When it comes to recycling, Apple has always been committed to using hardware that can easily be recycled and used again. Due to the very same reason, it provides the smartphone to third party companies so that they can be easily recycled back to its original form. However, recently news came by stating that the company which received the older devices for recycling from Apple, was in fact, selling it again to customers, without Apple even knowing about it. It was found that the recycling firm was stealing and reselling their products.
The company is GEEP Canada and its role was to scrape off over half a million units of iPhone, iPads, and Apple watches. However, it was later found that GEEP Canada was wrestling the same products, and more than 1,00,000 products were sold by them. Apple has now claimed a lawsuit against the recycling partner on the accounts of stealing and reselling units. However, the company states that it has not been doing anything out of the bounds and the reselling of the devices was done by three employees, without the company’s knowledge. In fact, GEEP Canada states that they have only been recycling the devices and the theft can only be blamed on the three employees and not the company.
This lawsuit was filed by Apple in January 2020 and the number of devices was 1,03,845, which was also confirmed by Geep Canada. In the lawsuit from Apple, it has been stated that “At least 11,766 pounds of Apple devices left JEEP’s premises without being destroyed a fact that GEEP itself confirmed.“” Apple also confirmed that the products sent for recycling are not safe for the users and can cause damage to them through electrical or battery defects. Currently, GEEP Canada is looking for its three employees who are responsible for the theft, to avoid the lawsuit.