Oh please stop that idiotic "throwaway computer" meme. Nobody throws away Macs. They are handed down to the next user, and they get repaired. Even a broken MacBook fetches so much money on eBay, it doesn't get thrown away.
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Greenpeace Declares Apple 'Greenest Tech Company' For Third Year Running
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This is garbage. When you make disposable non-repairable consumer electronics you're a huge burden on the environment.
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The macs on eBay are repairable as they are a generation or two old. I just replaced the digitizer screen on an iPad mini last night. Absolute nightmare that took 3-4hrs and I've replaced a half dozen iPhone screens and repaired countless computers.
The lack of repairability is a major concern and terrible environmentally.
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The macs on eBay are repairable as they are a generation or two old. I just replaced the digitizer screen on an iPad mini last night. Absolute nightmare that took 3-4hrs and I've replaced a half dozen iPhone screens and repaired countless computers.
The lack of repairability is a major concern and terrible environmentally.
That would be cost prohibitive if Apple customers actually did that.
I reckon most people resell it or get it repaired, both of which would reduce waste.
It is a concern but not environmentally. How it is recycled and reused are more important. Apple do have in many countries some kind of recycling program for Mac and iOs devices, and often you will receive some kind of Apple Store gift card for doing it. Most people upgrading/repairing parts of Macs or PCs will throw away the old parts, and not returning it for recycling, thus not being environment conscious.
Apple actually offer recycling in their stores. Compare that to the likes of Samsung/any of the Chinese OEMs who simply littered the world with cheap crappy phones that people just buy and throw away.
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People equate environmental friendly to be "I want to be able to replace components for cheap."
Everyone is so hung up on "repairability" and I think you're confused on what this means. You mean to say user repairable. No the newer models are not user repairable. But they aren't unrepairable. You bring them to any Apple Store or other apple service provider (locate.apple.com) and they can repair your machine to their hearts delight. Why? Because Apple is also a company of high quality. And you, Joe Schmo, may not be the most qualified person to be repair sophisticated pieces of hardware, and you might Ef it up. So it's protection for the brand and also user experience. Apple is the Ritz Carlton of the tech world. You don't do your own laundry at the Ritz, nor would you be expected to repair your own machine when you buy into the Apple brand. Apple and their courteous and trained technicians will take care of that dirty work for you so you can enjoy your day and get back to work faster.
As far as "throw away" machinery goes..... seriously? It's your choice as a consumer what you do with your product when you deem it no longer functions or you no longer want/need it or what have you. Apple in particular has ways you can recycle your past Apple Products (apple.com/recycling) You can drop it off at a store, you can go through the website and who knows, Apple could actually PAY YOU to recycling your products! Have an old iPod that needs replacing? Bring it in and get 10% off a new one for recycling it! Same with iPhones, same with computers. Hell, Apple will even recycle your non apple products and old MacBook batteries for you, FOR FREE. So if you decide to throw older $1000+ tech into your kitchen garbage can when your done instead of taking advantage of the myriad of ways Apple provides to you, the apple (and non apple) customer, thats on you.
And yes, most Macs generally lat 3-5 years without either needing repairs/or upgrades at all, or very minimal repairs. And most PCs need new parts if not whole replacements in about 2-3 years. Just use the power of Google to find sources on that. Which means it's greener. Also Apple has the most green packaging, the amount of it, the material, the ways it's shipped etc.
This is also why Apple opts to repair things like iPhones now instead of just handing everyone another full unit no matter the problem. It's not green to produce that many whole units, if something as simple as a battery or camera needs replacing.
Apple is a luxury brand. It's not the "fixer upper" car you bought as more of a project to work on over the years with upgrades and new parts. These are expensive pieces of hight tech that are designed to last and come with top notch speedy service. More like buying a Rolls Royce. If you want to be able to fiddle with your own parts, then you buy a lesser expensive product. If you want something that you don't have to work at and comes with service to help solve any issues, you buy an Apple.
When did everyone forget this?
As far as "throw away" machinery goes..... seriously? It's your choice as a consumer what you do with your product when you deem it no longer functions or you no longer want/need it or what have you. Apple in particular has ways you can recycle your past Apple Products (apple.com/recycling) You can drop it off at a store, you can go through the website and who knows, Apple could actually PAY YOU to recycling your products! Have an old iPod that needs replacing? Bring it in and get 10% off a new one for recycling it! Same with iPhones, same with computers. Hell, Apple will even recycle your non apple products and old MacBook batteries for you, FOR FREE. So if you decide to throw older $1000+ tech into your kitchen garbage can when your done instead of taking advantage of the myriad of ways Apple provides to you, the apple (and non apple) customer, thats on you.
And yes, most Macs generally lat 3-5 years without either needing repairs/or upgrades at all, or very minimal repairs. And most PCs need new parts if not whole replacements in about 2-3 years. Just use the power of Google to find sources on that. Which means it's greener. Also Apple has the most green packaging, the amount of it, the material, the ways it's shipped etc.
