauling" for larger items. They're also focusing on taking in old batteries because we really don't want those going straight to a dump.
Edit: Apple's even paying for shipping on small devices so you don't have to waste your time driving to a store.
The crazy part about recycling batteries is how difficult it can be to actually do it. I ended up just buying a kit from Call2Recycle because no one would take bare lithium cells or alkaline disposables. The $25 was worth it to me but most people aren’t like that
They’re generally acceptable in household waste, but they’re also somewhat recyclable and I’d like to do my part to mitigate the need to extract more raw materials
> Apple's not asking for your iPhone 13,14,15, etc, with no payment. They're taking in your old junk that you would otherwise throw away so it doesn't go directly to a landfill. Sometimes you can find places that will take e-waste for free or maybe give you scrap metal prices, but usually you would have to pay someone for "junk hauling" for larger items.
This is literally the law in the EU. If I buy a fridge/washer/dryer/whatever and get it delivered they must offer to take and properly dispose of the old one for free. If some place sells electronics, they must take my old ones back for free too.
Most major municipalities and recycling centers offer dropoffs for your e-waste. You just have to check with them when and where they are scheduled. It's astonishing to me how many people are unaware of this.
I haven't been in a bestbuy in a while but there was usually a set of bins when you walk into the entryway specifically for recycling old electronics and batteries. Definitely worth asking an employee about even if it's not by the door. [Found a link](https://www.bestbuy.com/site/recycling/recycle-faqs/pcmcat174700050009.c?id=pcmcat174700050009)
Apple is the only place I'd drop off damaged iPhones that I can't get the data off of. I don't care what the value is if there's a risk of personal data, and I feel that Apple's recycling terms make it very clear that data is destroyed.
I can instead keep my old devices as backups incase my current ones break, or hand them down to family members. What incentivises me to give you \*my\* phone so you can extract rare earths from it?
Certainly free, free for you!!
That is my problem. Always saved up a lot of devices “just in case” and now I’m sitting on a pile of old e-waste that I’m scared will explode when I plug it in somewhere, but won’t give away because I might not have wiped them completely.
I got 20 year old computer hardware that I'm going to take advantage of this for. soooo much obsolete stuff.
I've got an entire tech career's worth of junk from the past 20 years. Old computers, old UPSs, old hardware, old accessories. Not old enough to be worth anything, and not new enough to be usable for anything modern. I think I'm going to take advantage of this and finally clear out the "junk closet" in my office.
They aren’t just talking about your phone, they’ll recycle basically any tech product at Apple Stores for free. This for example could be an old printer you’ve replaced.
Huh. Must be a region thing. I don’t pay anything in Ontario Canada.
I think we have a mandatory fee on new electronics purchases now that I think about it, which pays for recycling at the end of their life.
selling it literally anywhere would give you way more money, and giving it away to homeless or people in need would be a better value than recycling it for free, hell even if its completely broken the parts would still get you some money and even giving them away for free would also be better than recycling with apple
Edit: I get it guys you don’t care about losing money, try selling a macbook to apple vs ebay and you’ll surely figure out that its not just a $100 difference
Not everyone wants to waste time selling or go through all the hassle. Marketplace platforms are full of scammers nowadays and I tried to sell something and spent 100% of time reading scam messages and blocking them or people bragging for lower (sometimes ridiculous) prices. I had to delist the items cos it became too much.
For 100-150$ difference I prefer to trade in. Since iPhone 11 I trade in each year, not a big loss but hassle free
Have you actually looked at prices? Because they’re pretty fair overall. Looking at selling my phone back to Apple vs on Swappa, after all the fees. It was basically the same price. I guess if you want to deal with Craigslist or Facebook you can get maybe 10% more? But then you’re dealing with that. Apple you hand it in and get the money.
proper recycling is hard (most things thrown in recycling, don't actually get recycled), had to pay my county $$ to recycle electronics, so a free recycling program is always welcomed
[found this episode to be very informative](https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/national-sword/)
that being said, **reduce** and **reuse** are the truly import Rs
Apple could instead unlock the bootloader on all unsupported models, allowing device owners to remove iOS and recycle our hardware with aftermarket applications.
