“A defiant Steve Jobs lashed out for the first time publicly against activists who claim Apple Computer Inc. has irresponsible environmental policies for recycling products like old Macintoshes and iPods,” Benny Evangelista reports for The San Francisco Chronicle. “Speaking at an annual shareholders meeting at the company’s Cupertino headquarters, Apple’s chief executive said environmental activists are spreading false information about the company’s policies and using the popularity of the iPod digital music player to gain publicity for themselves.”
Evangelista reports, “‘They have good taste in picking the iPod, but that doesn’t make their false statements true,’ Jobs said. ‘To say we’re insensitive or irresponsible is just bull—-.'”
Full article here.
Libs … feeding on each other now!
Apple products are much more environmentally friendly than PCs. People tend to use them much longer and will usually hang onto them due to emotional attachment.
bullsheet.
Way to go Steve! The more the craziness of these groups is pointed out the better. Apple, like most comapnies, has acted very responsibly, yet they get criticized when they do not do enough in the eyes of some. Most companies just cave in.
Like most major corporations I’m sure Apple could improve but they are not the biggest environmental culprit out there. That would be Wal-Mart which promotes suburban sprawl…
Bandit Bill has a point, I still have 2 SE/30s, a IIfx, a IIvx, a PM6100DOS, 2 G3s, a clamshell iBook, an iMac G3, a wallsteet Powerbook, an eMac G4, and an iMac G4. All of which are rarely used thanks to much newer hardware. (I do play MacSoft Monopoly on one of the SE/30s every once in a while!)
WHAT???? Dude…Steve wears a turtle neck…he’s one of them…why are they attacking him?
sounds like someone got some beef jerky mixed in with their granola.
iPuke when I read stuff like this.
These protestors only picked the one of the only world wide recognized computer product brand.
To call Apple irresposible for charging a $30 fee to recycle a product is silly. Why should Apple flip the bill.
I’m not sure about iPods and other computer products, but I recently bought a 27″ tv (in Alberta, Canada) and I was charged around $30 at point of sale for a disposal fee. It seemed like a rippoff. But I understand. It’s been happening on tires for a long time and it is a sure way to collect the fees.
Oops, The following:
“These protestors only picked the one of the only world wide recognized computer product brand.”
Should have read:
The protestors only picked the iPod because it is recognized world wide.
Thanks for the free advertising to sell more iPods
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Go tell ’em like it is, Steve!
Hey Dab2,
You and my nephew would get along nicely. We can’t keep him out of the thrift stores. He’s always bringing home legacy computer products. Most came out before he was born.
We had to pause the Napoleon Dynamite movie (during the thrift store scene) so he could identify all the products.
Bandit Bill:
You stole my thunder!
Details on the Alberta disposal fee (from the Apple website) here:
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/canadastore.woa/70809/wo/1q2wsJApTZeL21L3tgXvMiS2eiM/0.0.11.1.0.6.15.0.8.0.0.0.0.3.1.1.0?90,45
What we don’t need is a manufacturer’s fee on the equipment for disposal plus a tax on the equipment for disposal. However, cynic that I am, I think that’s exactly what we are going to get.
BTW, Alberta’s politics are very conservative by Canadian standards. The party in power is called the “Progressive Conservative” party.
iSteve = wacko
‘mac user 47’ and ‘IDIOTS’ = right-wing nutjobs
These Envirocons (ie: Neocons and Theocons) are just attacking a high profile target to get attention. Apple is far from one being in the top 100 polluters in the world. Apple ain’t perfect, but there are far worse offenders when it comes to contributing to waste and pollution. I say it’s the responsibiltiy of the consumer to recycle if they want to. It’s not the manufacturer’s responsibility nor should it be mandated by the government.
Here’s their website:
http://www.computertakeback.com/bad_apple/bad_apple_biz.cfm
I wonder how many iPods it takes to equal the mass of even ONE trashed car in a sprawling junk yard?
I am very frustrated by how short sighted these groups tend to be. They look for the easy way out instead of looking at the big picture which is as follows.
