Apple Computer Recycling Program

[MacRumors]

http://www.macrumors.com/images/macrumorsthreadlogo.gif

Apple announced that they had expanded their recycling program by now offering free computer take-back and recycling with any purchase of a new Mac starting in June.

U.S. customers purchasing through Apple's online store or retail store will receive free shipping and environmentally friendly disposal of their old computer.

"Apple is committed to supporting our customers and protecting the environment throughout the entire product life cycle, from purchase through to retirement," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. "Now we are making it even easier for Apple’s customers to safely and affordably recycle their used computers and iPods."

Apple had previously announced an iPod recycling program in 2005.

[Mac Fly (film)]

Apple. As green as a Granny Smith

[hcuar]

This is a great program... It's getting harder to dispose of old computer equipment. Our local garbage won't take a computer or monitor. You have to pay a recycling fee and take the computer to the dump.

[mattthemutt]

Nice to see a Fortune 500 company taking some environmental initiative. I was just reading "The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power" which talks about corporations and environmental concerns. Quite interesting.

[NYmacAttack]

Good idea for them to finally do this.

[gkhaldi]

Nice to see initiative. My next Macbook Pro will be green

[Leoff]

And, of course, there's negative ratings. Who would rate this negative?

Probably someone who wants Apple to pay them for their computer.

[UberMac]

You want rid of your old computer...send it my way!

[gkhaldi]

Originally Posted by UberMac

You want rid of your old computer...send it my way!

Even an non-Mac?

[mlrproducts]

I assume this means we'll see Apple_Authorized_Outlet become the newest eBay member?

If you want FREE recycling now, I'll pay shipping to me for most of your computer related items!

[MacTruck]

Originally Posted by Leoff

And, of course, there's negative ratings. Who would rate this negative?

Probably someone who wants Apple to pay them for their computer.

Who would throw away a computer? And yep, this program would be nice if they bought them off of you. Maybe you people should call some schools in your area. I bet they would love to come pick them up from you. There is also the united way, toys for totts, salvation army... all of which will come to your house and pick them up. Think people.

[sishaw]

Originally Posted by MacTruck

Who would throw away a computer? And yep, this program would be nice if they bought them off of you. Maybe you people should call some schools in your area. I bet they would love to come pick them up from you. There is also the united way, toys for totts, salvation army... all of which will come to your house and pick them up. Think people.

Depends on how old the computer is. Even schools and nonprofits often have minimum requrements for computers they'll take. I have checked this out in reference to my 450mhz Dell; while I'll save the hard drive, I've yet to find anyone who would take it, even for free. When I eventually upgrade to an iMac for my desk, this recycling program would be excellent for me.

[velocityg4]

I could only see using this if the computer was no longer functional, but I just toss that stuff in the recycling can. Let the recycling center sort it out I say, since I get charged to recycle anyway.

However if it is still functional I will sell it if worth over $300. If it is worth less I will offer it to a friend with an older machine, assuming they don't want the computer I will bring it to the Salvation Army.

Remember when giving to the salvation army or any charity include all cords and only 100% functional equipment, they don't have computer cabling and techs lying around you know. If you have any extra VGA, USB or power cords bring them with you they need them since most people do not include them.

[Damek]

Originally Posted by velocityg4

I could only see using this if the computer was no longer functional, but I just toss that stuff in the recycling can. Let the recycling center sort it out I say, since I get charged to recycle anyway.

You get charged to recycle the materials for which your community has agreed to have a recycling service - if those materials include electronic devices, that's great, but if they don't, it would be irresponsible to burden the community recycling system with waste for which they are not responsible.

All citizens are still responsible for everything they purchase and use, and for disposing of them properly. If your community has a service that helps members dispose of certain materials, that doesn't mean they've accepted everyone's responsibility for all waste, only for the contractually, legally specified waste.

Just sayin'. I mean, if you paid for your own personal garbage removal service, you'd have a contract with them about what sort of waste they'd accept, and they'd get plenty pissed if you kept giving them waste they didn't agree to take. It's the same thing here except the city has the contract on your behalf as a citizen.

Personally I wish city services had a way to track garbage from its origin so they could return all the unacceptible materials to the freeloaders front lawns and doorsteps. Or just sort it at the origin and leave the contractually forbidden items there in the first place. Too bad that would all raise the cost, significantly.

EDIT: actually, more than that I wish recycling services would just be all-encompassing and that cities would stop arsing around with "we take this plastic, but not that plastic" type crap. NYC is like that - you can recycle some bottles, but not all ... it makes things more confusing and causes more troubles for them, I should think.

[Max on Macs]

Originally Posted by MacTruck

Who would throw away a computer? And yep, this program would be nice if they bought them off of you. Maybe you people should call some schools in your area. I bet they would love to come pick them up from you. There is also the united way, toys for totts, salvation army... all of which will come to your house and pick them up. Think people.

I tried to leave my iMac G4s to a school, but they had the G5s before I did!

