4 ms·

I don't know what kind of recycling service you're talking here, but here in France "recycling" electronics (huge emphasis on the quotation marks, as electronic

I don't know what kind of recycling service you're talking here, but here in France "recycling" electronics (huge emphasis on the quotation marks, as electronics are usually NEVER recycled) does not involve speaking to anyone. You have cardboard boxes for electronics devices at the entrance of every supermarket of a certain size (by law) and you simply drop it there. Although admittedly most devices thrown in there do not end up on the second hand market (though i can't say i've never helped myself from these boxes in the past :D) But the same goes for most ressourceries and other second-hand market: some people donate cardboard boxes full of stuff anonymously, the workers triage through it, then stumble upon devices to which they don't have a passphrase... and don't have any way of contacting the original owner. Definitely not a solved problem in 99% of the world.

simondotau 5y ago
Like five seconds of googling and I don’t speak French. https://comparecycle.com/ https://comparecycle.com/ This is the kind of recycling service many people use. Very common here in Australia; companies pay a non trivial price for even a five year old iPhone or iPad. > You have cardboard boxes for electronics devices at the entrance of every supermarket of a certain size (by law) and you simply drop it there. It baffles me that on one hand you scorn me for my supposed affluence while inferring that people in your neighbourhood supposedly just dump perfectly good iPhones into a bin without wanting any money for them. If that’s not affluence, I don’t know what is.
- 8ytecoder 5y ago
  That was my thought as well. I change my phone every couple of years. I have used HTC and Nokia in the past. It's way easier to recycle an Apple device and they're very diligent about ensuring it's unlocked. They pay a decent price for up-to 3 year old phones. It's also way way easier to get an iPhone fixed than the other ones I have owned. People talk about Apple lock-in issues in general terms. No one seem to look at from a matter of practicality. I have fixed my iPhones every time there's an issue - because I actually can. My HTC camera had the purple glare issue. HTC refused to service it unless I pay $200 + shipping back and forth and be without a phone for 3 weeks!!! Same with my LG TV or Sony laptop. I used to complain about the same things people in this thread too - about how draconian Apple is. Until I actually started using their products and realized they both last long and are repairable. The only downside is the cost - even that is not expensive in the long run (my Pro is now 7 years old and runs like a champ with just a battery replacement).
- southerntofu 5y ago
  > https://comparecycle.com/ https://comparecycle.com/ I can assure you noone uses that in France. When people want money from second-hand devices, they either go to Cash Converters (a chain of local stores) or sell them directly on LeBonCoin.fr (our craigslist equivalent). I don't know a single person who has ever sold a device apart from those avenues. > It baffles me that on one hand you scorn me for my supposed affluence while inferring that people in your neighbourhood supposedly just dump perfectly good iPhones into a bin without wanting any money for them. I don't intend to scorn anyone by pointing out material privileges. Owning a brand new iPhone is upper-class privilege, as it's over 1000$ which is about twice social support (RSA) in France (~500€/month) and is the same order of magnitude as french minimum wage for full-time (35h/week) work (~1100€ after taxes). In some corners of France, you can buy a house (though not the best/biggest one) with that kind of money. In Paris, you can rent a two-bedrooms apartment with that kind of money. Wherever you live in France, you can eat for more than a year (as a single person) with that kind of money. So yes it's a privilege to afford that kind of amount. EDIT: Just to give you perspective, of all my relatives/acquaintances, the typical phone budget is between 50€ and 200€, which gets you a brand new super-crappy Samsung/Huawei phone (super crappy software wise because you're locked with the manufacturer's Android, hardware is a charm), or a decent second-hand Apple/Samsung phone. I know one or two geeks who put more because they want to acquire a FairPhone or a Librem, but they are the exception, not the norm. And to give more perspective, i live in one of the top10 richest countries on Earth, just imagine how the phone economy works in India or South Africa. Now i'm not exactly saying most people in popular districts throw away their functioning phones in such bins. I'm saying if they're getting rid of anything electronics for recycling that's where they put it. More specifically, and in this order, folks would typically: donate it to a relative/acquaintance, sell it second hands via CashConverters/LeBonCoin or donate it to a local ressourcerie (donation-based second-hand hardware store), sell it for a few bucks on a flea market to a phone dealer, or as last resort throw it away with the old lightbulbs in supermarket "recycling" bins.