Recycling is just one aspect of being environmentally sound The last to be exact. The two options before it are:
Reduce:
Apple Computers have a much longer life cycle. This reduces the amount of e-waste. HP and Dell can recycle more! Whoopideedoo(sp) they produce throw-away products with short life cycles (ie PCs, Printers, Toner, Keyboards, Mice, …) Are they saying that Apple doesn’t produce enough trash very short sighted.
The Mac mini is just the computer BYOKDM. I have a box in my attic full of keyboards and mice from old computers. Again Apple is reducing, not just the waste put the energy that goes into the production of these items.
Compare the how efficiently most macs use electricity it is amazing. The RISC architecture is a more efficient CPU. This i believe was part of the reason why V Tech used the mac for Big Mac because of the energy savings and the lower level of air conditioning needed. Again Apple reduces.
Apple is killed the CRT along time ago. True they brought it back (at the urging of the market) for the eMac, but they were easily the first computer maker to dump highly toxic CRTs. Reducing again the amount of toxins that need to be recycled.
Lastly in the reduce category. Apple doesn’t load a computer with out of date technology. The floppy died along time ago but PCs for the most part still come with them by default. Why? That just makes another piece that needs to be built, transported, and eventually recycled. Pathetic.
Apple is an industry leader when it comes to using the powering abilities of Firewire and USB. When I used a PC every peripheral had to have it own power cord and converter in addition to the USB or Firewire cord. Once I got my iBook that was a thing of the past. I have not used those power cords and converters since. What a waste.
Reuse.
Again Apple makes computers with staying power so even if one buys a new mac the old one can either be easily sold on eBay or used for a music server, Print server, or something else. I rarely hear people talk about throwing away a mac. Hell I still see first generation iMacs all over the place. This is not the case with PCs.
In the end these gung ho environmentalists are only making things worse by making the solution seem as simple as recycling. Recycling is a last resort. If you can reduce the amount of toxins produced. If you can reduce the amount of energy it takes for production. Make your products reusable and well designed so that they are not easily thrown away. Then in my mind the recycling issue is diminished.
Bullshit
I agree that companies aren’t responsible if consumers recycle or not, that’s a question for the public sector. However; in my opinion it IS their responsibility to make sure that their products can be recycled.
Living in a rather ecology-conscious society the criticism struck a nerve when they attacked Apple. I don’t know how Apple handles its manufacturing process, but adding an extra recycling-fee to their prices is just silly…
What we need are more incentives and costs to starting/running/maintaining businesses! Yeah!
Enviro wacko’s are in there own special world – why worry about the real one?
…”it IS their responsibility to make sure that their products can be recycled”
what if they can’t be? can everything be recycled? is everything you use recyclable? if not, should the companies that make those products be run out of business and their employees sent to find other jobs at more environmentally friendly places of business?
as far as the “Mac Recycling” issue goes…
I am a long-time member of a Mac User Group .. (MUG) .. whose mission is to receive donated legacy Macintoshes… refirbush them, and give them out to community organizations… free of charge !!
We have been doing this work for several years, now.. and have set up many “Mac-Labs” for various churches, after school youth orgs, and the like ..
We have a great relationship with a couple of local colleges and a large graphics firm who are very generous with their used Mac equipment, and count on us to “save the planet” by keeping these still usable Macs out of the landfills…
So far… the only complaint we’ve heard … is due to some dead PRAM batteries…
If more and more Mac User Groups would consider a similar program .. it seems to me these protesters would have less to complain about !
Also… I wonder if there are such things as “WinDoze User Groups” … and.. if so … would they even consider doing something like this ?
These losers are not real environmentalist; they are simply lazy hypocrites, unwilling to do anything real. Nobody would care a whit if they protested Dull or most any other company. Apple is high profile, so they protest, since they know that the event would be covered by the press and would spread across the internet in hours (and it did, didn’t it). We need to be environmentally aware and do our part, but these we can just dismiss out of hand. Real concern comes from doing your part, not from a publicity-seeking protest based on half-truth and implied (and real) slander.
Unfortunately, we’re likely to see a lot more of this.
Recycling fees, suburban sprawl, anti-Walmart — there’s some bullshit.
You clueless, socialist dunces won’t be happy until you’ve choked to death what’s left of the “free” market. And as the quality of life speeds downhill you will pathetically blame it on evil, greedy, capitalist litterbugs.
AOL discs and Dell junk mail. ’nuff said.