Apple releases 2022 environmental progress report

Apple Inc., Cupertino, California, has released a report highlighting its recycling efforts, including increasing recycled content in its products.   

According to the report, in the fiscal year 2021, 18 percent of the material the company shipped in products came from recycled and renewable sources. This milestone is part of the company’s broader strategy focusing on 14 materials accounting for more than 90 percent of the total product mass shipped.  

In 2021, 59 percent of all the aluminum Apple shipped in its products came from recycled sources. According to the report, all iPad models featured 100-percent-recycled aluminum in their enclosures.   

The company says 13 percent of the cobalt shipped in its products came from certified recycled sources on a mass-balance basis, including postindustrial scrap and postconsumer scrap from end-of-life batteries.  

Apple also has begun using recycled gold in its iPhones. The iPhone 13 used 100-percent-recycled gold for its front and rear cameras. The company says to obtain this from entirely recycled sources required a new way to trace recycled gold to build a supply chain of exclusively recycled content.  

In the fiscal year 2021 alone, Apple says it introduced more than 100 parts with an average of 45 percent recycled plastic. This includes the antenna lines on iPhone 13, which use upcycled plastic from bottles that have been chemically transformed into a stronger, high-performance material. Additionally, 15 other components used plastics made with bio-based content.   

According to the report, since 2015, Apple has reduced plastic in its packaging by 75 percent.  

In its material recovery facility in Austin, Texas, the company has introduced a new robot Taz, a machine using new shredder-like technology to separate magnets from audio modules and recover more rare earth elements.  

Apple also has further expanded the capabilities of its patented iPhone disassembly robot Daisy to increase recycling capabilities from 15 to 23 models of iPhone. The company has offered to license those patents to other companies and researchers for free. An additional robot, Dave, disassembles taptic engines, helping to recover valuable rare earth magnets, tungsten and steel.  

The company says it also is working on landfill diversion from its offices, retail locations, data centers and construction sites. This effort also extends to its suppliers. Additionally, Apple is taking steps to eliminate the waste generated during manufacturing, engaging with local specialty recyclers and composters to redirect materials from landfills.  

According to the report, recycling and composting efforts by the company led to a diversion rate of 68 percent, limiting landfill waste from global operations to about 15,000 metric tons. Apple says it achieved a construction and demolition waste diversion rate of 85 percent, about 13,000 metric tons, through recycling and source-separation efforts.  

More than 100 facilities had been zero-waste verified, meaning no waste is generated in the manufacturing process. The company adds that in the fiscal year 2021, suppliers redirected 491,000 metric tons of waste from landfills.  

For more information on Apple’s sustainability goals, click here.