Apple Announces iPod Recycling Program

Apple has launched a recycling program for its iPods. iPods contain lead and other toxic substances. People who bring their iPods to one of the Apple stores nationwide to be recycled. They will also receive a 10% discount toward the purchase of a new iPod. The discount is only good the day people drop off their older iPod, iPod mini or iPod photo. Apple's announcement comes after recent criticism and demonstrations by environmental groups, who say the company hasn't done enough to promote recycling of its products, which often end up in landfills in the United States and in developing countries.

Apple emphasized in a press release that any hazardous material would not be shipped overseas for processing.

Apple's newest initiative only affects its smallest devices. The limited scope of the program prompted Gopal Dayaneni, sustainable technology program director at the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, to call the move "a nice baby step" to solving the problem of electronic waste.

:: BusinessWeek