Apple's Recycling Initiatives Recover $40 Million in Gold

[rdlink]

Wow. A company spends massive amounts of intellectual energy and hundreds of millions of dollars recovering materials and helping to better the current state of sustainability and some people just want to criticize. It makes me tired.

 

[0007776]

How does buying used mitigate your footprint? Does it matter if you buy used or new?
If you didn't have a computer yesterday but today you do, you gained something. Please explain how your footprint is mitigated.

I think it is mostly better because you are keeping a computer in use that otherwise might have ended up in a landfill. Of course if the other option is recycling it then buying used may not be as great of a reduction of your footprint.

 

[roboclint]

Liam? More like Blingam!

 

[576316]

Kinda connected but also not. The Apple recycle Brightstar site can't find my iPhone 6 Plus. I've put in both the serial and the IMEI and it says device not found and check failed. Why does my phone not exist in their data? I will add that it was a replacement device from Genius Bar when my first 6 Plus went bad.

 

[2010mini]

Well if this iPhone thing doesn't work out, Apple now has a side business in recycling and selling precious metals. 😛

 

[2457282]

I only buy used clothing (except socks and underwear).

I'm trying to use things that last, and trying to make them last as long as I can.

I used to buy new products, then I stopped buying new things and keeping the things I had instead of replacing them.

Obviously companies do a lot of research to determine the demand of their products, but my simple point is still worthy.

If no one bought a new Apple product from this point on, eventually they would stop making them.

If we mend and repair and buy used and make things ourselves than companies will stop making them. There are probably enough toasters manufactured in the world that we could stop making them, yet there are hundreds for sale near wherever you are.

WE decide what we need, no one else. We are free to say "this cellphone I've been using from 2009 still works so I'll use it until it breaks".

Yes Cuba hasn't seen a new car since the revolution. Everyone is so happy about that /s
I buy a new iphone every year.
Every year I give my 1 year old phone to my wife.
Every year I give my wife's phone to my another family member.
Every year they give their phone to someone else.
Haven't returned or disposed of an iphone in years.
Full disclosure - I suspect that my original iphone 3g, 3gs, and 4 have been retired.

 

[ohbrilliance]

So generous that they do this for us completely free of charge.

I'm fine with Apple making money on recycling (assuming they do after costs). What's important to me is that my iProduct isn't just rubbish in landfill.

 

[villicodelirant]

How does buying used mitigate your footprint? Does it matter if you buy used or new?

Yes, and picking up things at the dumpster even more so, assuming that consumption and emissions are comparable to that of a new product (that's not always true, for example, of used cars)

A useful if simplified model to look at this is the following:

If you and your neighbor buy two new Macs (and his old Mac goes to the dumpster), the the energy and raw materials that go into making those is 2K

If you buy your rich neighbor's used Mac for $200 and he goes and buys (let us assume for simplicity) an iPod - which takes 0.1 energy and materials - with that money, that's 1.1K

If you pick up at the dumpster the computer your neighbor throws away, that's 1K.
[doublepost=1460727720][/doublepost]

Without people buying new, the used market would dry up. Then what?
If you buy a used computer that is 2 years old and use it for 3 years, is that any different than buying a new computer and using it for 5 years?

Yes: a fraction of the money can find its way into the maker's pockets, which roughly corresponds to a fraction of energy being bought with it and a fraction of materials extracted from a mine.

If you happen to find a blood diamond on the street without paying a penny for it, you are not financing wars.

 

[LovingTeddy]

Wow. A company spends massive amounts of intellectual energy and hundreds of millions of dollars recovering materials and helping to better the current state of sustainability and some people just want to criticize. It makes me tired.

On one hand, Apple reused those thing into your gold Apple Watch and sells for couple thousand dollars... Quick return isn't it...

Or they reuse all these crap and make iPhone SE selling for 399 and you guys feel it is bargain...

 

[Mac Fly (film)]

I'd imagine it equates to an almost break-even as they pay for the system itself. Eventually profitable though perhaps. This isn't about the money.

 

[rdlink]

On one hand, Apple reused those thing into your gold Apple Watch and sells for couple thousand dollars... Quick return isn't it...

Or they reuse all these crap and make iPhone SE selling for 399 and you guys feel it is bargain...

How about "Apple reused those things and they didn't end up in a landfill."?

BTW, the gold Apple watch sells for around $10,000.

 

[gaximus]

On one hand, Apple reused those thing into your gold Apple Watch and sells for couple thousand dollars... Quick return isn't it...

Or they reuse all these crap and make iPhone SE selling for 399 and you guys feel it is bargain...

Isn't that the point, either way they would put those parts in their new products, would you rather they refine the raw materials and leave the land fills full of useable materials. They would make the same profits no matter how they do it, this way the customer pays less.

Would you pay more for an iPhone if it was made from 100% non-recycled parts?

 

[mkeeley]

How much did it cost to recover and how nasty is the recovery process?

 

[dbendixen]

As long as they don't use dangerous chemicals to recover the gold otherwise it's not that green at all.

Cost also needs to be factored in. How much did it cost to "recover" all that gold...

 

[peterdevries]

Apart from Apple Watches, what products have gold in them?

All electronic products.

 

[bruinsrme]

Yes, and picking up things at the dumpster even more so, assuming that consumption and emissions are comparable to that of a new product (that's not always true, for example, of used cars)

A useful if simplified model to look at this is the following:

If you and your neighbor buy two new Macs (and his old Mac goes to the dumpster), the the energy and raw materials that go into making those is 2K

If you buy your rich neighbor's used Mac for $200 and he goes and buys (let us assume for simplicity) an iPod - which takes 0.1 energy and materials - with that money, that's 1.1K

If you pick up at the dumpster the computer your neighbor throws away, that's 1K.
[doublepost=1460727720][/doublepost]
Yes: a fraction of the money can find its way into the maker's pockets, which roughly corresponds to a fraction of energy being bought with it and a fraction of materials extracted from a mine.

