PIRG's 'Electronic Waste Graveyard' lists 100+ gadgets dumped after support vanished
- Reference: 1744397168
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/04/11/electronic_waste_graveyard/
- Source link:
The US-based non-profit has campaigned against the growing tide of electronic waste for years, and its latest effort is an online "rogues' gallery" showcasing more than 100 tech products that no longer function properly or were effectively junked after manufacturers ended support.
Most Reg readers will be aware of the situation with smartphones, which are typically backed by security updates and bug fixes for maybe 2 to 3 years after the release of the device – tough luck if you happen to buy one that has already been on the market for a while.
[1]
No, they won't suddenly stop working. However, once the vendor stops patching flaws, it will become increasingly risky to use any internet-connected product.
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The [4]Electronic Waste Graveyard lists a whole bunch of devices, covering the gamut from laptops to smart watches, car accessories and kitchen gadgets. It calculates the total weight of all the dead widgets, and allows users to sort the list by brand, category and the type of lost support.
Perhaps one of the most egregious is the Amazon Halo Rise, a $140 smart alarm clock and sleep tracker, which according to PIRG lasted for less than a year before Amazon pulled the plug on the cloud service the device depended on.
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PIRG also returns to previous ground it has raked over before, like the claim that the impending [6]end of life date for Windows 10 coming later this year will leave up to 400 million PCs unable to upgrade to the next version.
Again, the end of support means that your Windows 10 PC won't suddenly stop working, yet running Windows without the availability of security patches isn't considered wise.
The interactive gallery also lists a number of Chromebook models that similarly lost software updates after a number of years, which PIRG [7]previously highlighted in a report entitled "Chromebook Churn."
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This hit schools and students, who often buy the devices for their lower price tag. PIRG successfully lobbied Google, the developer of the software platform, to extend the update period.
However, [9]only Chromebooks released from 2021 onward automatically get ten years of updates, as we previously reported.
[10]Laptop makers stalled on repairability improvements
[11]GenAI's dirty secret: It's set to create a mountainous increase in e-waste
[12]UN: E-waste is growing 5x faster than it can be recycled
[13]The state of Right to Repair: Progress made, but key barriers remain
PIRG cites estimates that around 68 million tons of electronic waste are dumped globally each year.
"The steady stream of e-waste is becoming a flood," said Andre Delattre, senior vice president and chief operating officer for program at The Public Interest Network.
"While this is frustrating for consumers, it's devastating for the planet. At the very least we need lifetime transparency for tech - we should know how long manufacturers guarantee the tech we buy will work before we buy it." ®
Get our [14]Tech Resources
[1] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Z_mQ6QjfcFWOMGyVxsn7ygAAAJI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Z_mQ6QjfcFWOMGyVxsn7ygAAAJI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Z_mQ6QjfcFWOMGyVxsn7ygAAAJI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pirg.org/edfund/resources/electronic-waste-graveyard/
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Z_mQ6QjfcFWOMGyVxsn7ygAAAJI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2024/10/14/final_year_windows_10/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2023/04/18/chromebook_expiration_date_and_repair/
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Z_mQ6QjfcFWOMGyVxsn7ygAAAJI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/06/chromebook_end_of_life/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/20/laptop_manufacturers_repairability/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2024/10/28/genai_dirty_secret/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/21/ewaste_grows/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/24/pirg_reports_progress/
[14] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Why do we still buy smart things?
Don't buy anything that's tethered to somebody else's computer. That way ownership can become real, not a pretence.
Amazon Halo Rise
Seriously, it was supported for less than a year? There should be some sort of time frame where if support ends causing it to be non functional or lose critical functionality you are entitled to a full refund. There's still the problem of what if you buy from some fly by night third party, but in this case Amazon can hardly file bankruptcy to escape liability.
I didn't look into it but I can't understand why what sounds like an alarm clock and sleep tracker (probably some sort of wrist band) would require the cloud to work. Did they not want to spend 50 cents on a bluetooth radio for it to talk to a PC or smartphone?
Re: Amazon Halo Rise
That is indeed the law in civilised countries.
All products have to be fit for purpose and last a reasonable amount of time - something that costs €1 wouldn't be expected to last as long as €100.
A $140 product that only lasts a year is clearly unfit for purpose. Which is of course why it wasn't sold outside the US.
Re: Amazon Halo Rise
It wasn't an alarm clock; it was, like so many other Amazon products, a data-gathering and consumer-profiling device that, in this case, used "alarm clock" functions as the bait to get the test subjects to use it.
Clearly it didn't produce enough valuable market data; perhaps because no-one at Amazon thought to themselves "huh, people will be asleep 99% of the time when they use this product and people who are asleep can't be buying more stuff from us at the same time".
(Feel free to imagine Philip J. Fry's "we didn't have adverts in our dreams in my day" speech here)
Yarr
It's not quite as bad as it seems. Lots of devices that are abandoned by the manufacturer have open source software - projects like OpenWRT and LineageOS breathe new life into old hardware
What we do need is for the manufacturers to be compelled to release design information on products they have abandoned. This is part of right-to-repair.
Hobbyist makers will do the rest
Re: Yarr
OpenCore being a great example.
Yes, I have been a fanboi for a long time but my patience is running out.
Why do we still buy smart things?
Because, in reality we also have to pay "rent" in the shape of a new device every few years. We cannot even use the device how we like it as most are locked down.
And we cannot even "manage" the device ourselves as everything is glued solid or it is even illegal to do so.
Why even bother to keep up the pretence of ownership?