This is also why Apple opts to repair things like iPhones now instead of just handing everyone another full unit no matter the problem. It's not green to produce that many whole units, if something as simple as a battery or camera needs replacing.
Apple is a luxury brand. It's not the "fixer upper" car you bought as more of a project to work on over the years with upgrades and new parts. These are expensive pieces of hight tech that are designed to last and come with top notch speedy service. More like buying a Rolls Royce. If you want to be able to fiddle with your own parts, then you buy a lesser expensive product. If you want something that you don't have to work at and comes with service to help solve any issues, you buy an Apple.
When did everyone forget this?
But the disposable products DON'T generally last longer. Especially when the bloated and rushed OS upgrades are obsoleting the hardware before the hardware dies.
Apple doesn't make any physical products. The only thing that they actually control is the intellectual property and their data centers. Unless Foxconn and all of the other suppliers become subsidiaries of Apple, it would not be fair to count their emissions as by Apple.
One exception being that recycled plastic used in those early 2000's laptops that stank like fishy armpits. Anybody here have the misfortune of owning one of those for a short time?
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Your soldering skills must be ***** stellar. Did you use lead-rosin solder for durability or unleaded? I only ask because it's either a matter of resale or repairing "a keeper" -a 3-4 task? I'd use the lead solder to make sure that thing lasts and does not develop tin-whiskers that you'd get with the lead-free solder. And do you have your own shop/site?This post doesn't exactly make sense. They're green because they care about money? What does that have to do with clean energy.
And also once you give the phone/ computers back to apple, they recycle as many of the parts as possible
As I once heard someone say -- this world is not black and white. It's extremely gray.
I'm sorry, but no, I cannot let that stand for others to read and think that might be entirely correct.
No Apple Store or service provider actually repairs components. For example they open a MacBook with a defective logic board and replace it with a completely new part and then charge you 500+ bucks for it.
And no, they do not actually send this defective part to some fairy elves to get it repaired so it can be reused later. In the best case it gets shredded and some stuff might get broken down and then reused for the production of completely new parts.
But this whole process is extremely wasteful, especially since Apple has diagnostic software tools that can show pretty specific which little piece of the many many possibilities on logic board is acting up and preventing the Mac from operating properly. In many cases, it's just broken soldering that could be redone in a matter of minutes with the proper tools/stations that are common in "real" electronic repair shops.
Additionally they do just about anything to keep these helpful diagnostic tools under wraps so customers don't get the silly idea that they do not actually need to pay such a high price for a repair that is consciously set so high that the customer is "tempted" to buy a new computer instead of getting it repaired. Their internal purpose is to locate possible widespread production failures so that these might not affect future generations.
Imagine your car breaks down, you can only get it repaired at a shop 200 miles away by a "special service provider" that tells you that the entire engine needs to be replaced when in reality you just need a new spark plug.
As for the "niceness" of Apple taking in defective computers and getting them recycled "for free": In many countries it's the law that any store that sells electronics is obligated to accept defective electonics brought in by people even if they hadn't been bought there and have them recycled properly. Improperly dumped electronic waste is a big no no for the environment so these laws are really important.
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Have you not noticed there is a huge market in Apple refurbs? Where do you think those come from?
Rather misleading to say 'the most environmentally friendly technology company' when this report only appears to discuss infrastructural energy usage; nothing about use of recycled vs virgin materials and high intensity rare earths, recyclability of products, hazardous material content, water usage, transportation costs, environmental pollutant load, air quality etc...
Yes, but it's too hard, or should I say ambiguous, to assign a single score based on the products.
Good for Apple. It's impressive how much of their energy comes from wind and solar. But why is nuclear energy considered "non-clean" here?
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I don't think they're counting product assembly in this, just Internet services. It wouldn't be fair anyway since some of these companies don't produce any physical objects. Anyone building anything probably has China somewhere down the supply chain, ruining the environment.
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I think it at least gets passed onto some e-waste person who either fixes it or parts it out. Apple products are possibly better for e-waste since there are few different ones, many parts are interchangeable, and they can be sold for significant money even after several years. It does seem like nobody really sells old non-Apple PCs, just tosses them since they're worthless, but they sell old Macs.
Of course, it would also be better if Apple let me repair my own machine.
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They mean well; it's too bad that they're also total d*****s about it.
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I have to agree on principle. It surely has to be better to recycle the entire computer at a proper waste site, rather than gradually throwing RAM sticks and the like into the regular garbage that end up in landfill. I'm no expert on these matters mind you, but anyone throwing their computers away at the 'dump' doesn't have much cause to comment on the recyclability of it.
The reality is likely that the commentator you quoted just wanted something to moan about and couldn't find an actual negative in the article. Probably didn't even read it.