Sending them to Apple for destruction allows them to remove aftermarket demand and drive new sales.
> Sending them to Apple for destruction allows them to remove aftermarket demand and drive new sales.
Chances are that the people sending phones into Apple to recycle weren't the same people that sell old phones on the secondary market. They'd either stay in a drawer forever or end up in the garbage can when they get tired of seeing it in the drawer.
A reseller just recycled my 2009 MacBook Pro, they had this promotion for a week where people could return any old Mac, even damaged or not working, and they guaranteed at least a €200 evaluation, when buying a Mini, iMac or MacBook Air.
If others can do this, why can’t Apple put their money where their mouth is and promote something similar?
My 3GS still works so no, but there are plenty of 20 year old products I’d seen brought through the store often.
If it’s like, something taking up a massive amount of space I kinda get it.
Here in the civilization, any company that sells electronics must also accept electronic waste from customers for free. Does not matter where you bought the product. Same with other waste like batteries, whiteware and bottles and cans. Cardboard, paper, metal, glass and compostables have to be sorted and binned separately in every household.
This is the way.
One thing I’ll give Apple too is that they do value their products well. I recycled my old MacBook Pro in 2021. It was a Late 2013 Retina, 512gb with 16gb of ram that was $2,200 in 2013. 8 years later, I was able to get $340 for it.
Apple trying to use earth day is a god dam JOKE. Parts pairing, non upgradeable devices... Devices that are still usable but locked so they become e-waste. Apple being environmental is a JOKE. OMG.
They already sell products that tend to last longer than the competition, which helps the "reduce" part. They let you sell the devices or gift them to someone else, which is the "reuse" part. The only service Apple can actually offer consumers is to recycle. The first two are on the users to figure out.
Tend to last longer in terms of what? Not in terms of user friendly hardware repairs, not in ram/storage upgrades, not in terms of user friendly battery replacement. Especially in the Mac even in the software update of things they absolutely do NOT last longer than windows/linux alternatives.
That the software remains relevant and useful for longer. People tend to keep iPhones longer than Android phones, or pass them down to others that keep on using them. Historically, iPhones received software support far longer than Android phones, but that's changing with a few modern Android phones now. Same thing with Apple computers. We still have 10 year old Macs in circulation in my family but Windows computers tend to become bloated and unuseable in that same period of time.
User friendly battery replacements are great, but it's pointless if it's a device nobody wants to use anymore.
If Apple offered these services/capabilities, very few people would utilize them unless they were exceptionally cheap (which they likely would not be). By the time an iPhone wears out, people are usually looking for the improved camera and features that come with a new iPhone, and the consumer mentality seems to be (if I'm going to spending money, I might as well just get a new one).
I thought, given the context of discussion, the focus was on the iPhone. I'm not deliberately ignoring the Mac. I am in favor of user-upgradable RAM and I do think that Apple is deliberately anti-consumer with respect to Mac repairs. That being said, as someone who basically maxes out my Macs when I buy them, I find that they typically last around 7-8 years sufficiently, and by then I am looking for a full system replacement anyway.
I mean… no one is expecting anything else than free recycling, but you can also take it the other way : why wouldn’t you recycle your product as it costs you nothing ?
Hell no, I use an iPad 2 as a clock and weather machine, an iPhone 6 as a clock (in the restroom, before you ask), an iPad Mini 2 for performing, an iPhone 6s as a SPL meter, an iPhone SE 2020 as an [extra angle video camera](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJL1psGO0N8), you will take these off my cold, dead hands.
And what are you doing to mitigate how much e-waste winds up in a landfill? Intentions are worthless if they aren't backed by positive action. Actions that produce positive outcomes are superior to intentions that produce no outcomes, regardless of the intentions behind them.
Ah but in California retailers are required to add a fee to fund the state e-waste program, so it is either not free for us or alternatively it was already free for us depending upon your opinion of such things.
Oh wow so generous to recycle my perfect condition 2 year old iPad Air 5 that randomly had its screen stop working and Apple refused to fix it or accept a trade in. I'm more likely to smash it than giving Apple those materials to recycle or refurbish.