If you happen to find a blood diamond on the street without paying a penny for it, you are not financing wars.

Sounds like the rich neighbor would toss it anyway. they could also recycle it where they buy their new computer.

But from the sounds of it someone is going dumpster diving to save the environment.

My used computers are usually never more than 2 years old. Usually some family member or college student gets it. They are not using the computer for what I need it for.

If the computer is dead it gets recycled where I buy the new one.

Apple is not the only company that recycles old computers. Perhaps they are one of the only companies that performs the service themselves.

 

[dwaltwhit]

Apart from Apple Watches, what products have gold in them?

Gold is a common component in electronics.

 

[villicodelirant]

Sounds like the rich neighbor would toss it anyway. they could also recycle it where they buy their new computer.

Exactly, and your $200 are the incentive that prevents your neighbor from doing exactly that.

Which, just so that we are on the same page, is not as bad as simply throwing it away, but still bad: you can't recycle the embodied energy in the machine, which is not an afterthought, especially if integrated circuits are involved.

 

[jonnysods]

Gold is a common component in electronics.

Dang I'm never going to throw anything away ever again!

 

[ApfelKuchen]

How does buying used mitigate your footprint? Does it matter if you buy used or new?
If you didn't have a computer yesterday but today you do, you gained something. Please explain how your footprint is mitigated.

You're right, it doesn't necessarily matter (although it can).

The common assumption here is that someone who buys used products is rescuing them from landfill. That's not always the case.

What does matter is whether the product is used beyond its expected life, or if it's prematurely trashed. It doesn't much matter whether one person owns it for five years, or five people own it for one year each.

I think what matters is having a culture of conservation. The Disposable Economy is clearly wasteful. A person who cares about his/her impact on the environment will, hopefully, behave in a less wasteful manner than he/she may otherwise have done. Less waste/consumption in total, not just saving here so that it can be spent over there.

 

[unplugme71]

If you avoid buying new technology products you can mitigate your footprint.

When you buy a new thing, generally that makes the company make two new things to replace it, cause they know they can sell one, maybe they can sell two!

The downside to buying used is you are probably helping someone else buy new, but whatever. I've been only using old Apple stuff since 2012 and things are pretty swell. 🙂

Eh, I'm not so much worried about producing more products as long as it's a positive impact on environment.

See if we can make it an international law that all lighting must be LEDs, the impact that would make alone would help reduce pollution by reducing energy costs needed to run all these bulbs. It'll be like taking 20% of the cars in the world of the roads.
[doublepost=1460741022][/doublepost]

Dang I'm never going to throw anything away ever again!

Have fun wearing the same underwear over and over and over again

 

[Kajje]

At the price they sell their products, there'd better be gold in it.

 

[bruinsrme]

Eh, I'm not so much worried about producing more products as long as it's a positive impact on environment.

See if we can make it an international law that all lighting must be LEDs, the impact that would make alone would help reduce pollution by reducing energy costs needed to run all these bulbs. It'll be like taking 20% of the cars in the world of the roads.
[doublepost=1460741022][/doublepost]

Have fun wearing the same underwear over and over and over again

Agree BUT.
Should working lights be replaced?

 

[villicodelirant]

You're right, it doesn't necessarily matter (although it can).

The common assumption here is that someone who buys used products is rescuing them from landfill. That's not always the case.

Recycling (and I mean recycling the aluminum, plastics and some metals, not the insane amounts of energy and raw materials that went into making the chips, which are the dominant term) is still a worse option, environmentally speaking, than active usage for a machine that is still viable.

The definition of "viable" varies, holding on to a "web browsing" machine - or any use case where the CPU is usually idle - makes far more sense than holding on to a rendering machine, where instructions per watt do actually matter in the equation.

The rest of your post is obviously spot on, especially the last paragraph.
It's too easy to buy grocery from local farmers, hang Vandana Shiva posters and then, I don't know, [insert any energy and waste-intensive activity that hipsters do].

[doublepost=1460746444][/doublepost]

Eh, I'm not so much worried about producing more products as long as it's a positive impact on environment.

See if we can make it an international law that all lighting must be LEDs, the impact that would make alone would help reduce pollution by reducing energy costs needed to run all these bulbs. It'll be like taking 20% of the cars in the world of the roads.

That remains to be seen.

1. The energy went into making a product, from the mines to the factories to the WalMart shelf, usually overshadows the energy that the device uses over its lifetime
2. Interestingly, more efficient bulbs can result in... well, many more bulbs turned on at a given time, which leads to this paradox.

I agree that whatever you do as an individual, it isn't really effective if it's not part of an institution-, neighbourhood or state-wide plan.

However, things are more complicated than just "let's just ban incandescent bulbs".

 

[ApfelKuchen]

Agree BUT.
Should working lights be replaced?

Economists have equations for that. Will more energy and resources be saved by replacing an incandescent prior to failure, or by using it until it fails? There are many inputs to that equation, many possible outcomes.

If the LED retrofits into the existing lamp socket, then you're not wasting the resources that went into making the lamp assembly. The only "waste" is the unexpended life of a short-lived incandescent bulb, which is offset to some degree by energy savings. If the bulb costs $2 and was just installed last week, will you save more than $2 in energy by immediately replacing it with an LED?

If, however, the entire lamp assembly needs to be replaced (wiring, reflector/shade, fluorescent ballast, socket, etc.), then the waste generated by that replacement becomes a significant mitigating factor.