RSSApple: Recycle Your iPod, Save 10%
By Ed Oswald and David Worthington | Published June 3, 2005, 3:51 PM
Answering calls from environmental groups about improper disposal of used and/or broken iPods, Apple announced on Friday a program where it will offer a 10 percent discount for those who decide to by a new iPod the same day they hand in their old one. The program will be run out of Apple's 100 retail stores within the US.
Several groups in recent months have called on the company to take action on what they see as a growing problem of industrial waste from unwanted electronic devices. To ease environmental concerns, Apple says that it will process all the waste domestically and not ship it overseas.
In January 2005, the Computer TakeBack Campaign, an environmental coalition, announced its intention to mount a campaign against Apple for what it called "lackluster recycling efforts." Protesters and activists attending Macworld handed out leaflets reading, "from iPod to iWaste."
Unwanted hardware is known as e-waste. E-waste is commonly disposed of in landfills and poses significant environmental risks as toxic components degrade, releasing toxins such as lead, oxides, arsenic, mercury, and over 30 other toxins into the environment. Decades have passed were this trend has gone largely unnoticed as technology take-up continued to steadily increase.
More information about Apple's environmental policies can be found at its Web site.
I'm a longtime Mac and iPod user, but this iPod recycling program probably has less to do with addressing environmental concerns, and more with ensuring ongoing profits. As the story said, folks can bring in their old iPod, and will score a hefty 10% discount for a shiny new model. (That's up to $45, if you're buying a top-of-the-line model, a great discount.) But what folks may not realize is that by doing this, Apple is proactively attacking the market for used iPods ... and generating sales for new iPods.
Say you bring in your much-loved, scratched iPod to the Apple store. By giving it to Apple, you're missing out on an opportunity to sell it used (on eBay, local newspaper classified, etc.) for a price that would likely be more than the 10% discount you'd receive. Furthermore, by giving your 'Pod to Apple, you're effectively helping reduce the number of used iPods available for sale on the market.
This helps Apple in two very significant ways. 1) It shrinks the "used" market for iPods (in which Apple generates no revenue), thereby generating traffic to iPod retailers for new product. And 2) It guarantees that you yourself will purchase a new iPod, from which Apple directly benefits. Unless you bring in a busted/dead iPod for the discount -- or bring in a 1st gen iPod with an extremely low resale value -- there's very little you can gain from this so-called recycling program.
Wanna new iPod? Splendid. Sell your old one on eBay and use the cash (which will often be much more than $50) to purchase a new one. Don't fall for a scheme (admittedly, a very clever scheme) that will directly benefit Apple, prevent the "used" iPod market to grow, and give you far less money than your used iPod is worth. As much as I admire Apple and the iPod -- and as much as I respect the environment -- this recycling program seems more like an insidious money-making scam.
Score: 0
|What if the iPod is broken?
Trading it in to Apple so they can recycle it instead of pitching it and either incincerating it or throwing it into a landfill and getting a 10% discount isn't bad. Except that you apparently need a real Apple Store near you, and my nearest one is hours away. That being said, hopefully I won't have to take advantage of this program for a while. :)
Call me naive--I never thought of it this way until you proposed the idea. I suppose it is a bit odd that normally it would *cost* $30 to order materials in which to return the electronics to be recycled, and here they're practically *giving* you $30 (or a bit more or less--but that's practically right on for the traditional iPod)...
Score: 0
|If the iPod is broken, you can always sell it "for parts" on eBay. Look at the things that are currently there: http://search.ebay.com/ipod-for-parts. Depending on the iPod you are selling and buying it could be worth it. If you are buying a basic $300 iPod, 10% is $30, which could be easily made on eBay for even a broken iPod.
Score: 0
|So, what seems to be the problem with a for profit company trying to increase their profits? I see nothing insidious about this offer. Any fool knows how much he paid for his ipod, and used value is typically 50% of new cost. Sell Vs 10% off would seem obvious to anyone, as it has here in this forum. Do you accuse the cell phone companies of doing the same? Lets everyone sell our used 5 year old phones for parts or reuse and see them get older and broken. Then they fill up our precious landfills with waste when they are eventually thrown in the trash. I would rather see the used items recycled into usable gold, silicon, metals, and plastics for use in some new products. Even if we only recycle 1% of the electronics we retire it will save millions of tons of possibly toxic matter from destroying our only planet. I would like to see the discount higher to attract more people, but again, Apple is a for profit company. Give them at least a small amount of credit for recycling them instead of selling them to a 3rd world market.
Score: 0
|Selling your iPod used and recycling it are not mutually exclusive. In fact, reusing is actually better than recycling. What is that saying, reduce, reuse, recycle? If you are selling to someone who will use it, it won't go into the landfill right away and it might even be recycled later.
Score: 0
|yeah i truly cant see how selling it for 10% for apple to re-use some parts may be better than selling it for parts
Score: 0
|To bad people can't recycle their iPods for an iRiver or creative.
Score: 0
|yeah dude.
Score: 0
|mmm iriver :D if they are starting this kind of program OBVIOUSLY LOTS OF IPODS ARE BREAKING :0
Score: 0
|I had someone whom had a problem with their iPod, the brought it to the apple store and they charged them $150 to fix it. They told me they would never buy another iPod, first their twice the price of everyone else, and second you can't buy songs from anyone you want. You are stuck with apple inferior format.
Score: 0
|