Apple Recycling Programme Extended to UK, France, Germany

Being a die-hard Apple fan is an expensive habit. Luckily, you can now partially-fund it by recycling your old Apple gear for cold, hard cash.

With a refresh cycle that means new products every single year, it makes complete sense for Apple to have a recycling program. The company has had one for customers in the United States for quite a while, but is just now bringing it across the pond to Europe. Through the program, which was launched last Friday, users with devices that have resale value will be given money in exchange for trading in their old phone.

"With the Reuse and Recycling Programme, you could turn your old equipment into a brand-new Mac, iPod, iPhone or iPad. 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," Apple said. "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's UK recycling program is being run by 20-year-old recycling and data recovery firm Dataserv. Dataserv/Apple will determine if your device qualifies for the program by asking you a series of questions regarding your laptop, phone or tablet. If it does, they will estimate a fair market value and send along a pre-paid shipping label for you to send in your device. Once your laptop is received by Dataserv on the other end, you'll see the agreed upon amount of money from Dataserv in your account.

As an example, we fed Apple's UK website some date about a mint-condition 16GB iPad 1 we were looking to get rid of. With no water damage, power-cord included, and no damage to the display, Apple was willing to give us £87 for it. When we changed the answer to the question "Could there be liquid damage to the iPad?" from a simple 'no' to "Yes, but it still powers on," Apple cut that figure exactly in half. Interestingly, flicking this back to 'no' but admitting there was some cosmetic damage to the tablet has a harsher effect on our cash-back estimate. With everything in full working order, no water damage, the device completely wiped of data and all cables present and accounted for, Apple was only willing to give us £21.75 for our cosmetically damaged iPad 1.

As you can see, the amount of money you'll get for your device varies a great deal depending on the condition and specs. Hit up Apple to see how much your stuff is worth. And don't forget, they're also accepting non-Apple computers, too.

Read more about the program here.