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recycling centers have re- Workers sort through a strategy by manufacturers Stewardship Institute,
ported an uptick in fires. discarded electronics at to force us into shorter and which advocates for EPR
Even when e-waste rules ERI’s Fresno facility shorter upgrade cycles,” said laws. “But the United States
exist, it’s left up to consum- Kyle Wiens, the founder is resisting any changes
ers to handle their old de- of iFixit, which publishes to existing laws.”
vices properly. But recycling One solution is to make do-it-yourself repair guides. Even so, some compa-
them can be a pain. Rather electronics last as long as Apple’s AirPods, for example, nies are increasing their re-
than just drop a used phone they once did. At ERI’s facil- may have trouble holding a cycling efforts on their own,
in a bin outside their homes, ity, Shegerian showed TIME charge after two years. Apple whether for the economic
lots of people have to take dozens of televisions from declined to comment. benefit or the public rela-
their electronics to a store, the 1970s and 1980s that Some environmental tions boost (mining fresh
which may pay them for it stopped working only re- groups say multibillion- materials has financial, en-
but could also charge them cently. Yet instead, technol- dollar companies like Apple vironmental and human
to get rid of it. Many con- ogy companies are speeding and Samsung should pick up costs of its own). For in-
sumers, paralyzed by the the pace of obsolescence. the cost of recycling the de- stance, Apple in 2018 intro-
hassle or put off by the ex- Most smartphone batteries vices they sell. Law makers duced Daisy, a smartphone-
pense, simply throw their can’t be easily replaced when in parts of Europe and Can- recycling robot that can take
devices into the trash or they stop holding a charge, ada and in some U.S. states apart 200 iPhones every
stash them in a drawer, hop- new laptops don’t accept old have passed so-called Ex- hour, and says it diverted
ing they’ll just disappear. cables, and software compa- tended Producer Respon- 48,000 metric tons of elec-
“We don’t necessarily have nies push upgrades that won’t sibility (EPR) laws, which tronic waste from landfills
the measures to make sure run on old devices. “Our require manufacturers to that year. But that’s a drop in
people aren’t throwing it products today don’t last as establish and fund systems the bucket compared with
to recycle or collect obsolete
the 50 million tons of e-
away,” Walters said.
long as they used to, and it’s
CHRISTIE HEMM KLOK FOR TIME legislation levels the play- year—a number that stands
waste generated globally last
products. “Worldwide EPR
to skyrocket as consum-
ing field, because this can-
ers replace their old devices
not be done on a voluntary
with the newest 5G-ready
basis,” said Scott Cassel,
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gadgets money can buy.
the founder of the Product
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