Apple Debuts New iPhone Recycling Robot Daisy and GiveBack Trade-In Program

[drewyboy]

Poor attempt to spin this program negatively. Given Apples environmental concerns and values, at least it shows productivity in an area where we don’t know how other electronic manufacturers recycle their devices given the opportunity. Even if it is 200 phones an hour, that is still 200 phones that are not necessarily being improperly disposed of.

Oh please, I'm not spinning anything. This program is pure BS as you point out at the end, it's purely PR. 200 phones an hour doesn't matter one bit. How do I know that? It equates to 0.565% of what's being sold every hour.

If Apple was serious about it, they'd have a fleet of these, not a token one or two machines. Yet they make one or two and use the good ole "see, look what I did! I really do care about the life cycle of our products." yet they have the worst products for repair-ability.

Don't pin spinning on me, when they do it every chance they get.

 

[farmboy]

Don’t forget about mining, processing, and fabricating new raw materials. That takes a huge amount of energy.

I can't speak to every component of the phones, but I believe the aluminum is from recycled materials, not virgin. And the glass would also contain recycled material.

 

[Tech198]

I immediately had the mental picture of Daisy disassembling Liam while it screamed...

lol... What a sight that would have been

My guess is that only a few % Max of people will send or trade in their iPhones to Apple, most get better deals=$ somewhere else so I think *3.5 Million isn't bad at all.

Apple cares about re-use.... Do we expect to do this by hand.. ?

 

[Piggie]

iPhone batteries have been replaceable since the first iPhone shipped 11 years ago. Every single model.

How about coming up with legitimate complaints (which do exist) instead of fake news?

That's like saying the human heart is a replaceable item.
You know what people mean when they say replaceable.
Anything COULD be replaceable with the right time, skills and tools, but that's not what people generally mean.

 

[nt5672]

iPhone batteries have been replaceable since the first iPhone shipped 11 years ago. Every single model.

How about coming up with legitimate complaints (which do exist) instead of fake news?

Well I can't replace the battery and I don't live next door to an Apple store. So they are not replaceable in my opinion. And Apple routinely has refused to replace batteries when it suited them. And if I use a third party to replace the battery and the phone breaks Apple will refuse to fix it. But long live the sheep as they seem really indebted with the Apple marketing buzz.

 

[Millah]

If there are only two robots, in Texas and the Netherlands, wouldn't the enormous footprint of shipping hundreds of millions of iPhones from all around the world to these two locations; negate any environmental benefits of recycling the phones in the first place?

Trust me, if you are asking this question, then the people inside Apple already answered it internally years ago.

I don’t think you understand the impact the mining operations in their supply chain has on their total environmental footprint. That is in addition to the fact that these are finite resources being recycled, which is the more important point.

Luckily for you, Apple is one of the only major companies that actually discloses the environmental impact of their supply chain as well as their logistics (shipping/transport). So the answer is there if you’re willing to compare it yourself.

 

[selfsilent]

All we need now is robots to assemble the devices in the 1st place.

 

[0947347]

Apple should plant more Daisies

See what I did just there?

 

[Baymowe335]

If there are only two robots, in Texas and the Netherlands, wouldn't the enormous footprint of shipping hundreds of millions of iPhones from all around the world to these two locations; negate any environmental benefits of recycling the phones in the first place?

My guess would be no.

You have to remember that shipping devices to these locations can be done very efficiently as in a half a million at a time, for example. They could ship them along with other stuff needing to go to those areas. The cost of not recycling and making new materials has to be considered as well. The supply chain is so complex, there are definitely efficient ways of getting it done. It’s all logistics.

So many factors, so you can’t think of it as shipping iPhones 1 by 1. People can return devices to Apple in different ways too.

 

[Apple blogger]

And now I’m sure, that recycling products will only use solar energy. So I know that it’s much more environmental friendly. I do hope this isn’t some advertisement and Apple really does this. Love Apple!

 

[honglong1976]

How about as simple as possible to repair devices?

Apple want you to throw away the old iPhone and buy another one.