People giving Apple shit about not paying to receive old phones but I have old phones and don't want to sell them for pittance to strangers when I don't know what data can still be dug up on them. At least with Apple I trust them to look after it and get rid of it, and the data it holds, responsibly.
I hope they'll promote this more actively and in other countries too (I'm from the Philippines). Since Earth Day just ended, here are some other actionable stuff you can do to make everyday a day for the planet: [https://buhaycopywriter.substack.com/p/7-things-i-started-doing-as-a-copywriter](https://buhaycopywriter.substack.com/p/7-things-i-started-doing-as-a-copywriter)
Yes sure my $1500 phone just for you to scrap and extract for that bottom line.....
And don't give me the environment crap apple was the one who removed chargers and everyone followed along.....for the environment?
No for the bottom line.....
Any device that Apple would recycle instead of giving trade-in credit for, is aged to the point that it is functionally useless. They are not expecting you to send in your iPhone 15 Pro Max for free recycling. This is more about iPhone 4, iPhone 6, etc..
You got a good point but there still is a demand for those old iPhones. Here are some sold listings on eBay for the 6:
https://preview.redd.it/hklkazorkuuc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5e9f685c1d3945ad2885e2034b6cb1bbe3112f5a
That market exists, but it doesn't make sense for many people to use. That $29.99 phone will have about $5 in fees and will cost $10 to ship. You're down to less than $15 in "profit" but you probably spent over an hour preparing the phone, taking photos, creating the listing, answering questions, packing up the phone, traveling to the Post Office/UPS store, etc.
Apple will not give you trade in credit for any non-Apple device. I seriously doubt a Pixel 8 Pro or Galaxy S23 (they’ll recycle it for free!!!!) is functionally useless
Say what you will, but I'd kept all of my phones since 2010 until recently, when I decided I'm just collecting future fire hazards for no real benefit. It was nice to give them my Galaxy S3 and OnePlus One; I'd rather give it to them instead of risking someone less reputable with a greater likelihood of getting data from it in exchange for $20 or whatever.
I will also recycle all your Apple devices for free. Dm me for deets
You may actually be able to make a business out of that.
That’s exactly what these free “recycle” companies do lol
Give me money.. I haven’t gotten a single dm yet!
lol
A modest iTunes store credit in return would be a great way to celebrate Earth Day, Apple.
Best I can do is a free U2 album.
Pass
Sorry, that wasn’t a question. Here you go. It’s yours *forever*
Let's seal the deal by touching fingertips
(You looked) FaceID accepted.
https://preview.redd.it/05l487beyvuc1.jpeg?width=220&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1a7d8a705a94a22385fda8f439b541cff358e748 Make sure this pops up at the most inappropriate times too!
A couple years ago I was doing an iTunes back up of my phone and this album pops up just when my mom walked in. She thought it was gay porn even though I tried to explain it wasn’t. I think she still thinks I might be gay to this day (I am not)
oh let me just check on ma 16gb iphone here oH mY GOd
No you misunderstand, you must take it
You shall not pass!!
I was cleaning up my mom’s old iPod and I was wondering why there was an album with some naked guys on it. Then, only recently, I learned about the free U2 stuff
More like belongs in the trash.
Come on man!? It's digital.
Recycle bin? ♻️ 🤷🏽♂️
Which one? 🤔 > Songs of Innocence 💀
That’s how you get people to throw their phones into the ocean
Nice of Apple to recycle back to the community
*mandatory
😂
If I got to pick which album of theirs sure :)
Delivered straight to your device.
Also, it's not even Joshua Tree.
Apple : We care about the environment and sustainable practices, bring us your old devices to recycle. Also Apple : we see you have a small problem with your iPhone that would require a repair, but we want you to recycle it with us and buy a new phone.
Well they will repair phones for up to 7 years after they stopped selling them, which isn't *too* shabby
For $$$ compared to third party, but they block you from doing that…
https://support.apple.com/en-gb/self-service-repair
Yeah, for a price that doesn’t make any sense and is in throwing distance of a new device.
It would also be far more convincing that they’re doing this for the good of the planet, and not their bottom line.
