“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.
Bandit Bill,
believe it or not, I have actually owned all of these machines since they were new. I am tempted sometimes, when I see a old machine in good condition, to add it to my collection but then I remember that I have no space! I just can’t bring myself to get rid of these machines that have worked so well for me for such a long time.
Save a Tree..Kill an Inviornmentalist. Why is it with these people. They bitch about Computer parts, But they’ll castrate someone for putting a dog to sleep or even worst…How about the damage Auto’s do?
the whole PC industry was founded by environmentals who wanted to cut down paper use. Notice that Apple doesn’t make printers anymore. Granted, Lithium ion batteries are not edible, but silicon wafers are much more environmentally safe than petroleum products. We could do better with recycling, but the solution doesn’t come from industry volunteering as a result of some marketing ploy. The solution comes from the Law, the massive and sweeping implementation of federal and state law, which would affect hundreds of millions, and not just tens of millions. These environmentals should be at the throat of their real enemy: G.W. and the Republicans/Pseudo-Conservatives
twdldee: uhm.. no.
The PC industry wasn’t “founded” anymore than the calculator industry was “founded” to put an end to the “waste” of making sliderules.
chi guy,
Very well said.
I get a hoot out of the eviro-terrorists pushing electric cars, etc., as being more environmentally friendly and using less fossil fuels. But where does the electricity come from? How much energy is wasted pushing the electricity across long, lossy electric lines? Doesn’t the power company spew pollution in the air (the same one that powers the electric car)?
It’s not a perfect system, but the bozos can’t see past their own zeolotry and self-promotion to view the larger picture.
Is there really a recycling program at Apple? I don’t think you can bring an old Mac or iPod at an Apple Store so that they dispose of it correctly? (I mean REALLY correctly, removing heavy metals and such) If there is one, they don’t talk about it enough.
Before the iPod most MP3 players used AA and AAA batteries which are designed to be used once and thrown away. Most people choose CD players for music listening, meaning that CD-Rs get burned, used a few times and then get thrown away. Compared to the amount of disposed batteries and CD-Rs, the iPod contributes an insignificant amount of e-waste.
The group targeting the iPod are misguided fools. Get a clue hippies; Apple is part of the solution, not the problem.
To give some recycler-feedback, confirming the arguments that Chi Guy gave (which are dead-on by the way, wonder what industry you come from Chi Guy), I’ve been working as a consultant in facilities for e-Waste recycling in Singapore, Scotland and recently US, Tx.
In all my time, 5 years now, I have seen the latest and greatest wintel-boxes coming in to be scrapped and recycled. You name it, I’ve seen it. The moment something new comes out, we get it in as scrap as well. The quality and value of those boxes is nothing more than scrap the moment they leave the factory, really.
But funny enough, even when you take the lower amount of Apple Computers sold and all, I have never seen anything better than a G3 coming in to our various warehouses. And, G3’s only in the last 6 months. What comes in from Apple in huge quantities only now? Apple IIe’s, and the first Macintosh LE’s. That’s it, hardly anything else. Never seen an iMac G4, never even dreamt of seeing a G5.
Well, just to get even more to the point, I love to build computers from scrap components. Just nice and challenging to get a pallet-box of products, through them on a table for sorting, and take out cards and motherboards and memory, build it together and get it running again in an old casing.
Let me tell you that almost every attempt with an Apple Computer works just fine. For a wintel-box, you’ll need at least 10x as much material to sort out parts that are working, and even then, you’ll spend a lot of time getting it to work with drivers and all.
Recycling? Apple is pretty much on the forefront, as Chi Guy said:
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
And nothing else
(Well, how about: The more you sell, the more uniformity in waste, the easier to have a proper solution for that waste)
Reply to Felix:
Here’s Apple’s site on their environmental policies:
http://www.apple.com/environment/
To What If:
Apparently I struck a nerve with you, but it’s not quite as single-sided as you make it out to be. Manufacturers don’t have the sole responsibility to make todays technology recycleable or finding better alternatives. You still have the option of how to store a non-recycleable part until the time it can be recycled. Today most materials used in consumer products can be, you just have to throw it in the right heap or to the right person.
The problem is that corporate environmental consciousness is such a longterm process. The first costs of altering your organization might damage quarterly results, and on a market that is obsessed of short time results that’s not exactly high priority. On a individual basis it is in my opinion purely an attitude issue and a matter of convenience.
Environmentalist thinking does not kill free market, it strengthens it.
We can’t possibly make everything totally ecology friendly, not with todays overpopulation or consumer attitude, it’s just not possible. What is possible though is to plant the thought that we should do as little damage as possible and hopefully, in a few centuries we haven’t totally offed ourselves. We might even have solved the entire issue.
This is about to become really off-topic, so I’m closing this now. I hope I’ve been stepping hard on certain peoples toes.
These guys (environmentaists) must have a copy of
Tiger and are using the Spotlight feature on Apple’s
Environmental policy files…
Granted…Steve Jobs will see this as a positive and
personally address the issue himself.
Good Greif!
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CT
as a big enviormentalist, these claims are close to bull… apple is the best at envionrmental things when it comes to computer companies…oh my