Seems more about making money than saving the planet!
[doublepost=1524211940][/doublepost]

Well I can't replace the battery and I don't live next door to an Apple store. So they are not replaceable in my opinion. And Apple routinely has refused to replace batteries when it suited them. And if I use a third party to replace the battery and the phone breaks Apple will refuse to fix it. But long live the sheep as they seem really indebted with the Apple marketing buzz.

Batteries are replaceable.

Just not 'user replaceable.'

 

[lacek]

I am skeptical. While it is nice they are able to get all that aluminium back, it is the rare earth metals that are hidden in semiconductiors that are really precious. If these iPhones could live longer they would not be wasted so much.

 

[jovada]

200 phones an hour? that's it?

Not all devices are recycled by Apple. In Belgium we pay a small "Recupel" tax on every electronic device. We can leave all broken devices at the store when we purchase a new one, or at a recycling park, for free.

 

[Substance90]

How about just donating to a charity without your users first returning their devices? Should be doable for a trillion dollar company, you'd think.

 

[urtules]

I have 2 broken iPhones and 3 iPods in my parents house they live in Russia where recycling does not yet exist. I planned to bring them to U.K. and give to Apple Store but in the airport they ask you to enable every device on security check. So I got scared and gave it back to my parents.
[doublepost=1524221383][/doublepost]

How about just donating to a charity without your users first returning their devices? Should be doable for a trillion dollar company, you'd think.

Nothing stopps you from dontating your devices.
[doublepost=1524221569][/doublepost]

Apple want you to throw away the old iPhone and buy another one.

Seems more about making money than saving the planet!
[doublepost=1524211940][/doublepost]
Batteries are replaceable.

Just not 'user replaceable.'

I don’t understand, I use my iPhone for 4-5 years. I replace battery in Apple Store and it receives iOS updates much longer than competitors. What else you want from Apple? Don’t make better iPhone every year, so there’s no reason to update?
[doublepost=1524221703][/doublepost]

Oh please, I'm not spinning anything. This program is pure BS as you point out at the end, it's purely PR. 200 phones an hour doesn't matter one bit. How do I know that? It equates to 0.565% of what's being sold every hour.

If Apple was serious about it, they'd have a fleet of these, not a token one or two machines. Yet they make one or two and use the good ole "see, look what I did! I really do care about the life cycle of our products." yet they have the worst products for repair-ability.

Don't pin spinning on me, when they do it every chance they get.

Dude we don’t need to recycle at the same speed we sell. Didn’t you notice that part of any recycling program is collection and sorting and storing, it takes time, but eventually every old iPhone can be recycled.

 

[Bacillus]

Let’s donate all the gold recycled from (Rosé) Golden iPhones to Tim, Phil and Angela
after all it suits them better than us...

 

[spacemnspiff]

It is a real shame when Apple designs commodity products that are so short lived they have to develop robots to take them apart before they go into the landfill.

The sad thing is that most people just toss their phone in the waste bin. So, while this looks great, 200/hr times two locations is nothing but lip stick on pig considering the number of abandoned iPhones.

Now that no one needs a new iPhone every year how about making the battery replaceable so an iPhone can last 5 or 10 years. After all a phone is a phone and we did not start throwing away phones every year until the iPhone was released. Up till then, my land line phone was so old I can't remember when I got it.

While Apple's iPhones are great devices, that fact that they are designed to be thrown away really tears down Apple's image as a green company. The reality is that Apple's design decisions are about cost, not green, but man they spend so much money that their followers (sheep) really can't see the forest for the trees.

At least Apple has been making effort to close the loop on the supply chain with a small global market share, I can only imagine what the outrage should be with Google and Android phone makers and their major market share, and not making any visible effort. But Google is incapable of making any hardware, and the the rest of Android phone makers don't make enough profits to even think in this direction.

 

[honglong1976]

I don’t understand, I use my iPhone for 4-5 years. I replace battery in Apple Store and it receives iOS updates much longer than competitors. What else you want from Apple? Don’t make better iPhone every year, so there’s no reason to update?

