how does that work for international users specifically those without an official apple store?
btw is your lifestory of a modern computer device fact and based on something or fiction designed to suit apple?
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Apple Pulls Products from Environmental EPEAT Registry
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how does that work for international users specifically those without an official apple store?
btw is your lifestory of a modern computer device fact and based on something or fiction designed to suit apple?
I'd guess because upgrading/retooling/retraining would require more money, and prohibitively so if different manufacturers keep changing their build processes in myriad different ways. 'Recycling' seems to be almost a dirty word among many here; so adding to the cost (or damaging the cost-effectiveness) of recycling isn't a good idea.
Plus - even if they wanted to - it might not be as easy as you think. The iFixit crew, who have a LOT of experience in this, struggled to disassemble the rMBP. It took them a day to get the battery out and they couldn't do it without puncturing it and leaking its contents. It's very hard to blame EPEAT for this.
Don't forget that the WEEE directive in the EU still requires all of this stuff to be recyclable, and for the onus to be on the manufacturer to take it back to do so, free of charge. The fact that you need a special screwdriver to do so should not invalidate the environmental credits of a product in my opinion.
Personally I think EPEAT need to update their standards, and I suspect that is the opinion of Apple also: I would not be surprised if EPEAT alter their standard in the medium term to reflect this.
Personally I think EPEAT need to update their standards, and I suspect that is the opinion of Apple also: I would not be surprised if EPEAT alter their standard in the medium term to reflect this.
Then go buy a crappy laptop with Windows on it.
This pseudo-outrage over useless and hindering environmental standards is pathetic. Get a life you hippy liberals.
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Yup. Then he got on his private jet and flew somewhere. Al Gore is a blithering idiot. He "cares about global warming", but doesn't practice what he preaches. We can leave the rest of that for another thread.
By the way, the posts in this thread are nauseating. Most of you write how concerned you are about the environment or whatever, and how upset with Apple you are because they don't want to be forced to make crappier products just to adhere to a crappy guideline, but I bet every single last one of you will continue to buy their products, bc they are infinitely better than anything else on the market. And why are they better? One reason is that they don't feel compelled to,please or adhere stupid guidelines.
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I think it's hilarious you are being down-voted because you made a perfectly valid point.
You do't need a store. Apple will send you a box for your Mac, postage paid, and you send it in. That's what they do today.
Well, good on you mate. I'm sure that windows computer of yours has been built according to the highest environmental standards, by happy workers that are served a cup of tea every hour and sing happy praises of their employer, and when you get rid of it all the components will be nicely recycled and turned into android phones. I am just wondering what makes you post here.
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Pretty sad moment and ironic to be honest. Speaking about all-respronsible and environmental with the new campus, they now just glue things together so that customers cannot repair their products outside the warranty bracket so they buy and waste even more.
I'm not really an environmentalist, but as far as this goes, this has also been the reason I did not go for the rMBP. Not that this planet suffers enough from us already, we need to **** it up everywhere we can.
I'm not really an environmentalist, but as far as this goes, this has also been the reason I did not go for the rMBP. Not that this planet suffers enough from us already, we need to **** it up everywhere we can.
i happen to live in a place thats about 3 hours flight from the nearest apple store. does that still apply?
and having to put something as big and heavy as an imac, mac pro (if apple still knows those two products) and a display dosent that kinda negate the environmental impact of recycling?
This may affect their edu sales. My community purchases laptops that adhere to the EPEAT standard.
Is it strictly the glued battery that is forcing the change? Surely they can swiftly mod that with some screws instead; no?
I don't really follow this EPEAT standard too much other than just recently seeing our city govt article in the paper praising its purchasing standards related to the "go green" motto.
Curious move on this should it have some edu or govt holdouts from large sales. IDK if it will, just wondering.
Is it strictly the glued battery that is forcing the change? Surely they can swiftly mod that with some screws instead; no?
I don't really follow this EPEAT standard too much other than just recently seeing our city govt article in the paper praising its purchasing standards related to the "go green" motto.
Curious move on this should it have some edu or govt holdouts from large sales. IDK if it will, just wondering.
Even assuming that this is the rationale behind the glue (and I'm not saying it isn't) I still don't see what the environmental issue is: Apple take the product back, disassemble it themselves and reuse/recycle all components as required by law in the EU. Surely that is all any true environmentalist could wish for?
