Sonos contributing to electronic waste

One does need to assess though if the choices are presented in a way that things are not as “free” as they appear to be - in general we know that capable marketing is able to make a mockery of free will in very large majority of cases. In this case, does Sonos say anywhere that if you do not choose to recycle while there is usable life in the kit, you can also do so later when there isn't this life because of a Sonos software upgrade? Is this a legal requirement - no. Is doing so being a good corporate citizen? Many would say yes. Of course the cynics would question including the word “good” in the same sentence as the word “corporate”.

Then there is the perhaps unintended consequence on the downward effect this may have on the market for used gear, if the fear of getting a recycled product weighs on buyers. Or even, as someone suggested, being accused of selling a recycled product may take a seller to the recycling route.

I did say that there is no knowing how much is the absolute effect of this in increasing waste, and that in the bigger picture, this is vanishingly small regardless of what the size of that effect may be even in the worst case.

But messaging is important, and I feel that Sonos could have done a better job of this than they have.

This would be an interesting subject to pursue outside of this thread, starting with the question of how the recovery rate is computed - by value or by volume/weight.

In India, since we are a poor country, there is a significant business of recycling electronics that involves refurbishing to sell in markets that need lower price points for the goods. But that can't continue beyond a cycle or two of such use - I have no idea how the product is dealt with at true end of life. Seeing how many old abandoned cars I see on city streets, I shudder to even think of that subject.

Abandoned cars are a gold mine of valuable stuff, they sell for very nice prices here in the US. There are a host of organizations begging for you to donate your old car to be scrapped out. Some bits that have a high resale value are pulled but for the most part they are melted down.

Our local recycle option for electronics and hazardous waste works pretty hard to recover metals and other valuable bits like rare earths. They use the recycle profits to offset the hazardous disposal costs.

We don't have the kind of car compression yards of the kind made famous in the Breaking Bad episode of getting rid of the RV - as far as I know. Cars do get passed through a few owners, and this scene of seeing abandoned ones in cities is new, but is growing.