Apple sells a lot of kit for a tech company, but it is a drop in the bucket of the broader economy... even a hundred million phones.
They "did their part" in a way that 99% of other companies won't be able to.
They've reduced waste more than most users on this site--including you and me--combined. But that's "empty virtue signaling" because they didn't hand their competitors a silver spoon? That term really has lost all meaning.
Recycling literally reduces the quantity of waste.
> the drop in the bucket they've "reduced" can't be repeated elsewhere
You're Zeno's arrowing a big problem by dismissing incremental progress.
reduce (n) - To bring down, as in extent, amount, or degree; diminish. synonym: decrease.
This is the worst kind of pedantic because it's also wrong. They have reduced waste production and they recycle existing waste. How is that not reducing waste?
This is quite a sentence.
I am definitely glad to see they're not using primary cobalt and instead using only recycled, though, and think that part is praiseworthy.
They're creating a culture of sustainability. That means not ignoring the small stuff just because it's small. And cutting plastic waste by the truck every few hours [1] is not small.
[1] 26,500 iPhones' plastic covers saved every hour
[a] 232.2mm iPhones shipped in 2022 https://www.businessofapps.com/data/apple-statistics/
Setting aside the secrecy assertion, don't we want companies to innovate and use reduced eco-footprint as a marketing advantage? Companies are profit motivated and must be to survive. Don't we want other companies to look at Apple and see the market goodwill fostered by eco-friendly practices and strive to emulate that? Or strive to create even better ways of doing things?
Throwing stones at environmental innovation just seems a counter-productive reaction.