For the first time, Apple has introduced certified recycled gold, and more than doubled the use of recycled tungsten, rare earth elements, and cobalt.
Nearly 20 percent of all material used in Apple products in 2021 was recycled, the highest-ever use of recycled content, the company said.
Apple released new details on this progress, its recycling innovation efforts, and clean energy in its 2022 Environmental Progress Report.
“We are making real progress in our work to address the climate crisis and to one day make our products without taking anything from the earth,” said Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of Environment, Policy, and Social Initiatives.
“Our rapid pace of innovation is already helping our teams use today’s products to build tomorrow’s, and as our global supply chain transitions to clean power, we are charting a path for other companies to follow.”
“Recycled and responsibly-sourced”
Apple says it has “pioneered innovations” in the recycling and sourcing of materials to spur industry-wide change. To help its recycling partners build on this momentum worldwide, Apple announced its newest recycling innovation, Taz, a machine that uses a groundbreaking approach to improve material recovery from traditional electronics recycling.
In 2021, 59 percent of all the aluminium Apple shipped in its products came from recycled sources, with many products featuring 100 percent recycled aluminium in the enclosure. Apple says it has also made “significant progress” toward the company’s goal to eliminate plastics from its packaging by 2025, with plastics accounting for just 4 percent of packaging in 2021.
Since 2015, Apple has reduced plastic in its packaging by 75 percent.
Our rapid pace of innovation is already helping our teams use today’s products to build tomorrow’s, and as our global supply chain transitions to clean power, we are charting a path for other companies to follow.
Additionally, Apple products in 2021 included 45 percent certified recycled rare earth elements, a “significant increase” since Apple introduced recycled rare earth elements in its devices, Apple says.
This included 30 percent certified recycled tin, with all new iPhone, iPad, AirPods, and Mac devices featuring 100 percent recycled tin in the solder of their main logic boards; and 13 percent certified recycled cobalt, used in iPhone batteries that can be disassembled by Apple’s recycling robot Daisy and returned to market.
Certified recycled gold, featured — for the first time in any Apple product — in the plating of the main logic board and wire in the front camera and the rear cameras of iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro.
To achieve this milestone, Apple pioneered “industry-leading” levels of traceability to build a gold supply chain of exclusively recycled content, it says
Reducing mining
Recovering more materials for use in future products helps reduce mining, Apple says. From just one metric tonne of iPhone components taken apart by Apple’s recycling robots, it says recyclers can recover the amount of gold and copper companies would typically extract from 2,000 metric tonnes of mined rock.
Apple says it is also committed to extending the lifetime of its products through refurbishment. In 2021, Apple sent 12.2 million devices and accessories to new owners for reuse, extending their lifetime and reducing the need for future mining.
Apple says it aims to use only renewable or recyclable materials in its products — a goal announced in 2017 that has charted the company’s pathway on design and material sourcing.
Taz, a machine that uses new shredder-like technology to separate magnets from audio modules and recover more rare earth elements, is the latest in a series of recycling advancements spearheaded by Apple.
The company has also further expanded the capabilities of its patented iPhone disassembly robot Daisy to take apart 23 models of iPhone, and has offered to license those patents to other companies and researchers free of charge. An additional robot, Dave, disassembles Taptic Engines, helping to recover valuable rare earth magnets, tungsten, and steel.
2022 Environmental Progress Report
In addition to charting progress in recycling innovation and material stewardship, Apple’s newly released 2022 Environmental Progress Report highlights the company’s work to become carbon neutral across its global supply chain and the life cycle of every product, as well as progress reducing waste and promoting the safer use of materials in its products.
Apple has been carbon neutral for its global operations since 2020, and has relied on 100 percent renewable energy to power its offices, stores, and data centres since 2018, it says/
Apple recently announced that its suppliers more than doubled their use of clean power over the last year, with over 10 gigawatts operational out of nearly 16 gigawatts in total commitments in the coming years.
As of April, 213 of the company’s major manufacturing partners have pledged to power all Apple production with renewable electricity across 25 countries.
In 2021, these renewable projects avoided 13.9 million metric tons of carbon emissions, the equivalent to removing 3 million cars from the road for one year.
