In 2021, Apple increased its use of recycled materials by 50% over the previous year. In its 2022 report (pdf) on its progress in terms of the environment, the apple brand ensures that 18% of the materials present in its devices come from recycling or come from renewable resources. A value that was 12% during the year 2020.
Recycling iPhones more efficient than mining
As Earth Day approaches this Friday, April 22, the American giant is taking the opportunity to share its progress in terms of the environment. Last November, the company had already announced its ambition to allow users to repair their iPhone themselves. The repairability of technological objects is indeed a real ecological issue. However, Apple is slow to implement its implementation and is content to mention a launch in 2022.
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Apple lists its environmental achievements. Eight new products released in 2021 use 20% recycled materials. This includes the iPhone 13 and 13 pro, which for the first time use certified recycled gold in the motherboard and camera. In order to reduce mining operations, the brand also explains that it has recycled as much gold and copper in 1 ton of iPhone as it would normally have extracted from 2,000 tons of rock. These are estimates provided by the United States Geological Survey.
In 2017 they announced that they wanted to use exclusively recycled and renewable materials. In 2021, 45% of the rare earths, 30% of the tin and 59% of the aluminum used in the design of devices will come from recycling. iPhone, iPad and Mac logic board solders are made with 100% recycled tin. The batteries use 13% recycled cobalt.
Apple has an army of recycling robots
Apple uses purpose-built robots to fulfill their recycling goals. The latest is a machine called Taz, equipped with a bespoke grinder. This is able to separate the magnets from the audio components to recover more magnetic elements from rare earths.
There is also the Daisy robot, capable of dismantling iPhone batteries and preparing them for resale. Daisy can now perform this task on 23 different iPhone models. Apple says it wants to distribute design schematics for this robot to other companies for free. Finally, Dave is an automaton capable of dismantling the Taptic Engine (touchscreen device present since the iPhone 7) to recover magnetic rare earths, tungsten and steel.
Apple also fights against the use of plastic. Since 2015 Tim Cook’s company has reduced plastic by 75% in all its products. There is hardly any left in packaging, where it will be present at 4% in 2021. The report also underlines that Apple’s operations have been carbon neutral since 2020 and that their infrastructures (offices, stores, data) run on 100% renewable energy. Their long-term goal is to achieve carbon neutrality across the entire supply chain by 2030.