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According to what NatGeo and a few others dug up (literally) Apple hardly recycles anything. The glue alone makes recycling an impossible task. They ship most o

According to what NatGeo and a few others dug up (literally) Apple hardly recycles anything. The glue alone makes recycling an impossible task. They ship most of it off in containers to be sold in India, Pakistan, and Indonesia, where the lower castes and children strip out the precious metals by burning or cooking (highly toxic, but easiest way to remove the glue) or scraping the components by hand. The plastic and glass remnants are dumped in available spaces. And before anyone says the glue is a new thing, try to take apart a PSU from a Powerbook.

earl 14y ago
Do you have a link? If you're right I'm really bummed. edit: I can't really find details on apple's site and I'm tired. This site [1] discusses apple's recycling, though since it isn't apple proper I'm not sure it's authoritative. The relevant details appear to be: Apple's recycler for non-Apple product recycling is WeRecycle!, a certified e-Steward. Certified e-Stewards are recyclers who have been audited by an accredited auditor, and found to be conforming to the rigorous e-Stewards standard. If you are using Apple's trade-in system, this is a different vendor, called Power-On. Power-On is not an e-Steward (and they don't disclose their recycling partner), so this trade-in program therefore does not benefit from independent auditing to high standards. However, Apple has a very strong policy regarding responsible recycling of e-waste, stating that all e-waste collected in their programs is handled in the same region in which it is collected (and therefore not exported to developing countries). They prohibit use of prison labor for recycling, as well as incineration and landfilling of e-waste. So that sound reasonable, but it would be much better if there were a direct statement on Apple's site. [1] http://www.electronicstakeback.com/how-to-recycle-electronics/manufacturer-takeback-programs/apples-takeback-program/ http://www.electronicstakeback.com/how-to-recycle-electronic...
- soupysoupysoup 14y ago
  Look up e-waste in general and you'll find more than enough to read.. The difficulty is always in chasing these companies around following every step and verifying they actually do as they claim. Typically, unfortunately, and especially where expenses without profits are concerned, they don't. The other problem is now they've made the product this much more difficult to recycle and far more toxic. Somehow, however it happens, huge volumes of Apple's incredibly popular products continue to end up discarded in places where they should not be, and when the "recyclers" get them, the glue, especially the glued batteries and glass, will be a big nasty problem. NatGeo has done a few programs, and this larger feature discusses the big picture: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/01/high-tech-trash/carroll-text http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/01/high-tech-trash/ca... This photo gets a lot of circulation when the topic of e-waste comes up, largely because of the recognizable brand. http://marketingheart.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/waste-china.jpg http://marketingheart.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/waste-chin... To be fair nobody knows how the keyboard got there. But it makes a point, it's there, what happens next..?
  - taligent 14y ago
    We aren't talking about e-waste in general. We are talking specifically about Apple. What evidence do you have that Apple is knowingly letting children be exposed to toxic materials. It's a HUGE claim to make.
    - droithomme 14y ago
      Aside from e-waste, "Apple is knowingly letting children be exposed to toxic materials" was established with the iPhone screen cleaning story, where hexyl hydride, which evaporates faster than alcohol but is extremely toxic, had to be used to shave mere seconds off the assembly line speed. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/07/chinese-workers-sickness-hexane-apple-iphone http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/07/chinese-workers-... The Apple factories are notorious for hiring underage workers. http://news.cnet.com/8301-27083_3-20032074-247.html http://news.cnet.com/8301-27083_3-20032074-247.html These findings have been covered in Apple's shareholder report, so it's not like they can be contested. http://education-for-solidarity.blogspot.com/2012/01/apple-report-reveals-child-labour.html http://education-for-solidarity.blogspot.com/2012/01/apple-r... > Apple found more than 91 children working at its suppliers last year, nine times as many as the previous year, according to its annual report on its manufacturers. > The US company has also acknowledged for the first time that 137 workers were poisoned at a Chinese firm making its products and said less than a third of the facilities it audited were complying with its code on working hours.
      - eridius 14y ago
        There's no such thing as an "Apple factory". Apple doesn't own factories. And Foxconn makes products for more companies than just Apple.
- vacri 14y ago
  Given that they're not 100% recyclable (electronics aren't), what do they do with the nonrecyclable parts if they don't dump them or burn them?
- droithomme 14y ago
  Thanks for digging up that reference, it's interesting. Regarding the recycling of Apple products, your reference says: "Power-On is not an e-Steward (and they don't disclose their recycling partner), so this trade-in program therefore does not benefit from independent auditing to high standards." This sounds to me it may be consistent with the grandparent post's statement that they are carted off to india to be torn apart by child laborers to find precious metals while using toxic chemicals that shorten their lives. If the recycler refuses to say who is doing the work, where or how, and refuses to allow independent outside auditing, it is unlikely it is being done in a responsible manner.
- krrrh 14y ago
  I posted a quote from Apple's (Canadian) website up the page. The programs vary by country so they post different info on different country pages. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4212398 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4212398 http://www.apple.com/ca/recycling/ http://www.apple.com/ca/recycling/

