Apple today revealed new details about the increasing use of recycled materials in its products.
For the first time, the company has started using certified recycled gold, and has doubled its use of recycled tungsten, rare earths and cobalt. Nearly 20 percent of all materials used in Apple products in 2021 were recycled, the highest figure to date for content in this class.
Apple today also introduced Taz, its latest innovation in terms of recycling, a machine that uses a revolutionary approach to improve the recovery of materials from the traditional recycling of electronic devices.
In 2021, 59 percent of all the aluminum that Apple has used in its products was recycled and many of the products included 100% recycled aluminum in their casing.
Apple has also made great strides toward its goal of eliminating plastics from all of its packaging by 2025, and by 2021 plastic from that packaging accounted for just 4 percent of the total. Since 2015, Apple has reduced the plastic in its packaging by 75 percent.
Additionally, in 2021 Apple products included:
- 45 percent certified recycled rare earth elements, a notable increase since Apple began using these materials in its devices.
- 30 percent certified recycled tin, so all new iPhones, iPads, AirPods and Macs have 100 percent recycled tin in the solder on their main motherboards.
- 13 percent certified recycled cobalt, which is used in iPhone batteries and can be recovered by the robot Daisy to return to the market.
- Certified recycled gold, included for the first time in any Apple product, in the coating on the main motherboard and in the cable for the front and rear cameras of iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro. To achieve these figures, Apple has pioneered industry-leading levels of traceability with the goal of creating a gold supply chain that uses only recycled materials.
Recovering more materials to use in future products helps reduce mining. From just one ton of iPhone components disassembled by Apple’s recycling robots, it is possible to recover the same amount of gold and copper that other companies would extract from 2,000 tons of mined rock.
Apple is also committed to extend the life of your products through reconditioning. In 2021, Apple shipped 12.2 million devices and accessories to new owners, extending their lifespan and further reducing the need to mine materials.
In a year in which many other companies have seen significant increases in their carbon footprints, Apple has managed to keep its net emissions at the same level, which has not prevented him from increasing his income by 33 percent.
Apple achieved carbon neutrality in all of its global operations in 2020, and has been using 100 percent renewable energy in its offices, stores and data centers since 2018.
Apple recently announced that its suppliers more than doubled their use of clean energy over the past year, which translates to more than 10 gigawatts currently active out of nearly 16 total commitment for the next few years.
As of today, 213 of the company’s major manufacturing partners have committed to using renewable electricity at all of its Apple operations in 25 countries. In 2021, these renewable projects avoided 13.9 million tons of carbon emissions, the equivalent of removing 3 million vehicles from the roads per year.
