How to recycle your iPad 1 after you buy an iPad 2
Today, Apple unveils the iPad 2. So what happens to all the first-generation iPads? We've got solutions.
Photo: Jared Earle/Flickr Comments
Hi everyone, I am the CEO of Information Technology Recycling, LLC. I own sites like MacRecycler.com and RecyclingiPads.com. I specialize in eco friendly recycling and can help put money back in consumers pockets for newer devices, so it really is a true win/win. If you are interested in my programs please feel free to e-mail me at Jim@MacRecycler.com
1. Keep your old one.
2. Donate the $600 you would have spent ditching a 10-month old piece of tech to charity, as you clearly can't be trusted with your own money.
By the way, gadgets often require 100s to 100,000s of times the energy and resources to produce them by weight than other other products. Regardless of the "thinner" style, dumping your "old" iPad for a new one is still... wasteful! Regardless of what you do with it.
I know that these days everything is obsolete by the time you buy it, but come on. I'm still using a 2002 laptop that meets all of my needs. Buying new gadgets every time something comes out is beyond wasteful. (Has MNN ever reported on how much energy goes into making a new computer? Recycling takes energy too.) If your 6-month-old computer is too old for you, at least sell it or give it to someone who can use it (and perhaps couldn't otherwise afford one).
You can also donate your "old" iPad to this worthy cause, www.ipadsforsoldiers.com. Your gesture could make a massive difference to the life of one of these heroes who put themselves in harm's way to keep us safe...
I just wrote about another way to recycle our iPad. Link is below.
http://www.pctabletguide.com/2011/03/02/ipad-at-gazelle
To the first commenter, fact is many who bought the first gen iPad are early adopters, which means by its very definition that they most likely will go out and now buy the new iPad 2. Why? Because that's how
Your 'old' Ipad is at most 10 months old.
This story is horrific. Why should you recycle something so new? That is a horrible waste of resources and is nature-friendly as throwing it into a barrel, dousing it with petrol and setting it on fire. You do not recycle new electronics - thats as wasteful as throwing them away immediately.
If you don't want your Ipad, DO NOT RECYCLE IT. There are a couple of billion people out there that would be glad to take it off your hands and make.... More
Most people wont take the time to resell it or donate it, they simply do not think along those lines, which is sad, so recycling it (and thus its resources get reused) is the next best thing to do other than simply throwing it in a garbage can, regardless of how redundant it is to buy something new for the sake of keeping up with the Joneses :) :)
... perhaps you could have checked this out first? Apple, or at least the online recycling service you provided a link to, don't offer to recycle iPads, just laptops and desktop computers.
Thanks for the comment. We've contacted Apple and are waiting for a response to clarify that the iPad is part of the current computer recycling program. As the article mentions, there are other environmentally responsible ways to dispose of your iPad.
