Just as a gentle counterpoint, consider the magnitude of the problem. Let's say there are 300m AirPod units that have been produced (60m sales per year for the last 5 years). Each unit is about 2oz, mostly plastic and batteries. That's roughly 20,000 tons. Los Angeles County alone (to pick a place) generates about 100,000 tons of solid waste per _day_, of which about 20,000 tons makes it to landfill[0][1]. If they were all thrown away at once, all in Los Angeles, they'd hardly notice.

Semiconductors and consumer electronics are more environmentally sensitive than they were, and can be better than they are. With the lithium and trace metals, AirPods are more damaging pound for pound than bulk waste, and you're right to insist that Apple do a better supporting recycle and recapture. We should also focus on how those materials are mined in the first place.

However, even a repairable AirPod would generate lithium waste as the batteries wear out. If we're going to have consumer electronics, there's going to be a bit of waste. Let's just keep in mind that real problems are coal and SUVs and beef and so on. A business like AirPods (or all of electronics) that generates fractional ounces (or pounds considering everything) of waste per person-year while enabling environmentally-positive changes like remote work is perhaps not the first target for reprobation.

[0]: https://dpw.lacounty.gov/epd/swims/OnlineServices/reports.as... [1]: https://www.laalmanac.com/environment/ev04.php