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Apple brings recycling and cashback scheme to UK

Apple has extended its reuse and recycling programme to the UK, France and Germany, giving people the chance to reclaim some cash for their old devices.The service, which is operated by Dataserv, was already available to customers in the US but was only extended to Europe on Friday.
Written by Ben Woods, Contributor

Apple has extended its reuse and recycling programme to the UK, France and Germany, giving people the chance to reclaim some cash for their old devices.

The service, which is operated by Dataserv, was already available to customers in the US but was only extended to Europe on Friday.

"Whether it's an iPhone, iPad, Mac or PC computer, working or not, we'll take it and determine if it qualifies for reuse and has a monetary value. If it does, the amount will be credited directly into your bank account. If it doesn't, you can recycle it responsibly through one of our free recycling programmes," Apple said on the scheme's page.

The scheme also accepts some non-Apple products, such as desktop computers.

If the system determines that the item has a resale value it offers the user a price to send the device in — if it is determined to have no value, it can still be recycyled for free.

As an example, a 16GB Wi-Fi and 3G-equipped first generation iPad in perfect working condition — meaning fully functional with no water, screen or other cosmetic damage — is worth £112. Selecting that the screen is damaged brings the value down to £28.

However, in comparison, a non-Apple 15-inch laptop in 'fair' condition with a DVD-RW drive, more than 1GB RAM, greater than 60GB hard drive and an Intel Core 2 Duo 2400 processor is worth just £34 on the trade-in scheme.

Apple also reminded customers that data should be backed up and removed from devices before they are sent in, and that SIM cards should be removed from phones or tablets.

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