Sonos Nixes Recycle Mode Feature Amid Backlash

Sonos is canceling its controversial “recycle mode” feature, which is part of the company’s trade-up program requiring customers to permanently brick their old devices in exchange for a discount on newer products.

Sonos received backlash and harsh criticism for the feature, which has been deemed environmentally irresponsible. The company’s trade-up program still exists, but customers are no longer required to render their older devices permanently inoperable. Now, Sonos is encouraging customers to perform a factory reset before bringing their old device to an e-waste recycler.

The Verge has more:

Sonos is doing away with Recycle Mode, a controversial part of the company’s trade-up program that rendered old devices inoperable in exchange for a 30 percent discount on a newer Sonos product. The trade-up program still exists, and customers who own eligible legacy products can get the same discount, but they’re no longer required to permanently brick devices that might still work just fine.

With the change, Sonos is now giving customers full control over what happens with the older gadgets they’re “trading” up from. They can choose to keep it, give it to someone, recycle it at a local e-waste facility, or send it to Sonos and let the company handle the responsible recycling part. Sonos quietly removed Recycle Mode from its app last week and replaced it with language asking anyone seeking the discount to call customer service. Within the next few weeks, Sonos will update its website with a new flow for the trade-up program that no longer includes Recycle Mode, and you won’t have to call anybody.

Read the full story here.