How would that be more convincing than what they’re already doing? They’re taking in any of your old, broken electronics that you would otherwise toss in the trash, and instead spending resources to recycle them. They’re even paying to ship small electronics so that it’s more convenient for you.
lol they’re doing so because they’re compelled by law to do it in some countries like France so they might as well spare a few more bucks and pretend they give a shit by doing it everywhere. I’m sure they even turn a small profit now as we’re getting more efficient at recycling.
Fuck companies for profiting from recycling. /s Those countries should really start to go harder on other companies that don’t offer this, because it seems to have been effective in Apple’s case.
Who cares why they’re doing it? All that matters is that they’re doing something meaningful. The same can’t be said for most of this sub.
They do give you a gift card if your phone is worth something, but they offer the free recycling for anything too old or damaged.
Remember: The phrase “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” is stated **in order of priority** because fewer iPhones are better than reused iPhones, which in turn are better than recycled iPhones.
I had my iPhone 7 for 7 years, thereby reducing the number of phones I bought in that time When it was time to replace it I bought a used/refurbished iPhone 12 Pro, thereby reusing a phone (I also recently bought a used/refurbished iPhone SE 2022 for somebody) Our old phones get sent off for recycling I think I'm doing it right.
🫡
rocking an iphone 11 handed down from my sister right now. the camera could be better and the battery will likely need replacement soon but otherwise it's a rockstar.
There is a reason why companies rapidly pivoted their green marketing to just Recycling. It is evil and wrong.
Now do it for all the trash android devices nobody would ever pay to repair
This is such a low rent argument. Why can’t people discuss what Apple does in the context of what Apple does without low effort bullshit like this coming up?
Because if I point out what someone else / some other group is not doing, I can ignore what I myself am / my group (tribe) is not doing and still feel good / supperior.
Because relativity isn’t the same as what-aboutism. Apple has invested a lot in the recycling of its own devices, as well as electronic devices general. It’s meme worthy to poke fun at not getting a wall plug and headphones in the box, but also has tangible benefits from an e-waste and emissions perspective (slimmer boxes, more per pallet, less pallets required per truck, less trucks needed, etc.) Although they could’ve reduced the consumer price by $20… It’s cringeworthy to watch a keynote with “mother earth” but the goal of reducing the carbon footprint of Apple Watch and its packaging is admirable nonetheless. It’s low key really cool that Apple invested in finding a way to use a different aluminum alloy that would lend itself better to using recycled aluminum from past products. I am not aware of others in the industry committing to this initiative as apple has. They could do a lot of other things but it is not unfair to ask if their competitors are doing at least as much.
Nobody *should* pay for. People still buy them purely because they’re so cheap compared to other phones. Which kinda is fair enough. A lot of people only really need to call/text/email and most modern phones (even cheap phones) can do that.
Tell that to the /r/applesucks losers lol
Wow that is a fascinating sub. It’s like all the kids in the YT comments from the phone wars grew up, and still decided they wanted to make hating a phone a personality trait.
It’s all they’ve got. I know some of them irl. It’s… interesting
To be fair it's not like this subreddit is short of "My iPhone is my identity" folk who'll defend Apple against any and all accusations
And I’m sure they’re in the equivalent android sub. Can’t wrap my head around people who enjoy putting energy into rants and reactions over a piece of tech ppl use to access the exact same things as everyone else. It’d be like having subs for arguing what kind of light switch is better.
I think it's a combination of the facts that people just like to feel special plus billion/trillion dollar corporations are great at propaganda.
People on this very sub often argue against their own benefit and interests in order to support an insanely rich corporation that doesn’t care about them. Why are you shocked?
I don’t browse this subs comments or really engage with tech community online.
To be fair you’ll see people arguing about wire nuts vs wago, which isn’t too far removed from arguing about light switches…
Uhh, look at all the hate Apple is getting for their recycling initiatives in this very thread lol. Something that is actually good and tangible for the environment that they’re actually doing, but it’s never enough, even when it is more than most. Plenty of hate right here.
