Laptops have become massively more efficient and consume significantly less electricity. It some cases it must be better to take them out of use and replace them with more efficient modern replacements.
And instead of letting the market decide when a laptop is bound for replacement, let's force people to destroy it. Of course! Makes perfect sense! Apple is doing this because newer laptops are more energy efficient! How great of Apple! Such environment, so wow!
Case 1: it was a perfectly functioning computer but the owner wanted something new. They could hand it down, donate it directly to a charity, or sell it through a company like Gazelle.
I don't think I've gotten rid of a single computer in 10 years. I have 4 pre 2009 computers that I know are still in good use after installing a fresh copy of Windows 7 on them (thanks to an MSDN license). One of those four is a 2006 era Core Duo Mac Mini. The 2008 era Core 2 Duo is being used now as a Plex Server.
Case 2: they were returned to Apple under warranty, Apple cleaned them up and sold them refurbished. Apple has been selling refurbished devices for over 10 years.
Case 3: they weren't worth selling or refurbishing.
If it ended up at a recycler, it is intended to be destroyed. That's what recycling means. The plastic bottles you throw in recycling get shredded too, even though they could undoubtedly be refilled and reused.
However, you talk about letting the market decide. But what your asking for is the opposite of letting the market decide. Apple have decided, that it's better for them to request the recyclers they work with shred the laptops.
So what's the alternative? Regulation that forces Apple to not shred laptops?
http://www.networkworld.com/article/2229029/data-center/comp...
Which states that of all the energy used by a laptop (both during use and manufacture) manufacturing represents 70% of the energy usage.
So it seems to make sense to extend the life of laptops as much as possible.