Apple fails to appear before UK environmental committee, drawing criticism

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U.K. lawmakers are criticizing Apple's sustainability efforts after the company failed to appear before an environmental committee to answer questions about e-waste.

Credit: Apple
Credit: Apple


Reportedly, Apple CEO Tim Cook failed to respond by a Sept. 4 deadline from the House of Common's Environmental Audit Committee. The committee initially invited Apple to put forth representatives for a hearing in July, but it canceled on short notice.

Environmental Audit Committee Chairman Philip Dunne said in a statement to Bloomberg that Apple's "unwillingness to answer [the] committee's questions has led us to believe its environmental obligations are not taken seriously enough."

That's despite the fact that the Cupertino tech giant "appears to have a positive story to tell regarding its efforts on climate change," Dunne added.

The committee is specifically seeking answers regarding the steps Apple is taking to minimize it e-waste footprint -- particularly since Apple has sold more than two billion iPhones. Dunne the difficulty and cost of repairing electronic devices has created a "throwaway society."

In its 2020 Environmental Progress Report, Apple said that its device recycling programs have directed 47,000 metric tons of e-waste away from landfills in 2019. It also touted its efforts in materials, disassembly, and recycling in general.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 21
    uraharaurahara Posts: 733member
    So they don’t know enough about Apple’s environmental efforts but criticize it. Hahaha. So funny.
     I wouldn’t want to share anything with such kind of people. 
    williamlondondoozydozenStrangeDaystmayentropyswatto_cobrajony0
  • Reply 2 of 21
    Rayz2016Rayz2016 Posts: 6,957member
    Apple is not going to bother because it knows that the folk in charge of UK law won’t have done their homework. 
    williamlondondoozydozenStrangeDaystmayentropyswatto_cobrajony0
  • Reply 3 of 21
    verne araseverne arase Posts: 460member
    Really? The UK is calling Apple on the carpet for environmental issues?

    And failure to respond by September 4 doesn't much sound like failure to appear.

    Just about every electronics company in the world has worse policies regarding e-waste than Apple - they recycle their old stuff and attempt to manufacture most of their products using old product's recycled materials as much as possible - so how does this place Apple and Apple alone on the hot seat?

    For some reason probably related to stock prices and revenues, this has become the official year of the Apple attack.

    Anyone with a gripe, jealous motive, or data hounds trying to track when you took your last dump are whispering in some government official's ear somewhere getting officials to attack Apple using their offices and forced governmental legal compliance powers. The fact that these whisperers have shady pasts and compliance issues of their own are masked by these official inquiries, and the inability of Apple to face their real accusers and expose them for the hypocrites that they are.
    williamlondonStrangeDayswatto_cobra
  • Reply 4 of 21
    foregoneconclusionforegoneconclusion Posts: 2,679member
    LOL...the vast majority of the world's economic engine is based on non-sustainable or throwaway products. That isn't a new development unique to the smartphone market. One of the primary problems of the 21st century is to disengage from the 20th century economic model that guarantees a future collapse. 
    lorca2770dysamoriaStrangeDayswatto_cobra
  • Reply 5 of 21
    PezaPeza Posts: 198member
    Apple fully deserves its criticism in this! This was a select committee which is made up of cross party members, not all from the current executive, it is used regularly for companies to be scrutinised and has seen many a big name CEO, the fact Apple failed to send anybody will not go down well with them. More fool Apple.
    muthuk_vanalingamfred1FileMakerFeller
  • Reply 6 of 21
    PezaPeza Posts: 198member
    urahara said:
    So they don’t know enough about Apple’s environmental efforts but criticize it. Hahaha. So funny.
     I wouldn’t want to share anything with such kind of people. 
    You don’t know about them either it seems.. 
    fred1
  • Reply 7 of 21
    headfull0wineheadfull0wine Posts: 111member
    Let me see if I’ve got this straight. They schedule a meeting. They cancel at the last minute. They reschedule another meeting. And they wonder why Apple didn’t RSVP?
    FileMakerFellerwatto_cobra
  • Reply 8 of 21
    mr lizardmr lizard Posts: 354member
    Peza said:
    Apple fully deserves its criticism in this! This was a select committee which is made up of cross party members, not all from the current executive, it is used regularly for companies to be scrutinised and has seen many a big name CEO, the fact Apple failed to send anybody will not go down well with them. More fool Apple.
    I doubt very much that criticism from a Select Committee in the UK is going to bother or fool Apple in the slightest. 
    StrangeDaysmwhitewatto_cobra
  • Reply 9 of 21
    dysamoriadysamoria Posts: 3,430member
    foregoneconclusion said:
    LOL...the vast majority of the world's economic engine is based on non-sustainable or throwaway products. That isn't a new development unique to the smartphone market. One of the primary problems of the 21st century is to disengage from the 20th century economic model that guarantees a future collapse. 
    Yes, it’s everywhere and everything. Let’s start with single-use plastics, which we see in grocery stores on every shelf... Instead of reserving petroleum product for more critical things, we have it wasted on packaging that doesn’t even get recycled at the end because scumbag incinerator corporations literally compete against recyclers and win government contracts via utterly corrupt Departments of Environmental Protection.

    How about all the single use plastics in healthcare? I’m sure sterilization is possible for the large majority of the RAW materials...

