[zxcmx]

Ok, so I don't think airpod waste is a big deal in the grand scheme of things.

But I also don't think I'm a luddite re: disposable electronics. I think I'm the opposite. I agree that as integration and product complexity increase, it makes more sense to make a new thing from feedstock than repair an old thing.

But what we can do is recover the resources used in manufacture. Critically, the product needs to be made in a way that supports this.

I want manufacturing to be so advanced that "full circle" resource recovery is incorporated into the design. The glues have corresponding (low toxicity) solvents for disassembly, the plastic can be cheaply digested back to clean monomers, the metals easily separable. No "retrofit" processes with show pony robots, but full "reverse manufacturing" facilities built with the same care and attention as the ones that make the product.

The thing I want is more automation, and more advanced design.

[XorNot]

The thing is, this is repairability and Apple don't want to see it.

If you can reverse the glue, then it means there's going to be some guy who gets really good at this and sets up a mall shop where he does it for you for like 10% the price of replacement and throws in a warranty because he can.

Boom goes your profit margin.