Brit MPs to Apple CEO: Please stop ignoring our questions about repairability and the environment
- Reference: 1600182012
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/09/15/brit_mps_letter_to_apple_ewaste/
- Source link:
The EAC – a sounder of Members of Parliament that sit on the select committee in the House of Commons – asked the American company to get involved in the Electronic Waste and Circular Economy inquiry, and Apple had been due to appear before MPs on 16 July but "cancelled is appearance at short notice".
Committee chairman the Right Honourable Sir Philip Dunne, an MP for Ludlow constituency in Shropshire, then penned a letter
[1]PDF
to Apple boss Tim [2]Apple Cooke early last month and requested a response by Friday last week, 4 September, but the EAC is "yet to receive a substantive reply", it said.Facebook supremo Mark Zuckerberg has flunky tell UK MPs: Nope, he's sending someone else [3]READ MORE
The contents of the letter, revealed today, points out the anxiety related to the social and environmental footprint of the electronics industry, brought into focus by a [4]United Nations report in July that showed 53.6 million tonnes of so-called e-waste was produced in 2019, up 21 per cent in five years.
Smaller gadgets are often the hardest to collect and recycle, and Apple is one of the largest manufacturers of such equipment worldwide, hence its invitation to partake in the inquiry, EAC said.
In his missive to Cook, Dunne asked 13 questions, including how Apple was tackling past and future carbon emissions; the auditing of third-party emissions in Apple's supply chain; whether the high price of fixing Apple kit was affecting repairability; what Apple was doing to improve repairability of products; whether Apple would support legislation for repairability standards; what it was doing to take back items being replaced; and a query around plastic packaging.
The timing of this release is very deliberate, coming as [5]Apple prepares to broadcast a live event from California with a slew of new products from next-generation phones to watches, iPads and other gear.
"Apple has made more than two billion iPhones – a phone for every person in the whole of Africa and Europe," said Dunne in a statement. "Today, as Apple unveils its next generation of gadgets, my committee continues to wait for answers on what the company is doing to tackle its environmental footprint."
He added: "With the speed at which news devices are brought to market, tech companies drive consumers to buy new products rather than prolonging the life of their existing items. It can also be very difficult to repair electronics devices with many companies making it almost impossible – or if possible, very expensive – for consumers to have the ability to fix themselves.
"As a result, we're seeing a throwaway society for electronics, and tech companies must take responsibility for the environment impact this causes. A circular economy with repair and recycling at its heart is crucial if we are to tackle the climate emergency."
Armed with a report titled "Global E-waste Monitor 2020" written by the International Telecommunications Union, the UN said the total weight of electronics waste in 2019 equated to 7.3kg per person. This, it warned, is growing due to shorter life cycles and difficulties of repairing electronics items.
The growth of e-waste, said UN Under-Secretary-General David Malone, means there is a "sense of urgency in turning around this dangerous global pattern".
Apple's attitude towards repairs softened recently when it [6]expanded the Independent Repair Provider programme to third-party technicians in Canada and Europe, a year after it was [7]launched in the US .
For its part, Apple claimed previously that it [8]loses money by repairing customers' gadgets , which rather flies in the face of Apple's reluctance to allow independent repair shops to do their thing.
In its 2020 [9]Environmental Progress Report , Apple pledged to reduce 75 per cent of its carbon emissions by 2030 and develop "innovative carbon removal solutions for the remaining 25 percent of its comprehensive footprint". The highlights of that report can be found [10]here .
The Register has asked Apple to comment. ®
Get our [11]Tech Resources
[1] https://regmedia.co.uk/2020/09/15/apple_e_waste.pdf
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2019/03/07/trump_occupational_surnames/
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2018/03/27/facebook_zuckerberg_rejects_mps_summons_sends_exec/
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2020/07/02/united_nations_warns_of_global_ewaste_wave/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2020/09/15/death_to_hackintoshes/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2020/07/08/apple_extends_its_independent_repair/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2019/08/29/apple_iphone_repair/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2019/11/21/apple_repair_costs/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2019/08/29/apple_iphone_repair/
[10] https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2020/07/apple-commits-to-be-100-percent-carbon-neutral-for-its-supply-chain-and-products-by-2030/
[11] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
High repair costs are the natural fallout of phones that are designed to be hard to repair.
My guess is that they sometimes just "repair" something by going to the back room, finding another device from that range, and swapping the data over. The device which probably could be repaired is put on a stack of things that will be sent to a repair center where the knowledgable repair technicians will eventually repair its fault, erase it securely, and make it available for sale as refurbished once they get around to building that center, which is scheduled to complete in 2030 but might be delayed because they've just had to move it from China to Mexico and they're looking at moving it again to either Argentina or China for some tax reasons. In the meantime, there's no use keeping the broken parts around so into the big bucket for the electronics recycler at the end of each day.
Easy way to get a response.
Send a tweet out that the UK Goverment were considering they may make it law that vendors have supply spare parts to any 3rd parties at cost price.
I'd reckon you'd have a response in about oooo 30 seconds?
Re: Easy way to get a response.
As in, "UK - didn't we used to have to give a shit when you were in the EU?"
Re: Easy way to get a response.
Yeah, but if HM Government aren’t going to follow the rule of law then why should anyone else?
So, on that basis, the 30 second response is likely to be howls of laughter.
For the record, I think that it absolutely should be an obligation that all products are long lived, easily repairable (by third parties) and recyclable (by third parties). This isn’t about one company vs the other, its about doing what’s right for the planet.
Public to Brit MPs: Please stop ignoring our questions about EU repairability and the environment.
Let's see who answers first.
Beer, because wine might become unattainable.
Blah blah blah
BS BS BS
Lets issue some waffle instead of actually doing something about it.
It would be better to see MPs announce that from Jan 2022 All personal hi-tec stuff (phones/watches/pads) must be able to have their batteries removed and replaced using a standard screwdriver in the way of tooling, and the suppliers make such parts available to buy at a reasonable price.
I've got a cheap android pad thats completely good to go... except the battery is dead, and its impossible to get at it without destroying said pad...more e waste
The easy solution
Don't buy Apple devices.
Re: The easy solution
That's easy, but it solves nothing. If I want a phone, I have to get one from someone. One of the benefits that Apple provides is long software support, which I really can't get with Android devices. This means that it is safe to use for longer, lessening my production of electronics going to recyclers. There are a few devices that, via Lineage OS or similar, get support for much longer. I'm currently using one of those. I am going to have to replace it at some point soon though because it is now rebooting unexpectedly (I blame the battery but I don't have evidence). Still, that device has lasted around seven years whereas its manufacturer dropped support and security updates for it in 2015. Unfortunately, scanning Lineage's supported devices list doesn't bode well as they're low on supported modern devices.
You want a real solution? Get the Android manufacturers to increase the lifetime of software and security updates along with some standard for repairability. Otherwise, I'm faced with the choice of Apple (software will last but hardware won't, probably fine since I have a good record of not damaging my hardware) and most other manufacturers (software won't last and hardware ... probably won't be any more repairable than Apple's to be honest). Dropping Apple from my list isn't going to help solve the base problem.
"For its part, Apple claimed previously that it loses money by repairing customers' gadgets"
Hm. If it can lose money by charging as much as it does for repairs, then that's basically tantamount to admitting bizarre profligacy in their repair processes, or maybe it's just terrible financial management. Of course, I guess it could be a case of shifting profits and losses around to minimise their tax bill – but surely they wouldn't be so sneaky. There seems to be some truthiness going on somewhere...