Can someone explain to me why leather is not eco-friendly? I consider myself a very cautious person when it comes to these topics. So I genuinely wonder. A large number of animals are slaughtered for meat every day. Using the skin from those animals should be considered an eco-friendly option instead of using plastic accessories. We'd be using a byproduct of the meat industry that otherwise, I assume, would go to waste. (I know silicone is not plastic, but I am asking in a more general sense)
The core idea is that leather comes from cows, and cows are bad for the environment. If they reduce the use of leather (and other use of cows is reduced) then the environment will be better. There are also harsh chemicals used to produce leather, but I'm not sure how much that affects things.
This isn't a simple equation because leather is not the primary reason for cows to be raised, their meat is still the primary reason. So simply saying "we're not using leather anymore" doesn't really equate to less cows being raised, and thus doesn't help the environment.
The problem many have is that using leather in this case isn't the real problem for the environment. Getting a new phone every year or two is going to be much worse for the environment, and there isn't a clear indication of what happens to your phone once its recycled by Apple either. The hope would be that it would be refurbished either for parts or for resale as a whole product, but there isn't a clear way for consumers to know exactly what happens to their old product.
Apple went on a big environmental push with these products, which many saw as a way to sell more products...which is always going to be way worse than simply reusing the one you already have. I would hope that they continue to work on and improve battery replacement for their products as that seems to be the core reason people upgrade these days.