I am the same, still have an iPhone 4, just traded my iPhone 5S for an SE because it was old. Unfortunately, there are millions of people out there who when their iPhone battery is iffy will replace it for another phone rather than change the battery via Apple or doing it themselves.

Nothing to do with iOS updates, although it's great Apple update for so long but then they should because their phones cost a large amount. It's related to the batteries and how easy they are replace.

Battery replacement - requires tools (not user replaceable)
Battery replacement - doesn't requires tools (user replaceable)

 

[justperry]

Indeed but phones cant vanish, if Apple keep making this many every year, then the same amount will have to come out the "other side" so to speak, be that 1 year or more later.
Every single phone, will have an end of life, so perhaps 99.5% are just scrapped on a tip?

Maybe I get your 99.5% wrong, I think though that number is way out of bounds, do you really think that almost 100% of iPhones will up in Apple's hand to recycle, no way, just think of 3rd world countries for instance, pretty sure almost 100% will end up in a landfill there.
Pretty sure there are also lots of western countries where people bring it to their local recycling system instead of sending it of to Apple.

 

[Bacillus]

Maybe I get your 99.5% wrong, I think though that number is way out of bounds, do you really think that almost 100% of iPhones will up in Apple's hand to recycle, no way, just think of 3rd world countries for instance, pretty sure almost 100% will end up in a landfill there.
Pretty sure there are also lots of western countries where people bring it to their local recycling system instead of sending it of to Apple.

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...osed-loop-supply-chain.2115686/#post-25998001

 

[MacLoveMacHate]

I'm hoping to see a Short Circuit/Johnny 5 TV spot come out of this

 

[justperry]

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...osed-loop-supply-chain.2115686/#post-25998001

Here we already pay extra for removal/recycling when buying new (All) electronics, when EOL is reached it is then collected free of charge.
Good luck with your idea, I like it but it just won't work for several reasons, it's not going to work in Developing countries especially not if they are huge like Indonesia, hell, it might not even work in Australia since it just too costly to transport that junk, don't know if it is still the case but last time I was in Australia empty beer bottles where not collected just because of cost.
Try to do it it Russia, another country which won't work, that's just 2 but believe me it won't work in most countries.

 

[Bacillus]

Here we already pay extra for removal/recycling when buying new (All) electronics, when EOL is reached it is then collected free of charge.
Good luck with your idea, I like it but it just won't work for several reasons, it's not going to work in Developing countries especially not if they are huge like Indonesia, hell, it might not even work in Australia since it just too costly to transport that junk, don't know if it is still the case but last time I was in Australia empty beer bottles where not collected just because of cost.
Try to do it it Russia, another country which won't work, that's just 2 but believe me it won't work in most countries.

I am just as sceptic as you, but I have hope if the recollection reward is $100 which is a serious incentive.
Remember, this is the inverse of normal sales provisioning. Trucks and warehouses shouldn't be empty, anyway

 

[Foxglove9]

Really? I doubt that. Used iPhones have a high cash value. Many carriers offer trade in deals or require the phone be given back depending on the plan. Even with very old iPhones, I doubt they are just tossed in the trash.

No it's true. Most people I know either toss them out, or usually just have a stack of them sitting in a drawer in the apartment. One day they will get tossed. Most I've come across with don't want to bother selling locally, and don't trust ebay or mail away programs. Plus a lot of these buy back places won't give you money if there is even a scratch on it. Then on top of all that the resale on used iPhones more than 1 generation old has really tanked because of over saturation.
[doublepost=1524256616][/doublepost]

iPhone batteries have been replaceable since the first iPhone shipped 11 years ago. Every single model.

How about coming up with legitimate complaints (which do exist) instead of fake news?

It's a shame the same can't be said about iPads and iPods. I changed an iPhone 5 battery, and I would not recommend the average person trying it. Way too many things can go wrong, you have to really understand tiny electronics and have a lot of patience.

 

[Stiss]

Huge missed opportunity to have Jony narrate that video.

"You know, ever since the beginning, Apple has always strived to design a robot so pure and quintessential..."