Apple VP Lisa Jackson Wins 2018 Environmental Achievement Award

.... for her "visionary leadership" in gluing my battery to my top case, and making computers non-upgradable and unrepairable.

"in recognition of her visionary leadership and outstanding environmental stewardship over a most distinguished career."

Absolutely. A company that makes computers and phones that are unrepairable for sure should get this kind of reward ...

Most of you don’t seem to get it. Guess what, if Apples products are only repairable through Apple themselves, or authorized shops, then Apple can maintain complete control over “end of life” of their products, refurbish or put them through their fancy recycling initiatives, and achieve that closed loop supply chain goal.

If users were capable of repairing Apple’s products, then Apple has completely lost control over the end of life of device components. Is a user really going to bother giving their dead battery to Apple, so Apple can recycle and extract the lithium? Maybe, maybe not. It’s out of Apples control.

Mock it all you want, hate it all you want, but the fact remains that Apples approach does support a pro-environment initiative and is probably better for the environment over time.

My friend had a 2011 MBP and in 2016 she wanted a new battery for it. She contacted Apple and they asked for her serial number and then told her that sorry we cannot change the battery in that notebook because it's EOL.

The laptop worked perfectly fine but it just needed a new battery. Apple wouldn't help her, thankfully her MacBook Pro was one with a removable battery (not glued in, just screwed in) and we were able to source such a battery for her online which I installed for her.

Now the same situation with the 2012+ Retina MacBook Pro's and MacBooks where the battery is glued in so tightly that removal may cause the batteries to puncture causing a fire.. those are batteries I wouldn't even consider changing and yet if you contact Apple after the 5 years are up you'll be in the same situation with a machine that works perfectly but has a busted battery and no easy way to replace it yourself.

And there's something common that happens with these batteries when you cannot remove it and continue to use the laptop they tend to balloon up like a puffer fish causing the trackpads to push out of the top of the case and deform the laptops metal not to mention spontaneous combustion.

Apple glueing batteries in is a huge issue. Not only does it cost way too much to have them replace the batteries due to them needing to change the entire top cover of most of the notebooks (incredibly wasteful by the way) but they quickly won't change them after its been 5 years since they sold the machine you bought which is a part that often fails before anything else in these systems.

Not very green is it? Buy a new laptop just because the glued in battery fails even if the rest of it works fine.

That company that does the repairability/recyclability ratings sounds like ifixit. You might also be thinking about Consumer Reports.

I think the organisation in question here is EPEAT:

https://www.macrumors.com/2012/10/16/epeat-verifies-retina-macbook-pro-eligibility-for-environmental-registry/

https://www.extremetech.com/computing/138015-apple-bullies-epeat-into-greenwashing-its-impossible-to-repair-macbook-pro

I remember this was a point of contention when the MacBook Pro with Retina Display was awarded EPEAT Gold status in 2012, shortly after Apple withdrew from the EPEAT program, only to have their products re-added later when the assessment criteria was revised.

Most of you don’t seem to get it. Guess what, if Apples products are only repairable through Apple themselves, or authorized shops, then Apple can maintain complete control over “end of life” of their products, refurbish or put them through their fancy recycling initiatives, and achieve that closed loop supply chain goal.

Almost no computers out of the combined total sold are delivered to AASPs or Apple Retail Stores for recycling. Most customers would choose to deliver it to a local recycler or retail chain that accepts products for recycling, have their local council collect the machine as part of hard waste or electronic waste, or just dispose of the machine in landfill.

Gluing the batteries in isn't ensuring that the batteries are recycled or delivered back into Apple's closed-loop supply chain. It's ensuring that when the battery dies, and Apple refuses to service the machines once they've entered obsolete status, that the entire computer ends up shredded or in landfill somewhere.

And newsflash - a great deal of defective batteries that are handed into AASPs, either standalone or within a computer, don't make it back to Apple either on account of their technician guidelines instructing technicians to "dispose of batteries in accordance with local ordinances and recycling programs".

This includes batteries that are expanded, leaking or damaged in some form, but also batteries that are otherwise fine, but extracted from machines considered "vintage" or "obsolete" by Apple because returns can only be processed if a repair is opened in GSX and an exchange part is delivered. The defective battery is returned to Apple in the box the replacement part came in. However if a replacement part couldn't be ordered in GSX, such is the case with a vintage product, then there's no method of returning the defective battery to Apple, and the repairer is instructed to dispose of the battery locally instead.

The only method of returning a defective battery from a vintage or obsolete product to Apple is to recycle the entire computer at an Apple Retail Store, and of course, why not purchase a new machine while you're there?

It's greenwashing. It looks excellent in press releases, but it's technically meaningless as long as they continue to both instruct repairers to the contrary, and fail to provide the means of delivering those EOL parts back.

I can't fit my square laptop into the small round hole of the battery recycling bin at the store so I guess I will throw it out. Thanks, lady.