Years ago, when working on their support lines, I got a couple calls for "refurbished" devices that would not power on. Turns out these devices didn't have manufacturer warranty and had a specific activation date. And that pointed to scrapped unit, stolen and sold as refurbished by third parties. As expected, people went really mad when we refused to service those devices, but at least for that one, there was an obvious reason why it was scrapped.
For once, the Chinese bad guys are the good guys! (Environmentally speaking.)<p>It does make you wonder what percentage of all recycling programs are just virtue-signaling.