Why You Can Trust CNET Apple Sets Goals to Use More Recycled Materials by 2025
One goal the company set is to be using 100% recycled cobalt in all its batteries by then.
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Apple says its Daisy robot has helped the company extract thousands of pounds of cobalt from batteries.
Apple plans to be using more recycled materials in its products by 2025, the company said Thursday. Apple's plans include using 100% recycled cobalt in all Apple-designed batteries and 100% recycled tin soldering and gold plating for all Apple-designed circuit boards. The company also said it plans for the magnets in all Apple devices to be made from recycled rare earth elements by then, too.
Lisa Jackson, Apple's vice president of environment, policy and social initiatives, said in a news release that this plan aligns with Apple's goal of producing carbon-neutral products by 2030.
"We're working toward both goals with urgency and advancing innovation across our entire industry in the process," Jackson said in the release.
Apple also said it's made progress in eliminating plastic from the company's packaging by 2025. Apple said only 4% of its packaging comes from plastic now.
Apple employs a number of robots to help in its efforts to extract and recycle these materials from older devices. Since 2019, the company's iPhone disassembly robot, Daisy, has helped extract about 24,250 pounds (about 11,000 kilograms) of cobalt from batteries, Apple says. In 2022, the company introduced a recycling robot, named Taz, to help recover rare earth elements like magnets from products.
For more, check out how difficult it is to make a fully recycled phone and how plastics recycling misses the point.