earl 14y ago

Do you have a link? If you're right I'm really bummed. edit: I can't really find details on apple's site and I'm tired. This site [1] discusses apple's recycling, though since it isn't apple proper I'm not sure it's authoritative. The relevant details appear to be: Apple's recycler for non-Apple product recycling is WeRecycle!, a certified e-Steward. Certified e-Stewards are recyclers who have been audited by an accredited auditor, and found to be conforming to the rigorous e-Stewards standard. If you are using Apple's trade-in system, this is a different vendor, called Power-On. Power-On is not an e-Steward (and they don't disclose their recycling partner), so this trade-in program therefore does not benefit from independent auditing to high standards. However, Apple has a very strong policy regarding responsible recycling of e-waste, stating that all e-waste collected in their programs is handled in the same region in which it is collected (and therefore not exported to developing countries). They prohibit use of prison labor for recycling, as well as incineration and landfilling of e-waste. So that sound reasonable, but it would be much better if there were a direct statement on Apple's site. [1] http://www.electronicstakeback.com/how-to-recycle-electronics/manufacturer-takeback-programs/apples-takeback-program/ http://www.electronicstakeback.com/how-to-recycle-electronic...

soupysoupysoup 14y ago
Look up e-waste in general and you'll find more than enough to read.. The difficulty is always in chasing these companies around following every step and verifying they actually do as they claim. Typically, unfortunately, and especially where expenses without profits are concerned, they don't. The other problem is now they've made the product this much more difficult to recycle and far more toxic. Somehow, however it happens, huge volumes of Apple's incredibly popular products continue to end up discarded in places where they should not be, and when the "recyclers" get them, the glue, especially the glued batteries and glass, will be a big nasty problem. NatGeo has done a few programs, and this larger feature discusses the big picture: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/01/high-tech-trash/carroll-text http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/01/high-tech-trash/ca... This photo gets a lot of circulation when the topic of e-waste comes up, largely because of the recognizable brand. http://marketingheart.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/waste-china.jpg http://marketingheart.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/waste-chin... To be fair nobody knows how the keyboard got there. But it makes a point, it's there, what happens next..?
- taligent 14y ago
  We aren't talking about e-waste in general. We are talking specifically about Apple. What evidence do you have that Apple is knowingly letting children be exposed to toxic materials. It's a HUGE claim to make.
  - droithomme 14y ago
    Aside from e-waste, "Apple is knowingly letting children be exposed to toxic materials" was established with the iPhone screen cleaning story, where hexyl hydride, which evaporates faster than alcohol but is extremely toxic, had to be used to shave mere seconds off the assembly line speed. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/07/chinese-workers-sickness-hexane-apple-iphone http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/07/chinese-workers-... The Apple factories are notorious for hiring underage workers. http://news.cnet.com/8301-27083_3-20032074-247.html http://news.cnet.com/8301-27083_3-20032074-247.html These findings have been covered in Apple's shareholder report, so it's not like they can be contested. http://education-for-solidarity.blogspot.com/2012/01/apple-report-reveals-child-labour.html http://education-for-solidarity.blogspot.com/2012/01/apple-r... > Apple found more than 91 children working at its suppliers last year, nine times as many as the previous year, according to its annual report on its manufacturers. > The US company has also acknowledged for the first time that 137 workers were poisoned at a Chinese firm making its products and said less than a third of the facilities it audited were complying with its code on working hours.
    - eridius 14y ago
      There's no such thing as an "Apple factory". Apple doesn't own factories. And Foxconn makes products for more companies than just Apple.
vacri 14y ago
Given that they're not 100% recyclable (electronics aren't), what do they do with the nonrecyclable parts if they don't dump them or burn them?
droithomme 14y ago
Thanks for digging up that reference, it's interesting. Regarding the recycling of Apple products, your reference says: "Power-On is not an e-Steward (and they don't disclose their recycling partner), so this trade-in program therefore does not benefit from independent auditing to high standards." This sounds to me it may be consistent with the grandparent post's statement that they are carted off to india to be torn apart by child laborers to find precious metals while using toxic chemicals that shorten their lives. If the recycler refuses to say who is doing the work, where or how, and refuses to allow independent outside auditing, it is unlikely it is being done in a responsible manner.
krrrh 14y ago
I posted a quote from Apple's (Canadian) website up the page. The programs vary by country so they post different info on different country pages. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4212398 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4212398 http://www.apple.com/ca/recycling/ http://www.apple.com/ca/recycling/