[dahfizz]

> Recycling is a last resort

It sounds like that's exactly what Apple is doing though?

>> If your device isn’t eligible for credit, we’ll recycle it for free.

If they can, they will resell the device. But a 5+ year old phone with a busted screen and dead battery is just trash. There is nothing to do but recycle it.

[wizzwizz4]

Scrapping the phones for spare parts would still be possible. This is usually standard practice for electronics recyclers, but the recyclers working for Apple are (were?) forbidden from doing that.