    And every appliance maker who’s now producing appliances that only last 3 to 5 years...

    And the general lack of recycling ANYTHING in the USA. Incinerators are not “renewable energy”!!!

    The problem is SYSTEMIC across EVERY industry. Apple isn’t innocent but they’re also not remotely the only target to take aim at.
    FileMakerFellerbadmonk
  • Reply 10 of 21
    randominternetpersonrandominternetperson Posts: 3,089member
    Tim needs to update his spam filter apparently.
    headfull0winewatto_cobrajony0
  • Reply 11 of 21
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,877member
    Peza said:
    urahara said:
    So they don’t know enough about Apple’s environmental efforts but criticize it. Hahaha. So funny.
     I wouldn’t want to share anything with such kind of people. 
    You don’t know about them either it seems.. 
    Uh yeah, we do. The topic is frequently covered on AI; Apple’s recycling measures are unrivaled by their competitors. Happy to review your material evidence to the contrary. 
    roundaboutnowwatto_cobrajony0
  • Reply 12 of 21
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,877member
    dysamoria said:
    LOL...the vast majority of the world's economic engine is based on non-sustainable or throwaway products. That isn't a new development unique to the smartphone market. One of the primary problems of the 21st century is to disengage from the 20th century economic model that guarantees a future collapse. 
    Yes, it’s everywhere and everything. Let’s start with single-use plastics, which we see in grocery stores on every shelf... Instead of reserving petroleum product for more critical things, we have it wasted on packaging that doesn’t even get recycled at the end because scumbag incinerator corporations literally compete against recyclers and win government contracts via utterly corrupt Departments of Environmental Protection.

    How about all the single use plastics in healthcare? I’m sure sterilization is possible for the large majority of the RAW materials...

    And every appliance maker who’s now producing appliances that only last 3 to 5 years...

    And the general lack of recycling ANYTHING in the USA. Incinerators are not “renewable energy”!!!

    The problem is SYSTEMIC across EVERY industry. Apple isn’t innocent but they’re also not remotely the only target to take aim at.
    The problem with plastic recycling isn't about competing incinerator firms. It's that it was a lie to begin with -- the plastics industry pushed hard the notion that plastic crap *could* all be recycled, but internal memos reveal they knew it was too difficult to do IRL. They knew it was merely a feel-good PR campaign in order to make consumers and retailers feel better about consuming plastic. PBS did a special about it. Nearly all the "recycled" plastic from the US was just shipped overseas to Asia and much of it still sits in empty fields. The easier items to recycle are categories #1 and #2, but the rest were too difficult. Bags especially.

    The PBS special:

    https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/plastics-industry-insiders-reveal-the-truth-about-recycling/

    ...we were duped. We need to produce and consume less single-use plastics, use more recyclable & degradable paper products. 
    edited September 2020 tmaymontrosemacsroundaboutnowFileMakerFellerwatto_cobramuthuk_vanalingambadmonk
  • Reply 13 of 21
    mac_dogmac_dog Posts: 1,069member
    So are they asking for the entire 2 billion phones sold, or did Apple sell 2 billion phones in the UK?
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 14 of 21
    boboliciousbobolicious Posts: 1,146member
    ...was this a potentially missed opportunity to celebrate what has been positive about Apple's efforts and identify ways to improve further...?

    For consideration: http://www.solarscorecard.com/2018-19/
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 15 of 21
    roundaboutnowroundaboutnow Posts: 735member
    Maybe Apple was too busy with today's event -- which does include mention of steps Apple takes toward environmental preservation and sustainability. Now Apple can just send the UK people a link to todays keynote! :p  
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 16 of 21
    sflocalsflocal Posts: 6,093member
    Are these people too stupid to do their research and read what Apple has done, that they have to request Tim Cook to show up and spoon-feed them?
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 17 of 21
    PezaPeza Posts: 198member
    mr lizard said:
    Peza said:
    Apple fully deserves its criticism in this! This was a select committee which is made up of cross party members, not all from the current executive, it is used regularly for companies to be scrutinised and has seen many a big name CEO, the fact Apple failed to send anybody will not go down well with them. More fool Apple.
    I doubt very much that criticism from a Select Committee in the UK is going to bother or fool Apple in the slightest. 
    It will do when it comes to that US trade deal... And it shows poor responsibility by Apple too, to not even send a representative, very poor showing and shows total lack of respect. Governments make the rules corporations have to follow.
    muthuk_vanalingam
  • Reply 18 of 21
    entropysentropys Posts: 4,166member
    sflocal said:
    Are these people too stupid to do their research and read what Apple has done, that they have to request Tim Cook to show up and spoon-feed them?
    They are politicians. By definition sociopaths who are always seeking to demonstrate their importance and power over other people.

    It isn’t about finding out anything. They have underlings for that.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 19 of 21
    FileMakerFellerFileMakerFeller Posts: 1,546member
    In CoVID times, is it unreasonable to refuse to appear in person? Was the Apple representative unable to physically attend, or just unable to schedule a virtual meeting?

    This article has insufficient detail and raises more questions than it answers.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 20 of 21
    bestkeptsecretbestkeptsecret Posts: 4,265member
    randominternetperson said:
    Tim needs to update his spam filter apparently.
    On the contrary, it looks like Tim did update his spam filter, so he didn't get their email!
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