Should they call it the iPollute?

Salt shakers
February 2005

Should they call it the iPollute?
Behind the shiny, happy exterior of Apple's mega-selling iPod is a less pleasant and potentially hazardous reality. According to the Silicon Valley Toxics Coaltion: "Lurking underneath Apple's beautifully designed digital music players and computers are poisonous chemicals like lead and mercury that can cause birth defects and disabilities."

A cultural and commercial phenomenon, more then 9 million iPods have been sold since they debuted in 2001. As iPods age and even hipper products hit the market, SVTC members are worried about the inevitable next step in this best-selling product's life cycle. "When the millions of Apple's obsolete computers and other electronic products hit the landfills and incinerators, millions of pounds of toxic lead and other highly toxic materials will be dumped into our air, land, and water." SVTC is asking consumers to pressure Apple to come up with a substantially improved mechanism (call it iRecycle?) for disposing of its outdated products.

"Millions of people bought or received iPods digital music players this holiday season. The iPods contain toxics like lead and other harmful chemicals that are associated with infertility and brain damage. And because Apple has designed the iPod so that consumers cannot easily replace the batteries, consumers will either have to pay Apple a hefty fee to replace them or throw the used up iPods in the trash, ending up in landfills where the iPods will leak their poisons into our communities through the water and air. Some will be shipped overseas to China, India or Africa for metal recovery where poor children sifting through the trash will be poisoned with their toxics."

Apple insists its designs limit the amounts of hazardous materials in its products, and the company does maintain a recycling service through its website. Apple has also joined with eBay Inc. and Intel Corporation in an effort to motivate Americans to resell, donate, or recycle used gadgets.

But SVTC thinks Apple could do much more. "Apple should live up to its ethical reputation and take leadership to stop the growing mountain of toxic electronic waste from poisoning our families and communities. It should develop the best recycling system for its used machines and build cleaner and safer electronic products." Apple offers recycling through an outside contractor for a flat fee of $30, more than most people are willing to pay to recycle abandoned equipment SVTC charges.

Other computer manufacturers efforts are not much better. Dell offers free recycling, but only when a consumer buys a new Dell product. HP will collect any brand of computer for recycling for fees ranging from $13 to $35.

Ultimately, SVTC, through the Computer Take Back Campaign coalition, hopes to get more electronics manufacturers to assume responsibility for safely disposing of the products they market. They argue that shifting the costs for managing discarded computers and electronics to brand owners and producers "creates a powerful market incentive to improve product design and reduce the use of toxic materials.

"The policy response to America’s e-waste crisis must protect the public health, the environment, and taxpayers by promoting clean design and the environmentally superior management of discarded products."

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