Apple Offers 10% Off AirPods and More for Earth Day Device Recycling

Too bad I can’t bring in my 1st gen AirPods for recycling and get the same discount.

Interesting how it has to be a high-value item for recycling…towards a discount for a lower value item. Hmm…

Hand down your earlier generation Apple devices to people who still can make use of them and want them. How’s that for a recycling?

But I can imagine Apple does not want that 😅

How about supporting perfectly older devices and computers with modern software updates instead of locking updates behind T2 chips and requiring higher ram requirements that force devices to go to landfills unnecessarily because they can not update with no work arounds. :rolleyes:

How about supporting perfectly older devices and computers with modern software updates instead of locking updates behind T2 chips and requiring higher ram requirements that force devices to go to landfills unnecessarily because they can not update with no work arounds. :rolleyes:

It was a good run with OCLP, keeping older Macs going is a great think to do, but it's coming to an end, as it did with PPC and 68K Macs. They're still great to have and keep fully functional, but sooner ( not yet, but soon), there simply won't be support for them.

I have some PPC and 68K maces as collectables, but they're simply not practical as daily machines in 2026. The same will eventually happen to Intel Macs.

Much as I love them, it's time to start letting go.

Apple is offering 10% off AirPods, Beats, or accessories to customers who recycle an eligible iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, or Mac at a participating Apple Store through May 16.

I don't see how this is a deal. Even if the device being recycled is worth nothing through Apple's trade-in program ('https://www.apple.com/shop/trade-in'), with the 10% discount you'd still be paying more for the item (e.g. AirPods Pro 3) at Apple than you'd pay from Amazon, Best Buy, Target, Costco, and all the other places that almost always have them on sale.

AirPods Pro 3 are $249 from Apple. 10% off makes them $224.10. They're currently $199.99 on Amazon, Target, Costco, and Best Buy.

The higher priced products like the AirPods Max 2 are excluded from the discount promotion, otherwise that'd be an item worth doing the 10% discount on as it'd be less than from Amazon, Best Buy, etc.

FWIW, these prices are still higher than you can often find them without a trade in requirement at other retailers, and you get to reuse the device!