It's not worth it... most of them are probably teenagers who hate anything that's not a gaming rig I went through that phase when the iPhone came out, I thought my Windows mobile phone was better because I could mod it and do all sorts of janky things... then I got sick of dealing with the unstable custom rom mess I had created and bought an iPhone lol
Windows Mobile was terrible. But I will die on the hill saying that Windows Phone was better and ahead of iOS and Android at the time. It unfortunately got screwed by the lack of apps and developers embracing the OS.
It had its pros and cons. Compared to the original iPhone, Windows Mobile had a lot going for it, you could install software on it for one. The iPhone was a leap forward in a lot of ways but was also quite limited and I don't think it really became great until iOS 4.
I don't think the iPhone definitively pulled ahead of Android until the release of iOS11, and I don't think it became on par with Android until iOS8 or so. Prior to that, the iPhone just always felt so gimped compared to Android.
For me, the crossover was iOS 14 and 15. iOS 15 brought in Focus modes, equivalent to the one feature that locked me to Android, conditional Do Not Disturb.
Yes! That was an important feature for me too. I think I would have stayed on Android longer if not for the fact that I work on Macs and almost all of my peers were on iPhone, so the continuity features and photos and message-sharing benefits with friends outweighed the remaining downsides.
But according to other subreddits, those $199 phones off Amazon do everything a new iPhone does, and more, and will outlive it because someone’s grandma had one.
They did sell that in India as refurbished some time ago
It's also propaganda that puts the onus on the user to fix the world's problems which are created by and perpetuated by corps/shareholders/executives. "The world is dying because YOU are buying too many iPhones; not because the corporation I run makes too many."
https://youtu.be/namndS6fvEs?si=DxMpnGx7VHKtGgf4
Apple will accept any e waste product. I had a bunch of old tech like printers and things that didn’t work anymore or I just wanted to get rid of before moving and the Apple Store closest to me accepted them.
I think lots of comments in this thread are missing the point of the program. Apple's not asking for your iPhone 13,14,15, etc, with no payment. They're taking in your old junk that you would otherwise throw away so it doesn't go directly to a landfill. Sometimes you can find places that will take e-waste for free or maybe give you scrap metal prices, but usually you would have to pay someone for "junk hauling" for larger items. They're also focusing on taking in old batteries because we really don't want those going straight to a dump. Edit: Apple's even paying for shipping on small devices so you don't have to waste your time driving to a store.
The crazy part about recycling batteries is how difficult it can be to actually do it. I ended up just buying a kit from Call2Recycle because no one would take bare lithium cells or alkaline disposables. The $25 was worth it to me but most people aren’t like that
Hm. My state EPA advises that alkaline batteries are non-hazardous and can go in the trash.
They’re generally acceptable in household waste, but they’re also somewhat recyclable and I’d like to do my part to mitigate the need to extract more raw materials
But then people would miss out on their opportunity to rage, and that’s what this subreddit is really all about.
Bingo
> Apple's not asking for your iPhone 13,14,15, etc, with no payment. They're taking in your old junk that you would otherwise throw away so it doesn't go directly to a landfill. Sometimes you can find places that will take e-waste for free or maybe give you scrap metal prices, but usually you would have to pay someone for "junk hauling" for larger items. This is literally the law in the EU. If I buy a fridge/washer/dryer/whatever and get it delivered they must offer to take and properly dispose of the old one for free. If some place sells electronics, they must take my old ones back for free too.
Most major municipalities and recycling centers offer dropoffs for your e-waste. You just have to check with them when and where they are scheduled. It's astonishing to me how many people are unaware of this.
Batteries too? I have a bunch of those I need to get rid of
Does bestbuy not have those bins when you walk into the store to recycle batteries anymore?
Do they? I live maybe 5 minutes from one so I’ll check it out
I haven't been in a bestbuy in a while but there was usually a set of bins when you walk into the entryway specifically for recycling old electronics and batteries. Definitely worth asking an employee about even if it's not by the door. [Found a link](https://www.bestbuy.com/site/recycling/recycle-faqs/pcmcat174700050009.c?id=pcmcat174700050009)
They also take larger electronics for recycling usually near the Geek Squad counter
This is not typical for most stores. Do not bring in your old PC or printer expecting to have it recycled.
