Any company serious about meeting internationally agreed carbon reduction targets will want to emulate Apple, as the company announces plans to use 100% recycled cobalt in all Apple-designed batteries and reveals many other metals it plans to source. of recycling.
Towards the ambition of closed-loop manufacturing
Apple revealed significant progress toward using renewable energy in its supply chain earlier this month and continues to take time in every product announcement to discuss its work toward carbon neutrality.
These attempts are part of its multifaceted bid to become company-wide carbon neutral by 2030 and eventually build a closed-loop manufacturing system.
- In 2022, approximately 20% of all materials shipped in Apple products came from recycled or renewable sources.
- Apple claims that by 2025, the magnets in Apple devices will use 100% recycled rare earth elements.
- It also committed to using 100% recycled tin solder and 100% recycled gold plating on all “Designed by Apple” circuit boards by 2025. (38% of all tin used in its products in 2022 came from recycled sources) .
In a press release announcing its cobalt ambitions, the company tells us that it now sources more than two-thirds of all aluminum, nearly 75% of all rare earths, and more than 95% of all tungsten used in products. Apple from 100% recycled products. materials
By 2022, Apple said, a quarter of all cobalt used in its products came from recycled materials, up from 13% in 2021. Most of the cobalt in Apple products is used inside batteries.
There has been a similar trajectory for rare earths. Apple started using recycled rare earths in the Taptic Engine in iPhone 11. It now uses them in all of its products, including all of the magnets used in the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Mac.
"Given magnets are by far Apple's largest use of rare earths, the new 2025 target means that nearly all rare earths in Apple products will soon be 100% recycled," the company said.
It's not just about Apple. The company said it was also "working to encourage broader adoption of recycled gold for non-custom components in the electronics industry."
A bit of augmented reality
Apple has built a line of robots to help disassemble its products for recycling, but has also started using augmented reality to make the process more efficient.
In this case, that means overhead projector-based AR systems being deployed at the company's recycling partners. These machines project video images directly onto the work surface to guide the disassembly of MacBooks and iPads. This is an exciting new version of the systems already in use, which are most often used to guide product assembly.
Apple previously explained that from a single metric ton of iPhone components dismantled by Apple's recycling robots, recyclers can recover the amount of gold and copper that companies typically extract from 2000 metric tons of mined rock.
what apple said
“Every day, Apple innovates to create technology that enriches people's lives while protecting the planet we all share,” said Tim Cook, Apple CEO. “From the recycled materials in our products to the clean energy that powers our operations, our environmental work is an integral part of everything we do and who we are. For this reason, we will continue advancing, convinced that cutting-edge technology must be excellent for our users and for the environment.
Lisa Jackson, Apple's vice president of environment, policy and social initiatives, added: "Our ambition to one day use 100% recycled and renewable materials in our products goes hand-in-hand with Apple 2030 – our goal of achieving carbon-neutral products for 2030. We are working urgently to achieve these two goals and promote innovation throughout our industry.
The company prioritizes 14 materials to be replaced by recycled or renewable materials: aluminum, cobalt, copper, glass, gold, lithium, paper, plastics, rare earths, steel, tantalum, tin, tungsten, and zinc.
Speaking in March 2023, Jackson noted that Apple had not just set arbitrary goals for the transition to climate neutrality. He also planned how he intends to get there. "I like to remind people that we couldn't just set a goal, we had to set a roadmap, just like we have a roadmap for every product Apple eventually releases. There's a roadmap for years to get to this point." product," she says.
more than metals
The company continues to work to eliminate plastics from its packaging, while using sustainably sourced paper. This will be noticed by anyone buying a new Apple product, who will find heavy use of smart tabs, adhesive strips and origami-like internal packaging in the products.
The company still uses a small amount of plastic (said around 4%) in its product packaging, but continues to find ways to reduce it, including developing a custom printer designed to print directly onto product boxes, in order to get rid of any need for an adhesive label.
The company seems determined to continue its efforts to develop more sustainable supply chain models. It's not just about moving manufacturing between continents, but also through partnerships with frontline environmental and human rights groups.
Apple was the first electronics company to publish a list of the cobalt and lithium refineries it does business with, and insists that smelters and refineries of the valuable components it uses be audited. It's not a foolproof process, I've gotten a lot of flak about how it works, but it's still an improvement over nothing at all, and Apple has previously confirmed that it has removed 163 failed smelters and refineries from its supply chain. pass audits against the use of conflict minerals.
Apple is only part of the solution
While Apple's news sounds good, and it's comforting to think that at some point most of the components used in its devices will likely be recycled, salvaged, or renewable, that's only part of the battle. Apple is just one company, and not all manufacturers come this close to the scale of their ambitions here.
Consumers also have a role to play, and that includes businesses that may have several hundred end-of-life devices. The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Forum, an international non-profit organization, has estimated that 5.300 billion of the 16.000 billion mobile devices in use will become e-waste by 2022. The problem is that people don't recycle your devices. . Convincing them to do so is a process that all companies should be involved in.
Big announcements, like Apple's new commitment to recycling, help grab public attention and hopefully spark conversation to increase recycling efforts. Simultaneously, we see a growing disconnect between anti-sustainability sentiments among some politicians and business leaders versus growing environmental awareness in other parts of civil society. Brands that refuse to get involved in these areas to at least the same extent as Apple will be punished by increasingly savvy consumers.
Ambition, cooperation, leadership.
Getting anywhere close to solving these challenges is going to require a tremendous and consistent amount of effort. It's not just closed-loop manufacturing, though that will help. It is also about promoting sustainability in all aspects of life.
In 2021, at a United Nations Climate Change Summit meeting, Apple's Cook challenged the attendees: “Now is not the time for changes at the margins. Together, we can transition to a carbon-neutral economy and usher in a new era of inclusive opportunity. This is a time of ambition, cooperation and leadership.
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