Apple expands the use of recycled materials
The Cupertino company has released new details on the increased use of recycled content across its products. For the first time, the company introduced certified recycled gold, and more than doubled the use of recycled tungsten, rare earth elements, and cobalt.
Apple says that nearly 20% of all material used in its products in 2021 was recycled, the company's highest-ever use of recycled content.
The company has also introduced its latest and newest recycling innovation, Taz, a machine with which Apple aims improve material recovery from traditional electronics recycling.
Taz uses a shredder-like technology to separate magnets from audio modules and recover more rare earth elements, is the latest in a series of recycling advancements made by Apple. The company has also further expanded the capabilities of its patented iPhone disassembly robot Daisy to take apart 23 iPhone models. An additional robot, Dave, disassembles Taptic Engines, helping to recover valuable rare earth magnets, tungsten, and steel.
In 2021, 59% of all the aluminum Apple shipped in its products came from recycled sources, with many products featuring 100 percent recycled aluminum in the enclosure.
Additionally, Apple says that its products in 2021 included 45% certified recycled rare earth elements,
30% certified recycled tin (all new iPhone, iPad, AirPods, and Mac devices features 100% recycled tin in the solder of their main logic boards), 13% certified recycled cobalt and certified recycled gold, featured 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.
From just one metric ton of iPhone components taken apart by the company's recycling robots, Apple says that recyclers can recover the amount of gold and copper companies would typically extract from 2,000 metric tons of mined rock.
