Environmentalists continue to warn that Apple AirPods (which also catch fire) are adding to already dangerously high levels of unrecyclable toxic E-Waste. Of course, AirPods aren’t the only popular wearables being manufactured, purchased, and fated to become E-Waste (see 1, 2, 3).
So those who buy wearables are being increasingly chastised even though tech proponents continue to promote Internet of Things (IoT) technology as being essential to a healthier environment. This doesn’t make sense. IoT has a high failure rate as well as enormous cybersecurity and privacy risks (see 1, 2, 3, 4). Therefore, frequent replacement of IoT technology will also create more E-Waste. So it’s not unreasonable to suspect those who promote IoT for sustainability as being completely misguided.
