I suspect they mean "recycled" as in "we reuse existing assembly lines / stocks of parts" and not "we take apart old iphone 8s to make SEs". That doesnt seem feasible from a quality assurance POV
"Recycling" in the context of electronics means that a few rare minerals (gold) get extracted, and the rest (ie. almost everything) ends up in landfills or as filler for roads at best. It's a very energy intensive process with often murky environmental effects, and defintely not just "used to make nee iPhones". Unfortunately!
That's why the phrase is "reduce, reuse, and if all else fails, recycle" and why Apple (and others) are indeed in the wrong when they don't design their products for repairability and long life.
And what they could do instead is yes sell those parts, or extend their certified refurbished program. It currently only goes back to the iPhone 12, even though their newest OS supports much older phones. To say nothing of how far back security updates are still (selectively) being released.
They claim to. I would love to read an independent audit of their recycling process. I suspect the vast majority of devices they extract the battery, the screen if it’s viable, and the rest ends up in a dump. “Recycled,” in a sense but not really.
> Which is a pretty bad program, reusing is always better than recycling. Apple will just scrap it into basic elements: metals, maybe lithium.
They have a refurbished program so they definitely don't just scrap devices you trade in. Maybe they even scrap some devices for parts. In the server space this is normal. HP would regularly send us refurbished replacement parts for repairs (this is also one of the reason why they want the replaced parts back).
Except Apple has NOT confirmed that they actually recycle these new models with glued components. In fact their official response* dodged this question, directing attention to other aspects of their green efforts. But no word on the key design change, the gluing of components that would need to be separated in order to be recycled.
Does Marco have a source for his claim that Apple actually recycles the new models if you bring them back?
They could also be recycled from units with other damaged parts, which is also "legitimate", whatever that means (although I'm sure Apple et.al. don't want that.)
In much the same way that salvage yards are a source of car parts, yet companies like Tesla are trying to stop that.
Technically "reuse" means wholesale reuse of components, shredding them would be recycling.
But you're right. The whole right-to-repair is just lobbying from independent iPhone repair companies who want to make a quick buck at Apple's expense.
It's part penny-pinching, part fake environmentalism and lots of hate for everything Apple. Even if Apple would bring out the most repairable phone ever it wouldn't be enough since it's all about the control they don't want Apple to have (even if that control is advantageous to the customer)
Scrapping the phones for spare parts would still be possible. This is usually standard practice for electronics recyclers, but the recyclers working for Apple are (were?) forbidden from doing that.
Old cars are often used to source parts for the repair of other cars. It's common practice, which has persisted without any major problems.
Likewise, 3rd-party repair shops will often harvest parts from old phones, to replace parts in phones they are repairing. Picking and testing components doesn't appear to be a problem for them. Their customers seem to have no issue with recycled parts being used to repair their phones.
If there is demand for recycled parts, and they can be reused while still ensuring quality, what is the problem?
"The design may well be comprised of “highly recyclable aluminum and glass” — but my friends in the electronics recycling industry tell me they have no way of recycling aluminum that has glass glued to it like Apple did with both this machine and the recent iPad."
I took this to mean that recycling was essentially impossible (by Apple or anyone else). Perhaps Apple can indeed figure out a recycling strategy. I doubt they will spend any time on it unless prompted by adverse publicity (like this article is generating).
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