Environmentalists are targeting the iPod, Apple Computer's phenomenally successful digital music player, as a symbol of the growing problem of electronic waste.
The Computer Take Back Campaign, an umbrella organization for dozens of environmental groups, is trying to force Apple to beef up its recycling program and to redesign the iPod, which has a battery that can wear out in just 18 months and is not easily replaced.
Last month, protesters gathered outside the company's Cupertino, Calif., headquarters carrying signs including messages like "from iPod to iWaste -- toxic trash in your pocket" and "Dell and HP do, why don't you?"
Protesters also turned up at the company's recent Macworld Expo in San Francisco. and have generated thousands of letters to Apple Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs. They are vowing to take their complaints to shareholders at the company's annual meeting in April.
"If they think we're going away, they are wrong," said Robin Schneider, executive director of the Texas Campaign for the Environment, part of the coalition. "All they have to do is call up Dell and they will find out we're very persistent."
Two years ago, the campaign targeted Dell, one of the world's largest PC manufacturers. Dell wound up revising its policies so that customers can ship their old computers free to the company for recycling.
Apple charges a $30 fee to recycle computers and generally does not go out of its way to make it easy for customers to recycle, environmentalists said.
Apple has avoided any public acknowledgement of the complaints.
Over the next few years, an estimated 300 million to 600 million desktop and laptop computers in the United States will become obsolete. Hundreds of toxic chemicals and heavy metals are used in the manufacture of computers, cell phones and other electronics, many of which end up in landfills or incinerators after only a few years.
The iPod, launched in October 2001, has an internal, non-removable, lithium-based rechargeable battery. Like many iPod customers, New York City filmmakers Casey and Van Neistat found that after 18 months of use the battery's ability to recharge had eroded to the point where it would die after only an hour's use.
"It was unusable," said Casey Neistat, 23. "It was like having a cell phone that works for just one call."
When the Neistat brothers contacted Apple, they were told it would cost them $250 to replace the battery -- roughly what it cost to buy the iPod.
Incensed, the Neistats made a three-minute movie, "iPod's Dirty Secret," about the non-replaceable battery and put it on their Web site. The movie has been viewed more than 2 million times.
The poor publicity doesn't appear to have hurt sales. Apple has sold more than 10 million iPods, and the company's stock has surged 270 percent since the iPod was introduced.
Apple now offers a two-year warranty on the battery for $50. After that, customers have to ship the iPod to Apple and pay $100 to have the battery replaced.
Critics say the inconvenience and high cost of replacing the battery encourages customers to throw away their iPods after only a couple of years.
"The iPod is an example of the kind of poor design and obsolescence that's occurring in the electronics industry," said Sheila Davis of the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, part of the campaign. "We want Apple to assume some responsibility."
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/pp/05052/460540.stm