If the argument is that they're harder for us to repair/upgrade ourselves, then I agree (as someone who has always upgraded both the hard drive and the memory in his laptops to extend their lives) that's a significant minus point in Apple's current direction. But that's not an environmental point: if anything it's the opposite. As I understand it in the EU (which is where currently I reside) if I personally upgrade the memory or hard drive, then it's my responsibility to dispose of the old parts. If I happen to live in a conurbation where they provide recycling for that free of charge, great. Otherwise, landfill... Whereas if it's not easily upgradable, then I take the entire thing back to Apple when I buy a new machine, and they reuse/recycle the lot. I'm not going to get into the whole "energy of recycling" calculation, because I don't have enough information for this, and there are way too many variables, but if you're looking at this purely from an environmental perspective, and in particular at keeping stuff out of landfill, then the direction Apple is taking in design of its latest products is a good one.
I get the sense many people here are shoehorning the environmental argument to fit with their own prejudice against something they can't upgrade. I share your frustration about this element of the current designs, but let's not kid ourselves that this frustration has anything at all to do with saving the environment.
Where do you see, guys, that Apple is removing its environment policy?
It's still there: http://images.apple.com/environment/reports/docs/MacBookPro_Retina_Product_Environmental_Report_June2012.pdf
http://www.apple.com/macbook-pro/environment/
They just say they are not going to follow EPEAT standards.
It's still there: http://images.apple.com/environment/reports/docs/MacBookPro_Retina_Product_Environmental_Report_June2012.pdf
http://www.apple.com/macbook-pro/environment/
They just say they are not going to follow EPEAT standards.
To be honest, I'm a little disappointed in apple. I always appreciated the fact that these computers were highly recyclable and better on the environment than most electronics now a days. I figured apple would somehow develop a way to get these batteries off safely so they can be recycled.
If this is the way technology is going to become, getting smaller and lighter but less conscious about the world we live in then I'm not for it.
This needs to be judged one product at a time.
Some are more recyclable than others.
Excluding iphones and ipads is wrong. There are too many millions (and more to come) out there to just let that go.
Since Apple "replaces" batteries for many devices one should assume that these dead batteries will be recycled.
You can also recycle your old Apple electronics via their website. I don't see why they wouldn't include newer generations of products.
When my local waste station has a once a year electronics collection for residents, the sheer amount of devices is amazing.
They range from printers to TVs, CD DVD players, hard drives to computers of all brands.
I don't trust that anybody "recycles" this mix of products.
So, one alternative is to use components which harm the environment the least.
There are too many details to go into and this is not only an Apple problem.
Until everybody turns in their electronics stuff (A lot of people don't) and turning them in is FREE we will have this mounting problem.
With or without EPEAT!
If the electronics industry would develop a deposit type system it would provide incentives to bring the stuff for recycling.
Say you buy a TV and the first buyer gets charged a $ 50 deposit, which gets refunded when the TV is being turned in to be recycled.
At least there is an incentive for somebody.
Just like we see homeless collecting beer bottles and beer, soda cans etc. to cash in the deposit, I can imagine that being a new source to make money.
As an alternate solution if laws get passed that manufacturers have to take back their products for free, it will change their product development to keep the costs of recycling down.
For those wanting to knock Apple at all costs, assume they are working on it.
Too high a profile company to assume they'll just let it go.
So apple gets bad press for making computers that last 5 years (minimum) which are hard to recycle, but it is okay for peope to build their own desktops and replace it every year?
Which is more wasteful?
Who builds and replaces desktops every year?
Desktops go on and on for many many years, often passed down the line to others when the original person upgrades.
I'd say typical windows desktops are the most environmentally friendly computers.
You may use the same case, the same monitor, the same hard drive, perhaps DVD drive also, just replacing your Mboard, CPU, Ram and Graphics card.
These old items you sell on to others who reuse them in their lower spec machines until the item gets too old be be useful and then at the end of it's life you really just have a base circuit board, perhaps with a heatsink screwed on that can be removed and stripped.
How much easier of green could you possibly have than this scenario?
Instead of asking, why don't you just go to store.apple.com, select your country, and search for "recycling"? And I don't know what you are thinking, but what does the distance to the nearest Apple store have to do with a box that is sent through the mail?
Didn't Apple begin their own recycling program? So making it easy for companies to figure out what they are doing is not important since they can handle recycling themselves. Another view is that since their products tend not to be throw aways after 1 year because they are worthless like their competitors there may not be as much of a need so they can handle the demand for recycling.
Unfortunately, it seems that this is what is happening.... However, a much more sophisticated windows or equivalent. We have geniuses behind the bar.
Ok let's all just breathe for a second! Stop hyperventilating!
What if Apple's reasoning is that all Macs should be returned back to Apple for recycling, and Apple themselves will disassemble the computer for proper recycling?
