By 2025, Apple plans to exclusively utilize recycled cobalt in their battery production.

Apple, a company known for its environmental responsibility, is making significant strides towards reducing the negative impacts of its production. The ultimate goal is to ensure that by 2025, all materials used for recycling and the reuse of tin in circuit board soldering come from recycled sources.

The Rationale Behind the Goal

Apple's commitment to this goal is driven by several factors.

Environmental Protection: By reducing the extraction of new resources, Apple aims to mitigate the environmental harm associated with tin mining, which often leads to deforestation, particularly in tropical regions, and a host of social issues.
Circular Economy: Apple aspires to create closed material loops where as many product components as possible are recovered and reused.
Public Perception: The company strives to position itself as a leader in sustainability, a move that resonates well with customers and investors.
Regulatory Compliance: Many countries are tightening their recycling and environmental regulations. By acting early, Apple ensures it remains compliant and avoids potential legal issues.

The Practical Implications

Recycled Tin: While the use of recycled tin in circuit board soldering is technically feasible, it presents logistical challenges.
Certified Recycling Sources: Apple relies on certified recycling sources to ensure consistent quality and reliability.
Supply Chain Partnerships: Apple collaborates with partners to establish clean and efficient recycling systems for electronic waste (e-waste) and recover the contained tin.

The Hopes and Expectations

Customer Attraction: Apple hopes to win over customers who value sustainability and retain existing ones by demonstrating its commitment to the environment.
Innovation Boost: The pioneering work in recycling processes strengthens Apple's innovation capabilities.
Industry Leadership: Apple aims to show that technological products can be compatible with sustainability, setting industry standards.
Future Resilience: By building recycling structures, Apple secures long-term access to crucial resources, independent of global supply chain disruptions.

In Conclusion

Apple aims to convince stakeholders, including customers, investors, and the public, to support its efforts towards innovative technologies and the establishment of a circular economy in the electronics industry. The use of recycled tin is just one step towards a broader goal of achieving a more comprehensive carbon neutrality.

In addition to this, Apple's iPhone disassembly robot, Daisy, separates batteries and other components, enabling specialty recyclers to recover cobalt and other materials, including lithium. Since 2015, every identified smelter and refiner for tin, tungsten, tantalum, and gold has participated in independent third-party audits. Apple deploys augmented reality systems to recycling partners to guide the disassembly of devices and maximise the efficiency of material recovery.

Innovations in fiber alternatives and digital printing have helped Apple reduce plastic use in its packaging. A new overprint varnish found in iPad Air, iPad Pro, and Apple Watch Series 8 packaging replaced polypropylene plastic lamination, avoiding over 1,100 metric tons of plastic and over 2,400 metric tons of carbon dioxide.

By 2025, Apple aims to eliminate plastics from its packaging, use 100 percent recycled cobalt in all Apple-designed batteries, and use 100 percent recycled gold plating in its printed circuit boards. Apple sources primary minerals responsibly and drives the highest level of human rights and environmental standards across its supply chain.

Apple partners with experts such as the Fund for Global Human Rights to support frontline human rights and environmental defenders, including in the African Great Lakes region, and vocational education programs that enable members of local communities moving away from mining to build skills and pursue new opportunities.

By 2025, magnets in Apple devices will use entirely recycled rare earth elements. In 2022, about 20 percent of all material shipped in Apple products came from recycled or renewable sources. Apple was the first electronics company to publish a list of cobalt and lithium refiners in its battery supply chain, with cobalt in 2016 and lithium in 2020. Apple's use of 100 percent certified recycled rare earth elements has expanded to 73 percent in 2022.

Since 2019, Apple estimates that more than 11,000 kilograms of cobalt have been recovered from batteries extracted by Daisy and then returned to the secondary market. The development of a custom printer eliminated the need for most labels on iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro packaging. Apple will use 100 percent certified recycled tin soldering on all Apple-designed printed rigid and flexible circuit boards by 2025.

By 2025, Apple plans to exclusively utilize recycled cobalt in their battery production.