Apple's 'Environmental Obligations Are Not Taken Seriously Enough,' Say British Lawmakers

[TallManNY]

I'm sorry but if you compare the amount of trash that my house deposits to the curb in an average week to the size of an iPhone, to think that it is material in the slightest that I'm only going to get two to four years before it becomes trash is ridiculous. And I've sold nearly every iPhone I've owned, so maybe somewhere, someone is getting more than four years of use out of some of them.

 

[Porco]

IMPORTANT NOTE FOR EVERYONE THINKING THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT HAS A CHEEK TO SAY THIS GIVEN WHAT A SHOWER OF SELFISH UNPRINCIPLED LAW-BREAKING BUFFOONS THEY ARE:
​

This article is about a parliamentary select committee. That's not a branch of the current administration, it's an independent, cross-party committee (as I understand it). The MPs involved may or may not be honourable people but they're not (or at least they're not all) representative of, or represented by, the current British executive.

They are still broadly part of ‘government’, and I think all major parties are failing on these issues, but the distinction you draw is still a valid one, so thank you for highlighting it.

 

[BeefCake 15]

The UK is as irrelevant to most of the rest of the world. An island nation without any trade agreements.

Amazing how history changes...

 

[Constable Odo]

Apple decided not to put chargers in the iPhone 12 box and OMG! the whiners are crying bloody murder. Removing chargers would be a terrific way to stop e-waste in the millions of units. In this day and age, almost everyone in the civilized world must have a couple of chargers. I have at least a dozen USB chargers and I don't want to see another one. Yeah, the UK is going after Apple as a company that doesn't care about the environment because Apple is one of the worst offenders on the planet. Ridiculous. There must be 3X more Android smartphones than iPhones and most of them likely have shorter lifespans than iPhones. On Youtube there are some videos about car manufacturers who have THOUSANDS of cars they can't sell simply stored on huge parking lots. Why doesn't the UK go after those car manufacturers for ruining the environment? No, they have to go after Apple because... Meh.

 

[AZREOSpecialist]

European regulators are bloviated and powerless.

 

[Constable Odo]

Oops.
I don't know how to delete this.

 

[hot-gril]

iPhones last the longest by far. Apple has the best technical support and the longest software update support. Hardly anyone is repairing old Android devices to keep them running, especially because they're probably software-obsoleted by then.

Also, consider how tiny all smartphones are. For something people hold onto for 2-4 years, that's not a lot of material.

 

[maerz001]

Apple will recycle for any product it sells for free, including shipping a box to your house. I am unsure what else Apple can do regarding e-waste.

Making the products repairable (hello $550 bill for the iphone glass back) or upgradable ( hello, soldered RAM, SSD on MBs)

 

[cmaier]

I'm sorry but if you compare the amount of trash that my house deposits to the curb in an average week to the size of an iPhone, to think that it is material in the slightest that I'm only going to get two to four years before it becomes trash is ridiculous. And I've sold nearly every iPhone I've owned, so maybe somewhere, someone is getting more than four years of use out of some of them.

I’m not disagreeing with your ultimate conclusion, but remember that not all trash is equal. There’s a huge difference in environmental impact based on the materials - lithium, heavy metals, etc.

 

[827538]

I love my AirPods but they are clearly an environmental catastrophe. Almost impossible to recycle and essentially disposable after 2 years.

I don't think it's unreasonable to ask that companies should be required to recycle any product that they produce. I'd also like to see a complete ban on disposable plastic packaging (outside of medical/science uses).

I say this as someone who's pretty far libertarian/conservative who also cares about the environment. Plastic is an amazing material but we use it extremely irresponsibly.

Same with oil, I find it crazy we burn the stuff for transportation, heating, and energy when it's the most incredible feedstock for so many things.

 

[Carlson-online]

I wouldn't pay much attention. To the current government it's International Law Obligations Are Not Taken Seriously Enough

 

[BuddyTronic]

Of all the companies to go after... not the ones making billions of android devices that are obsolete after two years of updates...

It really does sour the "go green" mood when these idiot politicians demand an audience with the electronics company that has been leading the world with it's green policies. They single out Apple? It doesn't warm my heart to the green movement when they pull these antics. It's stupid and the green guys are losing my support.

Apple has done such a long list of removing toxic chemicals from their manufacturing, and recycling robots to take apart and recycle old devices, and going fully renewable on energy and on and on. Good for Tim Cook to snub these guys.

