It was sillier when people were complaining about the wastefulness of the original AirPods. The real crime there was the fact that you spent $150 on something that only lasts a few years. As far as waste goes, I think two 20 oz soda bottles contribute more to waste than a pair of tiny wireless earbuds, and those only get used for an hour before being discarded.

Two large plastic bottles are easily recycled, or even washed and refilled (e.g. in Germany).

The earbuds don't even have a replaceable battery. They are deliberately designed to fuck the environment. (Or maximise profit, if you'd like the corporate phrasing.)

We try hard to buy things that are not wrapped in plastic and yet we still throw away at least a 10l bag of unrecyclable thin plastic every two weeks. Even a new pair of AirPods once a year would pale in comparison to all my other environmental waste.

How are you measuring the impact of waste.

Looking at it's volume, and whether or not it is biodegradable.

People have already pointed out that plastic bottles are recyclable, to which I respond: so are AirPods. They're both made of plastic and other materials that can technically be recycled. The problem is, in both cases, it is cheaper for companies to source new materials than to try and recycle the stuff that ends up in our blue bins. So they all end up in landfills eventually, often overseas in countries willing to take our "recyclables" off our hands in exchange for money.

I switched from buying beverages in 2L plastic bottles to buying cans, and I think the positive impact there greatly outweighs the negative impact of tossing my earbuds in a couple of years. The aluminum is infinitely (and easily) recyclable, unlike most plastics. The cardboard the cans come packaged in is renewable and biodegradable.

Not to mention even with the original comparison, AirPods + the case are 1/5 the material of a good pair of cans. Hell, even just the thick cord of nice headphones is the same amount of material as one set of airpods. Don’t like that you toss them every other year? Abstain from a bottle or two of beer and boom you’ve come out ahead in waste generation.

A pair of headphones and all the waste generated by the supply lines needed to generate a continuous renewal of pairs of headphones