As someone with an arguably garbage-tier phone, sans replaceable battery, I don't think anyone would let me trade it in for a new one or even some sort of a discount, because there isn't a name like Apple behind it, nor the support network.
My previous phone that had replaceable batteries has two in total that I occasionally charge, so it can act as a temporary backup if anything happens to my current phone.
At least once those are used up and no longer hold any sort of a charge, I'll be able to dispose of them in the supermarket battery collection point or something like that. I'm not sure whether I'd want to cram my current phone in there with its memory chips intact.
I guess there are a lot of factors to consider, whether people can afford a certain device or whether they care about disposing of certain types of items responsibly being some of them. Some of this probably varies based on the region of the world as well.
Stores like Home Depot, Lowes, Walmart, Wegmans, Target, etc all have boxes you can drop bare lithium battery cells into. Usually right at the front of the store tucked off to the side somewhere. They usually have bags provided at the box to put the cells into. I deal with a lot of lipo batteries & don't want to be responsible for a fire, so I usually electrical tape the +/- terminals before dropping off as well.
Some hobby shops do nearly exactly this to get around import restrictions. Whether it’s inside something or not it’s still a lipo battery, imo it’s a silly rule and worth breaking.
...and then declared "This is MAGA country!"
I have my doubts this anecdote actually happened - where do they keep the variety of mobile batteries needed at the duty free, behind the bottles of gin and bars of German chocolate? Does Samsung even make "garbage tier" phones? Don't forget Apple gave us the iPhone 5C and other phones in Playskool colours.
Even if it did, most legit battery shops will recycle the old battery for free. If you're peddling massive Chinese schlock, not recycling batteries is the least of your ethical concerns.
It also might shock you to hear that other countries also have airports.
People might also have bought phones in the past, so they might not be considered top-of-the-line any more.
Will they recycle it, or take it and send it to Asia where it ends up in a landfill anyway?
Some of their lowest end models, between their incredibly weak hardware and huge load of preinstalled crapware (some of which runs in the background), are pretty terrible user experiences. I hesitate to use the term “garbage tier” because it’s needlessly acerbic but it wouldn’t be an inaccurate descriptor.
And you have to say, tossing out the battery is much better than tossing out the entire phone, battery and all
Is that… a bad thing?
Or just get the battery replaced at the Apple Store and keep using your phone an extra year or two. It's even cheaper than buying a new phone!
Meanwhile, I know loads of people who have traded in, or simply handed in, their old iPhones in an Apple Store. I can’t imagine anyone casually tossing an old iPhone in the trash the way my feckless bench-neighbour did.