Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Apple Opens Material Recovery Lab in Austin to Improve Recycling Efforts

WoodpeckerBaby said:
This way, it's in Apple's best interest to keep the macs lasting as long as possible.
Click to expand...

IT is not in Apple best interest to keep Macs lasting. The more they last the less people will upgrade or buy new Macs.

That is the reason, Apple is soldering all components.

They are diposable (creating more trash, despite all recycling efforts)
They are not upgradable
They are more difficult and expensive to repair
They are more prone to failure

Apple.
Yesterday's technology
At tomorrow's prices
 
Peperino said:
IT is not in Apple best interest to keep Macs lasting. The more they last the less people will upgrade or buy new Macs.

That is the reason, Apple is soldering all components.

They are diposable (creating more trash, despite all recycling efforts)
They are not upgradable
They are more difficult and expensive to repair
They are more prone to failure

Apple.
Yesterday's technology
At tomorrow's prices
Click to expand...
Not if they require a maintenance subscription for every Mac sold. This is how things work in business to business world
 
truthertech said:
All myths. Phones today last much longer than the early cell phones and, thanks to companies like Apple, are more recyclable, contain fewer harmful products, and are manufactured with 100% renewable energy.
Click to expand...

Well, none of that is correct . Not a single word of it .
You are simply parroting Apple marketing speak .

iPhones are made in Asia - not much renewable energy there - under reportedly poor working conditions .
Unlike gold and metal, socalled conflict minerals are hard or impossible to recycle, good news for African warlords and slave miners re. job security .

Robot Daisy is doing a great job replacing US workers though, well done there .

No viable battery replacement solution is of course a main issue .
The same is true for cameras, laptops and all other battery powered devices - the lack of universal standards is an ecological disaster .

Also, iOS updates which frequently limit compatibility and diminish performance of older models are a problem -that's a concious effort by Apple to discourage users from keeping older phones .
[doublepost=1555700409][/doublepost]
truthertech said:
Ironically, one of the negative side effects of home and non-authorized repair places is that there is no mandatory recycling and much of their old parts end up in the waste stream.
Click to expand...

I don't know what country you live in, but over here there are strict rules for recycling electronic devices .
Not every individual might follow those laws, but all repair shops do .
In my country the government makes the laws, not corporations, so it doesn't matter Apples internal policies are - they have no meaning or impact .

Batteries of course can be recycled easily, every store that sells any needs to have a battery recycle box .
 
  • Like
Reactions: MultiMan
Daisy... what a name for a robot...!

WoodpeckerBaby said:
Not if they require a maintenance subscription for every Mac sold. This is how things work in business to business world
Click to expand...



Some of Amiga chips were socketed, and users could DIY themselves. Then things changed,
 
Vjosullivan said:
Why would you need to plant a forest to supply packaging made from 100% recycled materials?
Click to expand...
Yeah I realized I worded that funny after I posted, but what I meant to convey is right there in the info graphic from their environmental report card. Didn’t think I’d need to spell it out for anyone since there are so many keen readers here, eh?
 
NightFixer said:
How do you explain the size of the phone repair industry if 'many people just don't do it'.

"About $4 billion in revenues is generated by the cell phone repair industry in the United States each year. Since 2012, the industry has been growing at an annual average rate of 5.5%. Over 8,000 businesses are currently active in the industry, providing employment opportunities for about 23,000 people."
https://brandongaille.com/20-cell-phone-repair-industry-statistics-and-trends/
Click to expand...


I mean people don’t do it to for recycle purposes... most of the ‘repairs’ happen because people pre-maturely crack their screens... they take it in for repairs because buying a new one is more expensive (economic reasons, not to save the environment)

How many people do you know go out of their way to extend the life of their phone through upgrade or repair, when they are eligible for a new one for cheaper? The vast majority just get the new one.

My point is the even though the screen is already replaceable (just not consumer replaceable), re-designing a phone so that consumers can do it themselves isn’t going to make much difference. It’s not going change behavior.

Don’t confuse upgradebility with necessary repairs due to accidents... if you prematurely crack your screen on your newer phone, most people are getting it repaired - it doesn’t matter if done through a shop or if you have a Easy to repair phone and try to repair it yourself, you are still generating the same amount of waste.

They only time it does matter, is if it’s say, you burn out your CPU something ... an non-repairable phone would need to be trashed, creating more waste.
 
Last edited:
As someone who works in recycling e-waste, aluminum is the easiest part of a Mac to get a hold of and recycle and "clean" aluminum they're most likely using is very plentiful. I skimmed over the environmental report and it seems like a nice piece of marketing, but something like Airpods is not easy to recycle for most centers. Unless you're sending it through that special Daisy machine, it'll most likely be labeled as "breakage" and tossed into the lowest batch of recycling and melted down for its plastic. Extracting the battery will be near impossible and tossing it in with a batch of other pcbs to melt down will contaminate the gold in it.
Nice facade Apple.
 
barmann said:
I remember a time when the majority of cell phones had removable batteries .
It was quite easy to replace them .

They also were a lot smaller, lighter and cheaper than iPhones - and they lasted a lot longer than any iPhone , those things are disposable and designed that way .
If the battery doesn't quit first, iOS will throttle it or kick you out of the update cycle .
Click to expand...


Your memory must be a bit faulty. Phones have become incredibly thin and lighter, water resistant, etc. None of that is possible with a battery compartment you open with a dime as you remember from your youth. Another area where your memory is suspect is how long those batteries lasted. Battery capacity has consistently been increasing even as the power consuming features have tremendously increased. So, no, there is no conspiracy by Apple and the other tech companies.
 
truthertech said:
Your memory must be a bit faulty. Phones have become incredibly thin and lighter, water resistant, etc. None of that is possible with a battery compartment you open with a dime as you remember from your youth. Another area where your memory is suspect is how long those batteries lasted. Battery capacity has consistently been increasing even as the power consuming features have tremendously increased. So, no, there is no conspiracy by Apple and the other tech companies.
Click to expand...
No, I remember my pre-smartphone era phones lasting days on a single charge. Rechargeable batteries still suck and will until continue to do so someone solves the problem with stably storing electricity. When you compare a 2000 phone to a 2019 iPhone, the battery has only marginally changed compared to everything else.
 
InuNacho said:
No, I remember my pre-smartphone era phones lasting days on a single charge. Rechargeable batteries still suck and will until continue to do so someone solves the problem with stably storing electricity. When you compare a 2000 phone to a 2019 iPhone, the battery has only marginally changed compared to everything else.
Click to expand...


What you are remembering is "stand by" time,: which pre-smart phone meant you could talk on it for several hours before your phone died, or leave it turned on, doing nothing for several days. Of course, a modern day smart phone is used to do many things, and indeed, actual phone calls have become the least used aspect of a smart phone. If you don't use your smart phone for anything but phone calls, and you shut off everything but the phone, you can leave it on and the battery will last for many days.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back