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Sonos who claim to be a ‘responsible’ sound Company have been slammed with environmentalist claiming that they are deliberate bricking their speakers with traded in products ending up in
land fill to prevent them from being resold or recycled when a consumers buys into one of their online offers to upgrade to a new speaker. Desperate to cut their losses the US Company states
on their website that “sustainability is non-negotiable,” and that they design products to minimize impact the only problem is that Sonos has a ‘recycle mode’ that once actioned starts what
has been described as an “irreversible 21-day countdown”, after which the old speaker is rendered permanently useless resulting in the device ending up in land fill. “It also prevents the
product from being given away to a disadvantaged person who cannot afford an expensive networked sound system” said one angry environmentalist. On their Australian website Sonos claim that
their trade in program is the “sustainable way to upgrade your Sonos system”. Under the terms and conditions owners of a device must engage in the direct sell upgrade program to receive
credit for 30% off any new Sonos product. Owners sign in to their Sonos account click a trade Up tab and select the devices to trade in. They then must confirm via their the Sonos app that
they have activated recycle mode. Once they confirm in the app, it’s recycled or nothing. Devices will be active for 21 days, but after that, they enter Recycle Mode, at which point data is
deleted and the gadget is “permanently deactivated,” Sonos says. This prevents consumers giving away their old product to a family member a move that could prevent Sonos from gaining a new
sale. This has angered environmentalists. Ralph Waldo wrote on his Twitter feed, “This is the most environmentally unfriendly abuse and waste of perfectly good hardware I’ve seen in five
years working at a recycler,” the Twitter user said in a series of tweets. “We could have sold these, and ensured they were reused, as we do with all the working electronics, we’re able. Now
we have to scrap them.” Rather than reselling units that are still in good condition, Sonos reportedly tosses them. Several Play:5 speakers, for example, were submitted to Sonos. Each can
resell for $250 in good condition, but Sonos will dispose of them, according to Twitter user @atomicthumbs, who also works at an e-recycling facility. Another concerned owner said “I was
going to participate in the program. I intended to give my old speaker to my niece who is at University and cannot afford a new Sonos speaker. When I realised that my speaker would end up in
land fill, I was horrified so chose not to buy a new Sonos speaker. I have moved to another brand with voice activation, this allows me to give my Sonos speaker away, the Sonos trade in
program is pure greed by a Company who actually don’t care about the enviromental impact the program is creating”. About Post Author David Richards David Richards has been writing about
technology for more than 30 years. A former Fleet Street journalist, he wrote the Award Winning Series on the Federated Ships Painters + Dockers Union for the Bulletin that led to a Royal
Commission. He is also a Logie Winner for Outstanding Contribution To TV Journalism with a story called The Werribee Affair. In 1997, he built the largest Australian technology media company
and prior to that the third largest PR company that became the foundation company for Ogilvy PR. Today he writes about technology and the impact on both business and consumers.