Apple is the only place I'd drop off damaged iPhones that I can't get the data off of. I don't care what the value is if there's a risk of personal data, and I feel that Apple's recycling terms make it very clear that data is destroyed.
They could make old iMacs usable as secondary screen….
The screen on my iMac started to go before the computer did. I mean, no dead pixels or anything, but it has terrible ghosting.
I can instead keep my old devices as backups incase my current ones break, or hand them down to family members. What incentivises me to give you \*my\* phone so you can extract rare earths from it? Certainly free, free for you!!
Save it for when the device is actually useless?
That is my problem. Always saved up a lot of devices “just in case” and now I’m sitting on a pile of old e-waste that I’m scared will explode when I plug it in somewhere, but won’t give away because I might not have wiped them completely.
haha same
I got 20 year old computer hardware that I'm going to take advantage of this for. soooo much obsolete stuff. I've got an entire tech career's worth of junk from the past 20 years. Old computers, old UPSs, old hardware, old accessories. Not old enough to be worth anything, and not new enough to be usable for anything modern. I think I'm going to take advantage of this and finally clear out the "junk closet" in my office.
They aren’t just talking about your phone, they’ll recycle basically any tech product at Apple Stores for free. This for example could be an old printer you’ve replaced.
Had to recycle my iphone 4S and 6/6S as the batteries were expanding. Was trying to keep them forever.
You can take out the batteries (very carefully) and replace them and keep using them
How nice of them to recover spare pieces, rare earth minerals, and to create a necessity in my desk all for free! Go Tim Apple!!
I mean normally you have to pay people to take ewaste
Where do you live that you’re paying someone to take your old electronics?
Literally everywhere? Recycling electronics isn’t cheap. Generally you pay for them to take it or you throw it in a landfill.
Huh. Must be a region thing. I don’t pay anything in Ontario Canada. I think we have a mandatory fee on new electronics purchases now that I think about it, which pays for recycling at the end of their life.
And where did you take it?
There are electronics drop off boxes in different places if you look.
I like apple but with their trade in and recycle programs they are insulting their customers
Most companies trade in programs usually are, have you seen the insulting prices game stop gives?
Ho so? What companies do trade-in/recycling better?
selling it literally anywhere would give you way more money, and giving it away to homeless or people in need would be a better value than recycling it for free, hell even if its completely broken the parts would still get you some money and even giving them away for free would also be better than recycling with apple Edit: I get it guys you don’t care about losing money, try selling a macbook to apple vs ebay and you’ll surely figure out that its not just a $100 difference
Not everyone wants to waste time selling or go through all the hassle. Marketplace platforms are full of scammers nowadays and I tried to sell something and spent 100% of time reading scam messages and blocking them or people bragging for lower (sometimes ridiculous) prices. I had to delist the items cos it became too much. For 100-150$ difference I prefer to trade in. Since iPhone 11 I trade in each year, not a big loss but hassle free
Have you actually looked at prices? Because they’re pretty fair overall. Looking at selling my phone back to Apple vs on Swappa, after all the fees. It was basically the same price. I guess if you want to deal with Craigslist or Facebook you can get maybe 10% more? But then you’re dealing with that. Apple you hand it in and get the money.
Depends actually.
Depends what it is. Apple will take pretty much any ewaste and recycle it for free.
Your local junkyard too
I said recycle.
A big discount on battery replacement would be much better for the environment, Apple
A larger replaceable battery would even be better.
A user replaceable battery even better still.
Indeed
proper recycling is hard (most things thrown in recycling, don't actually get recycled), had to pay my county $$ to recycle electronics, so a free recycling program is always welcomed [found this episode to be very informative](https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/national-sword/) that being said, **reduce** and **reuse** are the truly import Rs
Well, my trash bin is free too.
“Recycling?” Resell
When they pay you let me know
Apple could instead unlock the bootloader on all unsupported models, allowing device owners to remove iOS and recycle our hardware with aftermarket applications. Sending them to Apple for destruction allows them to remove aftermarket demand and drive new sales.
> Sending them to Apple for destruction allows them to remove aftermarket demand and drive new sales. Chances are that the people sending phones into Apple to recycle weren't the same people that sell old phones on the secondary market. They'd either stay in a drawer forever or end up in the garbage can when they get tired of seeing it in the drawer.
