Environmentalists Smell Something Rotten at Apple

Doesn't one, as a product owner, bear a weight of responsibility to dispose of their waste in an environmentally friendly manner. Rather than the company who sold you it? After all if they produce it in an environmentally friendly fashion is it not fair the consumer takes a portion of the responsibility too? That aside the refurbishment and donating of consumer electrics to those in need, be it local schools, or schools in third-world/developing nations, would be a much more efficient use of old equipment and would have the added bonus of potentially helping other less fortunate souls. Still if there is enough consumer-pressure to dispose of waste responsibly, then Apple should do it.

hmm, i think ppl should look at it this way: no harm will be done by putting a recycling bin in apple's store. so why not? but yeah...400 faxes...maybe they shouldnt have mentioned that. makes them look bad =D

john- Yes their products are really small, and yes landfills are really big, but is this REALLY a reason to allow companies to skimp on recycling? We could always blast our garbage into space. Space is HUGE. - martin

Even a small modern landfill could hold every iPod ever made plus its packaging in a fraction of its area. And I believe most iPod batteries last well over 2 years - mine has.

This isn't about taking pop shots at a company, it's about encouraging a corporation, ANY corporation, to "take a more active role in the actual recycling of their consumers' e-waste". Apple's putting forward an effort, and that's great. But if there's a way they could do more, a way they could do better, why not encourage them to? Dell wasn't doing it, and now they are. Why? Because a campaign 'inspired' them to. It's worth a shot. - martin

Yeah, two problems with the "400 faxes each" 1. The above-mentioned environmental irony. 2. Hmmm, 400 faxes sounds a lot like fax-spam to me, and I, personally (and I'll bet his Jobs-ness, as well) don't pay a lot of attention to spam...

Wow it doesn't take long before people begin to take pop shots at a company when it is on top. I am sure as Apple's popularity grows so will these kind of articles.

"...have each received at least 400 faxes about the company's contribution to e-waste..." Am I the only one who sees a very sad irony in environmental complaints from environmentalists being sent via FAX???? Send an email... save a tree.