Last week , Apple Computerannounced an iPod recycling program . The company will accept used iPod at any US - based Apple retail memory board , and as an incentive to boost recycling give customers who drop off an onetime example a ten per centum discount on a new player .
It ’s a cock-a-hoop step , and one that ’s good for consumer on multiple fronts . It mean that you’re able to safely qualify of your iPod without worrying that it will end up in a landfill , andclaim a discount on a new model . But for many environmentalists , the move still is n’t enough .
Apple ’s raw iPod recycling program comes after the company confront considerable pressure from unripened groups . Prior to denote its new program , Apple had been trail by protest from environmentalists , who called the company ’s popular iPod “ a sentence dud for our health and environs . ” The protesters posit goal was to get Apple to get down taking back its iPod at the end of their life-time - cycles .
So following Apple ’s Friday proclamation , are those same groups glad ? scarcely . We spoke with Gopal Dayaneni , of Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition , one of the governing body that had been most vocally critical of Apple . At issue , he says , is more than just the iPod , or any particular brand of MP3 thespian or estimator . The larger problem is electronic waste ( vitamin E - waste ) in general .
“ Were happy to see that they ’re taking the small pace of taking back the iPod , ” Dayaneni tellsPlaylist , “ but what about all the Mac Classics and Apple IIe ’s that are being used as toxic doorstops around the country ? ”
Although an Apple representative declined to remark on the record for this story , the companypoints to its existing recycling programas grounds of its dark-green certificate . Apple claim a 90 percent recuperation charge per unit , by weight , of the electronics it collects for recycling . ( The rate of retrieval for iPods is similar , according to Apple . ) Dell has a similar computer program , and both companies charge a diminished fee — to handle transportation costs each claims — to take back old computers . Such programs are becoming more vulgar among major manufacturer . But good luck getting the manufacturer to take back that cheapo Formosan MP3 thespian you grease one’s palms on eBay . Unless you dispose of it at a recycling center , more than likely , it ’s go to terminate up as landfill e - waste .
“ E - Waste is a small unlike than a cannister - can or any other type of recyclable merchandise , ” says Dayaneni . “ It ’s highly toxic in its output and its disposal . 40 percent of all the lead in [ U.S. ] landfills comes from electronic permissive waste and it accounts for 70 per centum of heavy metals . ”
Much of that trail comes from CRT admonisher , which thankfully are being largely displaced by more environmentally friendly flavorless CRT screen model . The ponderous metal found in the go - meth of CRT monitor — typically between three to six pounds — isn’t easy recyclable , and often end up contaminating groundwater . Harper’smagazine lately report that lead levels in rivers in Guiyu , China – where many CRTs are broken down for flake — are 190 time the safe limit point for drinking H2O . And the problem is n’t limited to Asia . California , Maine , Massachusetts , and Minnesota have all passed some sort of legislation banning CRTs from landfills .
But CRTs by , portable consumer electronics present a growing worry . Anything with an desegregate racing circuit plug-in is probable to hold Cr , bull , star , silver medal , tin and atomic number 30 . The rechargeable batteries that charge such devices are evenly tough , with store of tip , atomic number 80 , and cadmium . As cell phones , MP3 players , PDAs , and digital photographic camera reach the ending of their life cycles , they often point for landfills , rather than recycling programs , specially in the United States .
“ Norway just released a report enounce that they recover 90 percentage of electronic waste after its useful sprightliness . That mean 90 pct of consumer electronics sell are recovered , by weight , ” says Dayaneni . “ If you add up all the electronic permissive waste , 90 percent of it comes back . We ’re by rights recycle less than 20 percent in the United States . ”
Despite voluntary take - back programme , such as Apple or Dell ’s , e - waste persist a growing problem . The solution , says Dayaneni , is to require electronics manufacturing business to take all products back at the end of their life rhythm , loose of charge .
“ Requiring the manufactures to take responsilibilty at the end of their living will drive clean production . If you had to take all the garbage you produce from your kitchen , your privy , and your chamber , and put it in your bread and butter room , you ’d figure out how to make less garbage . ”
For this cause , despite the company ’s Modern iPod take - back dodge and live recycling platform , Dayaneni and other environmentalists are continuing to point Apple , he says .
“ Apple ’s a vast part of the genial idea - share , and they ’re a companionship that promotes itself as a better company , an substitute party , a hip , new reform-minded company , ” he says . “ And when it comes to electronic issues there ’s a lot more that they can do . We have to have a system to deal with electronic waste . We ’re asking Steve Jobs to be more than just a mini player , and to really mistreat up and take it all back . ”
Ultimately , it is highly unbelievable that most electronics producer will follow through such programs without being want to do so by legislation . Yet just because take - back programs are n’t want in the United States , or the fellowship you bought your MP3 histrion from does n’t have one , that does n’t mean you have to resign yourself to tossing toxin into landfill , or — the horror — doing without an MP3 histrion altogether . There areseveral online resourcesto help youfind a reputable electronics recyclerto take back your honest-to-goodness consumer electronics , be they Apples , Dells , Rios , Nokias , or even cheapo Chinese eBay specials .
Mathew Honanrecently write aboutAudioblogsforPlaylist .
