Apple Spotlights Recycling Efforts in 2022 Environmental Progress Report

Apple published its Environmental Progress Report, detailing the company's ongoing efforts to reduce its impact on the environment and combat climate change, as well as new details about its increased use of recycled materials.

Apple has doubled its use of recycled rare earth elements. Almost 20% of all material in Apple products last year was recycled, which is the highest ever use of recycled content.

In the year 2021, 59 percent of the aluminum, 45 percent of the rare earth elements, 30 percent of the tin, and 13 percent of the cobalt Apple shipped in its products came from recycled sources, according to the company. Apple uses recycled tin in the solder of its main logic boards and recycled gold in the front and rear cameras of its new phones.

Apple today announced a machine that helps to recover materials from recycled electronics, and explained how it seeks to reduce mining by recovering more materials from existing devices.

Taz, a machine that uses new shredder-like technology to separate magnets from audio modules and recover more rare earth elements, is the latest in a series of recycling advancements spearheaded by Apple. The company has also further expanded the capabilities of its patented iPhone disassembly robot Daisy to take apart 23 models of iPhone, and has offered to license those patents to other companies and researchers free of charge. An additional robot, Dave, disassembles Taptic Engines, helping to recover valuable rare earth magnets, tungsten, and steel.

See the full PDF version of Apple's Environmental Progress Report for more information about the company's work to become carbon neutral across its global supply chain, promote renewable energy, use materials more safely, reduce waste, extend the lifetime of devices with refurbishment, and more.

In addition, Apple shared new ways for customers to celebrate Earth Day, such as finding green spaces in Apple Maps, nature-inspired yoga, meditation, cycling, rowing, and treadmill workouts in Apple Fitness+, as well as new episodes of Time to Run. Apple News, Apple Books, Apple Podcasts, the Apple TV app, and the App Store will feature collections of content with opportunities to experience the natural world.

On April 22, Apple will donate $1 to the World Wildlife Fund for every purchase made with Apple Pay, and from today to April 22, all Apple Watch users can earn a limited-edition award.