Apple is taking a huge step toward saving the planet by using recycled materials to create components for its products. The iPhone manufacturer is among the many tech giants that are adopting more eco-friendly methods to produce its products.
Apple’s iPhone disassembly robot, Daisy, is one of many innovations advancing progress toward the company’s goal of using only recycled and renewable materials in its products. Extensive design qualification, product engineering, and supply chain expertise have brought Apple closer to this goal than ever before.
Apple is Going Green
Environmental awareness can have a great impact especially when it comes to when big companies that create billions of components in a year. Car companies are slowly transitioning to manufacturing EVs to reduce emissions, and Apple aims to use recycled metals soon.
By 2025, Apple intends to use 100 percent recycled cobalt to create its batteries, as well as other recycled earth elements for magnets in Apple devices. Circuit boards will be built using recycled tin soldering and gold plating.
Apple's vice president of Environment, Policy, and Social Initiatives, Lisa Jackson stated that Apple's ambition is to use 100 percent recycled materials for their products the company's vision for 2030, is to achieve carbon-neutral products.
The tech giant has already begun their efforts to be more eco-friendly. It's already using two-thirds of all aluminum, almost three-quarters of all rare earths, and over 95 percent of tungsten in Apple products.
Back in 2021, the company used about 45 percent of recycled rare earth elements, which has since then grown to 73 percent by 2022. Recycled materials are used for its products such as the latest iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches, MacBooks, and Mac models.
Soon enough, Apple will completely use recycled and renewable materials to create all its products, along with the clean energy that powers the company's operations, which is in line with the iPhone manufacturer's goals to protect "the planet we all share."
"Our environmental work is integral to everything we make and to who we are," says Apple CEO Tim Cook. With that note, Cook added that they will keep pressing forward in the belief that great technology should be great not only for the users but the environment as well.
Although Apple is not limiting itself to using recycled metals. It will also work toward completely eliminating plastic use in its products' packaging. Instead, they will be developing fiber alternatives for packing like screen films, wraps, and foam cushioning.
The tech giant developed a custom printer that digitally prints directly on the boxes of the iPhone 14 models to reduce the use of labels. They have also replaced polypropylene plastic lamination in packaging, avoiding more than 1,100 metric tons of plastic.
Read Also: 7 Ways You Can Reduce E-Waste
Other Companies Who Adopted Recycling
Other companies have acknowledged the impact of waste from their products and processes in production. For instance, Dell has been collecting recycled plastic to manufacture its monitors, desktops, and other items, according to Manufacturing Digital.
In 2014, Dell managed to collect 4.5 million kilos of recycled plastic. It's still sourcing waste materials, both from the e-waste from its own products and those from other brands as well, to create new products from all the recycled materials.
While people have gained environmental awareness regarding plastic waste, electronic waste is still not recognized by many. With the growing number of electronic devices being discarded, several tech companies are taking the right steps to reduce such waste.
Related: 5.3 Billion Mobile Phones Will Become E-Waste This Year, Says WEEE