If you read carefully, the EPEAT specifies "External enclosures, chassis, and electronic subassemblies shall be removable with commonly available tools or by hand. (emphasis mine)
Perhaps Apple is just admitting that they can't adhere to this specification any longer because it will require an Apple employee using nonstandard and not commonly available tools to disassemble for recycling? I don't think Apple is saying "screw recycling!", I think they're saying "it takes an special tools to recycle this MacBook, and while we will happily do that for you, we can no longer certify it with EPEAT".
[prepares for massive downvoting]
What if Apple's reasoning is that all Macs should be returned back to Apple for recycling, and Apple themselves will disassemble the computer for proper recycling?
If you read carefully, the EPEAT specifies "External enclosures, chassis, and electronic subassemblies shall be removable with commonly available tools or by hand. (emphasis mine)
Perhaps Apple is just admitting that they can't adhere to this specification any longer because it will require an Apple employee using nonstandard and not commonly available tools to disassemble for recycling? I don't think Apple is saying "screw recycling!", I think they're saying "it takes an special tools to recycle this MacBook, and while we will happily do that for you, we can no longer certify it with EPEAT".
[prepares for massive downvoting]
Yes Yes and YES
Seriously now, has Apple gone Republican? Please say it ain't so. Seriously too and all that said, I have no doubt Apple will soon announce a recycling plan of their own. Apple knows better than to alienate a good segment of their audience (meaning liberals and progressives). They are not stupid, you know.
You made a really good point there: if people are expecting a computer to be user-upgradable, that probably leads to more toxic waste as regular people are much less likely to properly dispose of computer parts. Whereas, like it or not, a non-user serviceable Mac like the retina MacBook Pro discourages that completely. You could make a serious argument that retina MacBook Pro is better for the environment.
That's a pretty lame view.. What you are saying is that there is no need to recycle after three or four or five or even ten years??? That's not true at all. Personally, I think all these products should last at least ten years.
I'm tired of all the blind apologists for Apple. Apple is the world's largest corporation. Why shouldn't people question their integrity and their stewardship of the environment. Yes we love their computers and other products, but don't we also cherish our fresh air, and clean water. To me, the health of our earth is more important than an iPad and iPhone and an iMac....
So apple gets bad press for making computers that last 5 years (minimum) which are hard to recycle, but it is okay for peope to build their own desktops and replace it every year?
Which is more wasteful?
How dare you point out that almost every tree-hugging hippie is a hypocrite?
I agree that it may affect Mac sales to edu sites (will it affect iPad sales? I don't know). But we should all remember (I'm not picking on you) that EPEAT is not a government agency; it's a private organization with very good intentions and very good results. But what if technology innovation moves so fast that EPEAT standards can't keep up? What if the next step is Apple introducing their own EPEAT-like set of standards that their Macs adhere to, with the stipulation that Apple themselves will go to the edu sites to properly dispose of the Mac computers?
My point is that while I expect many edu sites to reject Apples actions here, I can foresee Apple introducing a parallel set of standards just for their macs and convincing edu sites to consider that to be on the same level of legitimacy as EPEAT.
Seriously?
Seriously, how many Dell or HP owners actually open up their laptops and replace RAM, increase the size of their hard drives, or replace their batteries? Sure, the computer geeks will do it because they enjoy it, but most companies automatically replace their PCs every 3 years on a lease and don't even think about interim upgrades. Most regular people get a virus and rather than spend money having the Geek Squad or local teenager rebuild their computer, they just buy another one that's newer and faster anyway.
As a recent HP EliteBook user who scoffed at the supposedly small form factor laptop where the display alone was about as thick as the entire MacBook Air and they strapped on a battery that protruded out the back, I'm all in on Apple's new rMBP and MBA direction (just bought a MBA with a core i7 Ivy Bridge). The trick is to bump up the processor and RAM to the next price point (not the highest that really breaks the bank) and you'll be set with that laptop for 5+ years.
Seriously, how many Dell or HP owners actually open up their laptops and replace RAM, increase the size of their hard drives, or replace their batteries? Sure, the computer geeks will do it because they enjoy it, but most companies automatically replace their PCs every 3 years on a lease and don't even think about interim upgrades. Most regular people get a virus and rather than spend money having the Geek Squad or local teenager rebuild their computer, they just buy another one that's newer and faster anyway.
As a recent HP EliteBook user who scoffed at the supposedly small form factor laptop where the display alone was about as thick as the entire MacBook Air and they strapped on a battery that protruded out the back, I'm all in on Apple's new rMBP and MBA direction (just bought a MBA with a core i7 Ivy Bridge). The trick is to bump up the processor and RAM to the next price point (not the highest that really breaks the bank) and you'll be set with that laptop for 5+ years.