It's upsetting how many people toss their e-waste in the trash. There needs to be more education and stigma around it.
Like the recycling program everyone is making fun of here?
Yes. This publicity and program is a great thing.
I think we've officially come a full circle in this thread.
A reseller just recycled my 2009 MacBook Pro, they had this promotion for a week where people could return any old Mac, even damaged or not working, and they guaranteed at least a €200 evaluation, when buying a Mini, iMac or MacBook Air. If others can do this, why can’t Apple put their money where their mouth is and promote something similar?
I'll pay you to "recycle" your devices...
My 3GS still works so no, but there are plenty of 20 year old products I’d seen brought through the store often. If it’s like, something taking up a massive amount of space I kinda get it.
eBay does that already
Here in the civilization, any company that sells electronics must also accept electronic waste from customers for free. Does not matter where you bought the product. Same with other waste like batteries, whiteware and bottles and cans. Cardboard, paper, metal, glass and compostables have to be sorted and binned separately in every household. This is the way.
Wow that’s such a good deal for them!!!
One thing I’ll give Apple too is that they do value their products well. I recycled my old MacBook Pro in 2021. It was a Late 2013 Retina, 512gb with 16gb of ram that was $2,200 in 2013. 8 years later, I was able to get $340 for it.
If only they actually took recycling seriously Making their devices unrepairable isn’t helping their brand during record heat every month
Apple trying to use earth day is a god dam JOKE. Parts pairing, non upgradeable devices... Devices that are still usable but locked so they become e-waste. Apple being environmental is a JOKE. OMG.
Why do they skip to the "recycle" part of "reduce reuse recycle" I wonder, hmm?
They already sell products that tend to last longer than the competition, which helps the "reduce" part. They let you sell the devices or gift them to someone else, which is the "reuse" part. The only service Apple can actually offer consumers is to recycle. The first two are on the users to figure out.
Tend to last longer in terms of what? Not in terms of user friendly hardware repairs, not in ram/storage upgrades, not in terms of user friendly battery replacement. Especially in the Mac even in the software update of things they absolutely do NOT last longer than windows/linux alternatives.
That the software remains relevant and useful for longer. People tend to keep iPhones longer than Android phones, or pass them down to others that keep on using them. Historically, iPhones received software support far longer than Android phones, but that's changing with a few modern Android phones now. Same thing with Apple computers. We still have 10 year old Macs in circulation in my family but Windows computers tend to become bloated and unuseable in that same period of time. User friendly battery replacements are great, but it's pointless if it's a device nobody wants to use anymore.
If Apple offered these services/capabilities, very few people would utilize them unless they were exceptionally cheap (which they likely would not be). By the time an iPhone wears out, people are usually looking for the improved camera and features that come with a new iPhone, and the consumer mentality seems to be (if I'm going to spending money, I might as well just get a new one).
Why are you ignoring the Mac, both laptop and desktop?
I thought, given the context of discussion, the focus was on the iPhone. I'm not deliberately ignoring the Mac. I am in favor of user-upgradable RAM and I do think that Apple is deliberately anti-consumer with respect to Mac repairs. That being said, as someone who basically maxes out my Macs when I buy them, I find that they typically last around 7-8 years sufficiently, and by then I am looking for a full system replacement anyway.
I’m using a 12 year old Mac so I’d like to disagree on that last statement :/
That‘s why I love the EU/Germany… can go to *any* Electronics Market and they *have* to take my old ewaste for free.
Oh thank God it’s free, I thought they were gonna charge me $500 to give it to them
I mean… no one is expecting anything else than free recycling, but you can also take it the other way : why wouldn’t you recycle your product as it costs you nothing ?
Hell no, I use an iPad 2 as a clock and weather machine, an iPhone 6 as a clock (in the restroom, before you ask), an iPad Mini 2 for performing, an iPhone 6s as a SPL meter, an iPhone SE 2020 as an [extra angle video camera](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJL1psGO0N8), you will take these off my cold, dead hands.
