Apple Widens Its Recycling Program

Apple Computer Inc., Cupertino, Calif., will soon allow buyers of new Macintosh computers by to recycle their old computers for free. According to a news release from Apple, “Equipment received by the program in the U.S. is recycled domestically and no hazardous material is shipped overseas.”

The company’s take-back offer will allow customers who buy a new Mac at an Apple retail store or through the Apple Web site to receive free shipping and recycling of their old machines. The expanded program will begin in June.

The program is an expansion of a service already offered through Apple retail stores for the company’s iPod portable music players.

Environmental advocacy organizations are likely to applaud the new initiative as one that will be closer in line with those of computer makers such as Dell Inc., Austin, Texas, and Hewlett-Packard Co., Palo Alto, Calif.

But one activist quoted in a Wired News.com news item says Apple should still set a public goal of how much electronic scrap it intends to collect.