simondotau 5y ago

Like five seconds of googling and I don’t speak French. https://comparecycle.com/ https://comparecycle.com/ This is the kind of recycling service many people use. Very common here in Australia; companies pay a non trivial price for even a five year old iPhone or iPad. > You have cardboard boxes for electronics devices at the entrance of every supermarket of a certain size (by law) and you simply drop it there. It baffles me that on one hand you scorn me for my supposed affluence while inferring that people in your neighbourhood supposedly just dump perfectly good iPhones into a bin without wanting any money for them. If that’s not affluence, I don’t know what is.

8ytecoder 5y ago
That was my thought as well. I change my phone every couple of years. I have used HTC and Nokia in the past. It's way easier to recycle an Apple device and they're very diligent about ensuring it's unlocked. They pay a decent price for up-to 3 year old phones. It's also way way easier to get an iPhone fixed than the other ones I have owned. People talk about Apple lock-in issues in general terms. No one seem to look at from a matter of practicality. I have fixed my iPhones every time there's an issue - because I actually can. My HTC camera had the purple glare issue. HTC refused to service it unless I pay $200 + shipping back and forth and be without a phone for 3 weeks!!! Same with my LG TV or Sony laptop. I used to complain about the same things people in this thread too - about how draconian Apple is. Until I actually started using their products and realized they both last long and are repairable. The only downside is the cost - even that is not expensive in the long run (my Pro is now 7 years old and runs like a champ with just a battery replacement).
southerntofu 5y ago
> https://comparecycle.com/ https://comparecycle.com/ I can assure you noone uses that in France. When people want money from second-hand devices, they either go to Cash Converters (a chain of local stores) or sell them directly on LeBonCoin.fr (our craigslist equivalent). I don't know a single person who has ever sold a device apart from those avenues. > It baffles me that on one hand you scorn me for my supposed affluence while inferring that people in your neighbourhood supposedly just dump perfectly good iPhones into a bin without wanting any money for them. I don't intend to scorn anyone by pointing out material privileges. Owning a brand new iPhone is upper-class privilege, as it's over 1000$ which is about twice social support (RSA) in France (~500€/month) and is the same order of magnitude as french minimum wage for full-time (35h/week) work (~1100€ after taxes). In some corners of France, you can buy a house (though not the best/biggest one) with that kind of money. In Paris, you can rent a two-bedrooms apartment with that kind of money. Wherever you live in France, you can eat for more than a year (as a single person) with that kind of money. So yes it's a privilege to afford that kind of amount. EDIT: Just to give you perspective, of all my relatives/acquaintances, the typical phone budget is between 50€ and 200€, which gets you a brand new super-crappy Samsung/Huawei phone (super crappy software wise because you're locked with the manufacturer's Android, hardware is a charm), or a decent second-hand Apple/Samsung phone. I know one or two geeks who put more because they want to acquire a FairPhone or a Librem, but they are the exception, not the norm. And to give more perspective, i live in one of the top10 richest countries on Earth, just imagine how the phone economy works in India or South Africa. Now i'm not exactly saying most people in popular districts throw away their functioning phones in such bins. I'm saying if they're getting rid of anything electronics for recycling that's where they put it. More specifically, and in this order, folks would typically: donate it to a relative/acquaintance, sell it second hands via CashConverters/LeBonCoin or donate it to a local ressourcerie (donation-based second-hand hardware store), sell it for a few bucks on a flea market to a phone dealer, or as last resort throw it away with the old lightbulbs in supermarket "recycling" bins.