[MacTruck]

Originally Posted by Max on Macs

I tried to leave my iMac G4s to a school, but they had the G5s before I did!

Donating computers to Beverly Hills High School will return that result.

I refuse to believe that there are no schools out there that will take a working computer. They are still bitching about getting books.

[Flowbee]

Originally Posted by MacTruck

Who would throw away a computer? And yep, this program would be nice if they bought them off of you. Maybe you people should call some schools in your area. I bet they would love to come pick them up from you. There is also the united way, toys for totts, salvation army... all of which will come to your house and pick them up. Think people.

Have you ever tried this? Good luck calling a local school or charity and asking if they'll make a trip to your house to pick up an old computer or crt monitor that you couldn't sell or give away otherwise.

[dbhays]

Originally Posted by MacTruck

Who would throw away a computer? And yep, this program would be nice if they bought them off of you. Maybe you people should call some schools in your area. I bet they would love to come pick them up from you. There is also the united way, toys for totts, salvation army... all of which will come to your house and pick them up. Think people.

As an IT person at an elementary school, I have to say that giving old computers is not a good idea. Our hallways are filled with donated monitors and CPUs, that cost as alot of money to dispose of. Some people donate to schools, so they don't have to pay disposal fees. Goodwilled administrators often take donations, then hand them over to the IT department. I just recieved 150 HP boxes with no CD drives, no disk drives, and no ethernet ports. These computers are just old boxes with no operating system. Then I recieved 58 Gateway boxes from the government, but the problem is they had to remove the hard drives. This does not help us in the least. We also are an Apple environment (most of our software does not run on WINDOZ)

I am not about saying schools don't want older computers, but an Apple II or an LC III do not really support us these days, either. We need somewhat modern machines with multimedia abilities, and the ability to connect to the internet.

Since Apple introduced OS X, things have gotten even worse. As we replace or purchase new systems, machines running only OS 7.0 - 9.0 become more and more obsolete as we migrate to OS X optimized software. Atleast at our school, we use a lot of server based programs that are now only supporting OS X, so even older imacs (that can't be upgraded) are being relegated to the hallways and backrooms.

As for internet connectivity, we are 100% wireless. We have NO ethernet ports anywhere in the school (major headache). Even our older imacs are not being used much, as the cost for older airport cards is out of our reach (I know there is a USB solution, but the kids steal them).

I am also worried about the intel transition, as we will need universal binaries of our software for many years (<10 years), or we will end up with mounds of unused pre intel Apple boxes.

All I am saying is please check with the local Tech departments, before dumping your good will with the front office, to see if it is really something that will benefit the technology plan of the school.

[AidenShaw]

Apple's "friends" up the street had green news this week too....

Originally Posted by SanJoseMercuryNews

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercu...s/14401809.htm

Turning on to solar energy

CAMPUS BOASTS BAY AREA'S LARGEST SYSTEM

Microsoft flipped the switch Friday on what it says is the largest solar-panel system in Silicon Valley.

The software giant's five-building campus in Mountain View is now bedecked with 31,000 square feet of solar panels, generating enough electricity to power about 300 homes. The panels adorn the roofs of the campus' five buildings.

[nsb3000]

Originally Posted by MacTruck

Who would throw away a computer? And yep, this program would be nice if they bought them off of you. Maybe you people should call some schools in your area. I bet they would love to come pick them up from you. There is also the united way, toys for totts, salvation army... all of which will come to your house and pick them up. Think people.

It depends how old they are. My parents have a Macintosh LC, this thing is like a decade old, I don't think any school or nonprofit group is going to want it. I wonder if Apple would take it?

[MrCrowbar]

Originally Posted by nsb3000

It depends how old they are. My parents have a Macintosh LC, this thing is like a decade old, I don't think any school or nonprofit group is going to want it. I wonder if Apple would take it?

Try eBay. People pay a fortune for such things

[sushi]

Originally Posted by MacTruck

Who would throw away a computer? And yep, this program would be nice if they bought them off of you. Maybe you people should call some schools in your area. I bet they would love to come pick them up from you. There is also the united way, toys for totts, salvation army... all of which will come to your house and pick them up. Think people.

Some computers are too old to donate. Organizations do not want them as they are too hard to support.

For example, some organizations may not want computers that can only run Mac OS 9 or Windows 98SE.

Remember, someone has to keep them up and running. For many organizations, this can become a burden eventhough it may seem like a good thing for them to accept all computers.

[floatingspirit]

Originally Posted by MacTruck

Who would throw away a computer?

My mother! You'd be suprised how many people just can't be bothered! Fortunately I was able to Freecycle it. http://www.freecycle.org/

[drastik]

repurpose is the best use. I've got a super slow pismo powerbook that just sits on my network as a code repository in my CVS set up. It works fine for that, and it doesn't create any waste.

[jimN]

Originally Posted by Leoff

And, of course, there's negative ratings. Who would rate this negative?

Probably someone who wants Apple to pay them for their computer.

A new macs for old policy would be better

You could vote neegative for the lack of an international policy. Us poor forgotten brits