 

[makr]

Shouldn't they be more concerned about Jeremy Corbyn and his cronies?

Do you know what you are talking about?

 

[jagolden]

I think people are missing the fact that there are billions of Apple devices from iPods to iPhones out there. Some are in drawers, many are in our pockets.

When the next iOS release drops them, there will need to be some recycling done. I think that’s the problem they are trying to avoid.

The comment about crummy android devices is relevant but those are spread across hundreds or thousands of companies. One (Apple) is easier to focus on.

‘As previously stated, Apple recycles for free. Had some old Apple laptops hanging around, took them right to the Apple Store.
If going to a store is not an option, the recycling can be done through their recycling partner. They even provided the packaging and postage.

 

[Shirasaki]

PR’s power I guess, based on comments.
Apple seems to have done a lot to support the environment, but maybe they should address the power brick problem? Or engineer and manufacturing a device that actually last instead of breaking down after a few years? This problem is very apparent on AirPods and MacBooks.
Imo, long lasting devices can reduce the amount of new devices that needs to be manufactured, saving materials and saving cost.

 

[AndiG]

Nice one! Hopefully other countries follow. Solder, glue and bolts are not considered to be environmental friendly. My first Intel Macs were really awesome. Used it, upgraded it, used it more, replaces hdd with a ssd and gave it to a friend or Familie member.

But Apple became greedy under Tim Cook. There is a simple way to sell more devices, more super expensive Apple RAM and super expensive Apple flash drives. Solder, glue and bolts are the way to go. Additionally this lowers production cost.

Or look at the famous AirPods - battery not replaceable.

 

[Eriamjh1138@DAN]

I'm not happy with the state of my airpods, either.

Nice one! Hopefully other countries follow. Solder, glue and bolts are not considered to be environmental friendly. My first Intel Macs were really awesome. Used it, upgraded it, used it more, replaces hdd with a ssd and gave it to a friend or Familie member.

But Apple became greedy under Tim Cook. There is a simple way to sell more devices, more super expensive Apple RAM and super expensive Apple flash drives. Solder, glue and bolts are the way to go. Additionally this lowers production cost.

Or look at the famous AirPods - battery not replaceable.

 

[I7guy]

If Apple designed the airpods with a replaceable battery, my guess is people wouldn't be happy with the results.

As it is, Apple recycles the airpods, so environmental waste should be a non-issue.

 

[TallManNY]

I’m not disagreeing with your ultimate conclusion, but remember that not all trash is equal. There’s a huge difference in environmental impact based on the materials - lithium, heavy metals, etc.

True. But the amount of that stuff in an iPhone that ends up in the trash in four years is teeny because the iPhone is teeny. I mean compare this to a car that I buy. Let's say that car lasts 15 years before it ends up at the dump. Or compare that to ordinary course stuff that you throw away from time to time like Air conditioners, Microwaves, TVs, etc. These things are way bigger and they have electronics in them.

 

[pasamio]

I imagine they're mostly doing it remotely, so they could use FaceTime if only Apple would make it cross platform.

Apple were going to make it cross platform until a patent troll intervened and is still suing Apple over FaceTime.

 

[cmaier]

True. But the amount of that stuff in an iPhone that ends up in the trash in four years is teeny because the iPhone is teeny. I mean compare this to a car that I buy. Let's say that car lasts 15 years before it ends up at the dump. Or compare that to ordinary course stuff that you throw away from time to time like Air conditioners, Microwaves, TVs, etc. These things are way bigger and they have electronics in them.

cars are generally scrapped and a lot of that stuff gets remelted down and reused. They also last longer than a typical iPhone. Same with A/Cs, microwaves, etc. And while iPhones are small, there are billions of them.

 

[FriendlyMackle]

Apple are great environmental leaders in many aspects, but repairability is something they have gone backwards on in recent years. I can understand many aspects of it on mobile devices as they have got more compact for competitiveness, although it could be improved. But on desktop Macs, much more could be done.

Macs used to be known for their longevity, but now devices can be rendered useless because professional repair is uneconomic. Inaccessible RAM, storage, etc. on a Mac Mini or iMac could be avoided in many cases. Soldering everything in place is not needed on something that is not transported on a regular basis.

