“Environmentalists are targeting the iPod, Apple Computer’s phenomenally successful digital music player, as a symbol of the growing problem of electronic waste. The Computer Take Back Campaign, an umbrella organization for dozens of environmental groups, is trying to force Apple to beef up its recycling program and to redesign the iPod, which has a battery that can wear out in just 18 months and is not easily replaced,” Joan Lowy reports for Scripps Howard News Service.
“Last month, protesters gathered outside the company’s Cupertino, Calif., headquarters carrying signs that read ‘from iPod to iWaste – toxic trash in your pocket;’ ‘take back your rotten Apples;’ and ‘Dell and HP do, why don’t you?’ Protesters also turned up at the company’s recent Macworld Expo in San Francisco. They have generated thousands of letters to Apple CEO Steve Jobs. And they are vowing to bring their complaints to shareholders at the company’s annual meeting in April,” Lowy reports.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: We have iPods with much longer than 18 months use on them that have original batteries that are still going strong. Apple has a battery information page here which explains: Apple rechargeable batteries provide a better solution for both your pocketbook and the planet. For instance, if your iPod were powered by 4-AA Alkaline batteries and you used one pack per week (which is conservative), after two years you would have spent over $200 (buying in bulk) and piled up 400 dead batteries for your local recycling center.