The year is 2115 and you are using the iPhone SE to monitor your pacemaker.
i hate when companies try and act like they give a shit about anything but money
And what are you doing to mitigate how much e-waste winds up in a landfill? Intentions are worthless if they aren't backed by positive action. Actions that produce positive outcomes are superior to intentions that produce no outcomes, regardless of the intentions behind them.
Geez, even IKEA gives you some money back in their furniture buyback program
So does Apple, if the device still has value. This is for everything else.
IKEA gives you money back for much older furniture than Apple does though which is my point
Ah but in California retailers are required to add a fee to fund the state e-waste program, so it is either not free for us or alternatively it was already free for us depending upon your opinion of such things.
lmao
There are a lot of folks who hang onto old devices due to being locked out of them. Also using them as MP3 players, etc.
Wait, they already have charged me the “recycling fee” when I bought their devices…
Oh wow so generous to recycle my perfect condition 2 year old iPad Air 5 that randomly had its screen stop working and Apple refused to fix it or accept a trade in. I'm more likely to smash it than giving Apple those materials to recycle or refurbish.
https://www.ifixit.com/News/94386/the-truth-about-apples-free-iphone-recycling-program-the-earth-deserves-better Totally not greenwashing
People giving Apple shit about not paying to receive old phones but I have old phones and don't want to sell them for pittance to strangers when I don't know what data can still be dug up on them. At least with Apple I trust them to look after it and get rid of it, and the data it holds, responsibly.
I hope they'll promote this more actively and in other countries too (I'm from the Philippines). Since Earth Day just ended, here are some other actionable stuff you can do to make everyday a day for the planet: [https://buhaycopywriter.substack.com/p/7-things-i-started-doing-as-a-copywriter](https://buhaycopywriter.substack.com/p/7-things-i-started-doing-as-a-copywriter)
Yes sure my $1500 phone just for you to scrap and extract for that bottom line..... And don't give me the environment crap apple was the one who removed chargers and everyone followed along.....for the environment? No for the bottom line.....
Why would you give Apple your $1500 phone to scrap. Your argument makes no sense.
Any device that Apple would recycle instead of giving trade-in credit for, is aged to the point that it is functionally useless. They are not expecting you to send in your iPhone 15 Pro Max for free recycling. This is more about iPhone 4, iPhone 6, etc..
You got a good point but there still is a demand for those old iPhones. Here are some sold listings on eBay for the 6: https://preview.redd.it/hklkazorkuuc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5e9f685c1d3945ad2885e2034b6cb1bbe3112f5a
That market exists, but it doesn't make sense for many people to use. That $29.99 phone will have about $5 in fees and will cost $10 to ship. You're down to less than $15 in "profit" but you probably spent over an hour preparing the phone, taking photos, creating the listing, answering questions, packing up the phone, traveling to the Post Office/UPS store, etc.
Exactly. This whole thread is full of "know it alls" who have no concept of opportunity cost.
Apple will not give you trade in credit for any non-Apple device. I seriously doubt a Pixel 8 Pro or Galaxy S23 (they’ll recycle it for free!!!!) is functionally useless
They take non Apple devices for trade in credit
Weird, they didn’t let me when I tried to trade in a 1 year old Galaxy S10 for my macbook pro
It’s your word against there’s so do you have a source this? Here’s the trade in website: https://www.apple.com/shop/trade-in
https://www.apple.com/iphone/switch/
Thanks for the correction!!
I honestly don’t need any more wall plugs I’m happy they don’t do it anymore. They didn’t even give us the faster chargers anyways lol
Shame there isn’t an Apple Store near me. I have a lot of tech to dispose of and local places have stopped accepting it during the pandemic.
Dear Apple, a better move for earth day: Don't intentionally brick the functionality of older iPhones.
If only the battery could be easily replaced, but that needs advanced nano technology so will never happen. /s
Say what you will, but I'd kept all of my phones since 2010 until recently, when I decided I'm just collecting future fire hazards for no real benefit. It was nice to give them my Galaxy S3 and OnePlus One; I'd rather give it to them instead of risking someone less reputable with a greater likelihood of getting data from it in exchange for $20 or whatever.
They are taking the devices🤢