Despite newer Apple computers being glued together in places where things could have been slotted in (instead), my most recent Macs have lasted
1) over 11 years (iMac 24", 2009 model), and
2) since 2014 and still going strong (iMac 27", late 2013 model)
I don't really use the 2009 computer anymore, but it is still perfectly functional. This Mac (2014) is my daily computer. I added 8GB RAM after purchase, for a total of 24GB RAM, and it's quite capable. I would like to upgrade to the new coming Apple Silicon machines—when they're ready. So maybe next year. But honestly, even if I could have this Mac opened up to replace the Fusion hard drive with an entirely new SSD in a large capacity, it's far more effort than would be required to simply purchase something new, with what I want already installed, and with newer more capable processors, Bluetooth, etc. The cost differential to refine an older machine vs purchasing a new model doesn't make sense when they last for so long.

Also -- on the subject of environmental responsibility, why are UK leaders targeting Apple, when the petrochemical industries, automotive industries, and numerous other manufacturing segments of the world economy contribute far, far more damage globally, and in the UK than Apple ever could do! It really doesn't matter that Apple is easy to single out...how about ExxonMobil, BritishPetroleum, Chevron...I don't even know all of the corporate names there are so many of them. All producing far more damaging and in many cases completely non-recyclable materials to the garbage-stream which are ruining our ecology and destroying the future for today and tomorrow's generations.

 

[FriendlyMackle]

No, they are not. Sure, there are companies that are worse. But that’s a little „whataboutism“, Russia style, and doesn‘t mean, Apple shouldn‘t do better. Have a broken front-glass on your iphone? Whole display needs to be changed. Same with the keyboard on macbooks, glued in batteries, all-in-one-imac screens that are thrown away with the rest of the computer, proprietary charging solutions, not very long-lasting iphone-cases/watchbands...

And this has to be done from the regulators position. Otherwise companies will for sure try to cut costs and make smaller and less repairable devices. Yes, Apple is doing nice green PR about getting rid of rare materials, clean energy and recycling programs. But they are still a major producer of e-waste and a lot of throw-away products - putting a green hat on top of that doesn‘t change that.

But this is not a case of 'whataboutism' — Apple is a responsible corporate entity. They are transparent about their supply chain, sourcing, recycling and disposal of non-recyclables. This really does seem to be about political attention and headlines to be gained by targeting a large well-known consumer target. I will grant that their product repairability is laughable. But that really is minimal potatoes compared to the enormity of the problem.

As opposed to targeting a far more powerful, dangerous group of manufacturers, such as those who comprise the petroleum, chemical, plastics (petroleum/chemical again), and other truly toxic, manipulative, and outright lying corporate entities. Who, by the way, have now had retired executives publicly ADMIT that they misled the public into believing that we could 'solve' the problem on plastic pollution through recycling...when they had the studies back in 1970 proving it would be impossible. The heads of the large petrochem businesses realized they did not need to find a real solution—they only needed to advertise a solution (knowing it would never work, but that politicians and the public would not pay attention long enough to notice). And that worked, hence our many 'recycling' programs which funnel 95% of plastic straight to landfill. Yes, even after all the time we spend separating plastics!

They are doing the same thing now with climate change and all kinds of pollution. "It can all be solved with 'science' — 'someday.'" Science fiction and 'magical' non-existent technology is not a viable solution to our very real problems.

 

[FriendlyMackle]

PR’s power I guess, based on comments.
Apple seems to have done a lot to support the environment, but maybe they should address the power brick problem? Or engineer and manufacturing a device that actually last instead of breaking down after a few years? This problem is very apparent on AirPods and MacBooks.
Imo, long lasting devices can reduce the amount of new devices that needs to be manufactured, saving materials and saving cost.

The one thing I would really would like to see — from ALL manufacturers — would be to replace batteries in 'true wireless' earbuds. The batteries are tiny, and wear down within 2-3 years to about 50% capacity. This is a limitation of the technology itself, but it is a known limitation. We should not have to simply discard the earbuds when all of the rest of the technology is still perfectly functional and a new battery would renew them!

 

[mazz0]

Apple were going to make it cross platform until a patent troll intervened and is still suing Apple over FaceTime.

Huh. I’d heard about the patent troll, and I knew they initially said they’d make it cross platform (or possibly open source it?) and changed their minds; I didn’t know it was connected. Is that confirmed? What’s the source for that?