I'd use them. I got my Airpods Pro v1 replaced once already because of the battery life. The v2 has no significant benefits to shell out $250 after only using the v1s for 2 years.
Apple will recycle any of their products, earbuds included.
They also sell refurbished AirPods. With the right tools and process, it's just a bit of time, solder, and fresh adhesive. Impractical to do at home, but at scale, it can be done.
It has always been green washing. Apple agresively fights any repair laws and spare parts laws. Their claims about recycling are there just for show just for the eco crowd. Most people will feel good thinking the products wont end up in waste but they all buy new anyway.
Absolutely this. Recycling electronics is the option of last-resort; it takes lots of electricity, requires being shipped around the globe, and you're still left with waste too.
The goal should be to reduce and reuse before resorting to recycling. Our dependency on new electronics should be brought down to marginal utility, and we should be enabled to re-use unsupported, partially-broken or repaired smartphones. Instead, we're corralled into a box of compatibility and told to trade-in once we get angry enough at our OEM. I know I'm not the only one with a box of iPods that can do precisely jack-shit now that Apple doesn't update them anymore.
I have two pairs of perfectly good wireless headphones I don’t use anymore because the batteries are screwed. No replacement method, it’s just ewaste. Basically $200+ destroyed.
I have since bought a phone with a headphone jack and stopped buying wireless headphones.
Old generation, wired Bose in-ear go for under $50 on eBay. Sound quality is better too.
The wire interfering with my jacket took some getting used to again.
EDIT: oh yeah, the batteries don’t die while you’re using wired headphones, either. No more 1-ear’ing so there’s always a bud with battery.
It just seems like a lot of overhead for something nobody is going to use in practice.