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I noticed how prominently Apple advertised their recycled plastic watch bands and whatnot at their last announcement. That's great and all, but the thing that r
by codeflo 3y ago
I noticed how prominently Apple advertised their recycled plastic watch bands and whatnot at their last announcement. That's great and all, but the thing that rubbed me the wrong way is that some of those products were made to look recycled, like the watch bands with the little color flakes, where the speaker implied that these flakes have random because they are the original color of the recycled plastic.
I have two issue with that.
First, someone would have to work very hard convince me that recycled plastic or not, those flakes aren't specifically tinted to look exactly the way Apple wants them to.
Second, and that's the important one, as soon as recycling becomes a fashion statement, the question about effectiveness begins to evaporate. Or more accurately, impossible to bring up without giving off the impression that one is against improving the environment. As soon as the important part becomes that things "look recycled", that's what the market will deliver, whether the thing is actually recycled in a way that provides benefit or not.
And who knows if the environmentally best recycling methods won't soon actually produce something that looks "cleaner" and thus looks "worse for the environment" than some faux recycled bullshit product.
- sdflhasjd 3y agoAcer did the same thing with their "recycled" laptop - I have to ask the same question about how much effort and production process goes into getting that exact fleck effect and completely agree with you, and I feel like companies are still putting in more effort to market about their "green" activities than actual practice.
- mathieuh 3y agoEnvironmentalism and social activism etc. have been a commodified for a long time now. You don't just buy coffee at Starbucks, along with your coffee you also get the nice feeling that you are supporting the poor farmers in South America and that your recycled cup and paper straws are helping the environment. The relationship between you and the people being born deformed in those countries smothered with pollution or being deforested has been neatly disguised behind a paper cup or a watch strap. It's no longer a relationship between people but a relationship between things. I find it very manipulative personally.