Who's doing better to mitigate e-waste?

> "AirPods are designed with numerous materials and features to reduce their environmental impact, including the 100 percent recycled rare earth elements used in all magnets. The case also uses 100 percent recycled tin in the solder of the main logic board, and 100 percent recycled aluminum in the hinge. AirPods are also free of potentially harmful substances such as mercury, BFRs, PVC, and beryllium. For energy efficiency, AirPods meet US Department of Energy requirements for battery charger systems. Apple’s Zero Waste program helps suppliers eliminate waste sent to landfills, and all final assembly supplier sites are transitioning to 100 percent renewable energy for Apple production. In the packaging, 100 percent of the virgin wood fiber comes from responsibly managed forests."

Weird that they leave out the parts about the battery and casing waste; and are design to only last on average of 18 months to force you to buy new ones.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/neaz3d/airpods-are-a-tragedy

absolutely, the worst part of the airpods is the degrading non-replaceable battery... it really left a bad impression.

Does anyone have a comparable product that doesn't have this issue?

No, because, its the limitation of a battery. And there is a reason why, they’re manufactured as a non reparable product. They house battery, speakers, microphone, bluetooth and other electronic logic board. The space is so scarce they need to be machined very accurately. But hey bashing on Apple is better than thinking why. Market has already spoken that it needs tiny things hanging on your ears. There is a limit on what we can expect from such things.