Apple stores may be getting rid of plastic bags and going green
If you're a fan of Apple's instantly recognizable white drawstring bags, you better start hoarding them. The company may soon begin phasing out all plastic bags in its stores.
In an email sent to Apple employees and obtained by 9to5Mac, the tech giant said it would aim to eliminate plastic bags in its retail locations by Apr. 15. Instead, the company will be handing over new iPhones and iPads in paper bags made from 80 percent recycled materials.
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Despite the change, Apple doesn't want to put the existing bags to waste. In its note, it told employees to use up any remaining stock before switching to the more environmentally friendly option.
If you've got your own bag, they'll also want you to use it whenever possible: "When customers are buying a product, ask if they need a bag. They may decide they don't. And you'll encourage them to be even more environmentally friendly," the company said in the report.
Lately Apple has been emphasizing its green credentials. During its March product launch, the company talked up its sustainable forestry agenda, as well as its use of renewable energy. At the time, Apple said its facilities were 93 percent reliant on renewable sources of energy globally. There was even a robot named Liam that assists with recycling.
As Mashable argued at at the time, however, the company still has work to do. Much of its manufacturing takes place in China, where electricity still comes mostly from coal. And as was pointed out, it's hard to see how the wasteful business model of encouraging customers to buy new gadgets when their old products are still perfectly functional -- a strategy of course followed by most tech companies -- will ever allow it to have a bulletproof environmental record.
So if you want to go green, take your new phone home in an Apple-branded paper bag, but maybe wait until it's truly defunct to make the next upgrade.
Mashable contacted Apple for confirmation of the shift, and also regarding whether the change will occur in all its stores internationally. The company declined to comment.
UPDATE: April 5, 2016, 1:23 p.m. AEST with Apple response.
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Topics Apple
Ariel Bogle was an associate editor with Mashable in Australia covering technology. Previously, Ariel was associate editor at Future Tense in Washington DC, an editorial initiative between Slate and New America.
