The good news is Apple will now recycle your old Apple Watch for you. The bad news is Apple will not pay you a dime for your old Apple Watch. You clearly don't get to be one of the richest companies in the world without short-changing your most loyal customers.

Apple has added the Apple Watch to the Apple Renew program. This is Apple's free recycling initiative which "lets you recycle any Apple device at any Apple Store and online," with Apple promising to "make sure it’s recycled responsibly or given a chance to be used again".

Other Apple products already part of the Apple Renew Program include Macs, iPhones, and iPads. If you choose to let Apple recycle any of the aforementioned products you'll receive an Apple Store Gift Card for your trouble. It won't be anywhere near the value of the product, but it's a nice gesture to encourage people to recycle their old tech.

However, as first spotted by 9to5Mac, if you give Apple your Apple Watch you won't receive anything in exchange. No cash, no gift card, probably not even a thank you. Because Apple is doing you a favor by taking that expensive wrist bling off your hands. Quite literally.

Your iPod Is Worth More Than an Apple Watch

Recycling your old iPod will also earn you no real reward from Apple. However, if you take your iPod to an Apple Store you'll at least get 10 percent off the price of a new one. Which is more than you'll get for doing the decent thing with your old Apple Watch.

Apple only released the Apple Watch in April 2015, which means even the oldest Apple Watches out in the wild are just 18 months old at the time of writing. And yet, at least as far as Apple is concerned, they're now completely and utterly worthless.

We fully encourage our readers to do the right thing with their old, unwanted hardware. Because electronic waste is a growing problem. However, given Apple's tight-fistedness on this occasion, we'd recommend either passing your old Apple Watch onto a friend or selling it to a stranger. Especially if you spent a small fortune as an early adopter.

Do you own an Apple Watch? What do you plan to do with it when you upgrade to a newer model? How do you feel about Apple's unwillingness to offer even a perfunctory reward to people recycling their Apple Watch? Please let us know in the comments below!