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Apple Recycling Old Macs for Free
charleste writes "CNN is reporting that Apple is going to recycle Macs for free. I wonder if this means they will actually recycle them in Cupertino, or sent overseas to be dumped as many 'recycled' computers do, or if they will actually mine them. And does this make the MacQuarium obsolete?"
Literally. There is more gold per-ton in old computer parts than gold ore, and its cheaper to extract. so it makes sense given the recent rise of precious metals for apple to salvage as much of these resources as possible. This Free program is probably going to turn a profit.
At the announcement, Jobs specifically said that the recycling would all be done in the U.S. and not just shipped off to China.
I'm not too worried about the lead, since it's not particularly toxic and is quite safe to handle, with the exception of a few chemical compounds that contain lead. I'm worried about the dopants used in the ICs, the glaze on PC board, and the extremely dangerous phosphorus contained inside the CRTs.
That said, my vote is for dumping, since it would be more wasteful and polluting, energy-wise, to reduce the electronics to usable stock of "raw" materials. Aside from that, I know of at least one company that reduces the electronics to parts, and sells them. So it's quite do-able, however, the broken parts still get dumped.
It seems like giving them away to people would be a far better way of getting rid of old, but still usable, computers
Not necessarily. Often these old machines are highly inefficient in terms of the computing power they provide vs the electricity they consume. Sure, having one of these at home would be cool - in fact I did used to use the next model down as my home server - but these days I just don't want to either pay the power bill or try to justify the waste of resources. Sometimes it really is better just to let this old kit go to silicon heaven.
Not exactly. They don't just take Macs. They take any old computer. Theoretically, if you still wanted to use your old computer, you could give them the computer that was the old one before you got the new one. At some point, you'll want to get rid of the old one. It seems really wierd right now, but at some point, its likely that I will want to recycle this Macbook Pro in front of me. Precisely, it will likely be in six years, which is three years after I buy my next computer.
How has Apple handled recycling?
According to the "The 2005 Computer Report Card" by the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, "Apple, Dell, Gateway, and HP are the companies that use recyclers that have signed the Electronic Recyclers Pledge of Stewardship. To learn more about the Recycler Pledge go to: http://www.svtc.org///cleancc/recycle/recycler_ple dge.htm".
In that report, note that Apple received the second highest score in the category of "DISPOSAL CHAIN". That category indicates the degree to which a company will audit the entire disposal chain (including work sub-contracted to suspicious companies in China, Taiwan Province, and Korea) to ensure that recycling of old computer equipment is done in accordance with the most ethical, most responsible practices.
Note that Apple management actually signed the Electronics Recycler's Pledge of True Stewardship, committing to the gold standard of ethical, responsible recycling.
Finally, the recent decision by Apple management to take back old equipment for free is probably due to the tireless efforts of the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition (SVTC) and other groups in the Computer TAKE-BACK Campaign (CTBC). When Steve Jobs gave the keynote speech at the 2005 graduation ceremony at Stanford University, CTBC flew a banner over the ceremony. The banner exclaimed, "STEVE - DON'T BE A MINI PLAYER - RECYCLE ALL E-WASTE".
It's Saturday, you don't have to sip the anti-koolaid today.
What you wrote might be true if the program was restricted to recycling old Macs. This program covers any computer; the only requirement is that you purchase a new Mac to participate. More details. More info.
HP, AFAIK, charges a small fee to recycle your computer.
If you're going to slag on companies, at least get your info straight. Then you'll have some factual basis for your cynicism.
It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
Apple will recycle ANY computer you decide to unload on them when you purchase a new computer. Even your old 486 Win 3.1 box. That way, switchers get in on the recycling action too.
Here's a snippet from the Shareholder meeting stating so.
Zing!
So your dead mac is worth money. Pull the roms, send the rest back.
I don't know about Apple's program, but in general electronics "recycling" involves shipping them to some impoverished country where people making practically nothing remove chips from boards by burning them over a coal fire to melt the lead/tin solder.
As you can imagine, these people are not exactly working in healthy conditions. In fact, the report I was listening to recently said that the operations were polluting the area so badly that this little village by a river had to start importing bottled water because the river was now poisonous. It's also likely that the ground will be unable to support crops for hundreds of years (until the toxins ALL wash into the river and downstream to poison some other places).
All in all, you're probably better dumping the stuff in a landfill here. At least in the US, landfills are contained areas that are monitored and controlled. Send them to a "recycler" and they'll get released into the environment in the worst possible ways.
The Computer Take-Back Campaign was canvassing this neighborhood for signatures and all just about a week or so ago.
They've been really aggressive about getting letters, etc. to Jobs and BOD members about doing take-backs on the computers (They already do them on iPods for free...) and to handle the returns in a responsible manner.
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
Neither Slashdot nor CNN posted Apple's official computer recycling webpage, so here it is. For the U.S. (excluding the Cupertino area) they are partnered with a company called Metech to do the recycling. In Cupertino, Apple has had their own recycling facility for quite some time now that has freely accepted used Macs, PCs and some home electronics.
Slashdot's first reaction to VMware
Perhaps you were listening to one of NPR's excellent reports on the environmental costs of electronics "recycling". You can read or listen here
The old program costs you eight bucks, while the new one is free. The old program was still very reasonable.
There's a mandatory recycling fee for monitors in California. Screens between 15" and 35" have an $8 fee (CRT and LCD). This only started last year, so it's misleading to say that just because you were charged a state-imposed tax on a newly purchased system, that it wasn't "free" to recycle your POS Pentium-III system. Heck, everyone has to charge the tax, but you don't see Fry's begging to take back your old systems*.
.gov site: http://www.erecycle.org/fee.htm
From the
Or clearer details: http://www.mpccorp.com/about/california_fee.html
* Actually, they might. I didn't check.
Everyone is entitled to his own opinions, but not his own facts.
I wonder if this means they will actually recycle them in Cupertino, or sent overseas to be dumped
Do a little research before you submit a story next time.. especially if the story is several days old. From Apples homepage:
Hazardous materials
No hazardous waste from Apple's U.S. recycling program is shipped outside North America. All recovered materials are processed domestically, with the exception of some commodity materials that can be recycled for future use. Apple's recycling policies prohibit the use of recovered plastics as fuel in smelting.
Georg
I used to work for these guys http://www.surplusexchange.org/ here in Kansas City, They are VERY particular about how their equipment gets recycled and you can rest assured NONE of it winds up being disposed in the manner you described.
In fact when i worked there we got 3 or 4 calls per month from people wanting to pay US for our dead monitors (usually to be shipped to the orient & dismantled as you say) and we always turned them down & sent them instead to the site where we PAY to have it done correctly...
This is why they charge $12 per for dead monitors.
Anyway, my point is, there are eco-friendly electronics recyclers out there, they arent all crooked, just do your homework & check them out. and PLEASE dont put your old computer in the landfill!
Apple tried that already when in 1989 they dumped about 2700 Apple Lisas in a Utah landfill, because the tax writeoff was better that way than if they donated them to charity.
As a republican I feel it my responsibity to manufacture criminals. People need punished!
I used it to replace a server in my house (old server: HP Vectra VLi8 PIII-650, 46 watts idle, new server: Toshiba Tecra 8100 PIII-650 laptop, 15 watts idle), and find some surprising waste, such as a set of Boston Acoustics speakers that drew a continuous 40 watts, even when "turned off", and my HP Laserjet 2100, which draws 13-16 watts in powersave mode. (The speakers are now on a power strip, and the printer gets switched off when I'm done with it.)