Apple's Products - Accelerating of the Use of Recycled Materials
Apr 15, 2023
Apple has revealed an ambitious plan to increase the usage of recycled materials in its products.

Apple has revealed an ambitious plan to increase the usage of recycled materials in its products. One of the primary goals is to use 100% recycled cobalt 1 in all Apple-designed batteries by 2025. In addition, by that same year, Apple aims to use only recycled rare earth elements for the magnets in their devices, and they also plan to utilize 100% recycled tin soldering and 100% recycled gold plating in all their printed circuit boards designed in-house.
During 2022, the company made significant strides in utilizing essential recycled metals, currently procuring over two-thirds of all aluminum, nearly three-quarters of all rare earths, and over 95% of all tungsten in Apple products from 100% recycled material. This rapid advancement brings Apple closer to its ultimate objective of manufacturing products using exclusively renewable and recycled materials, and propels the company towards achieving its 2030 objective of ensuring every product is carbon neutral.
Mapping the journey towards 2025
Over the past three years, Apple has made significant progress in expanding the use of 100 percent certified recycled cobalt, with a 25 percent increase in 2022 alone, bringing the company closer to achieving its 2025 goal of using this material in all Apple-designed batteries. Cobalt is a crucial material used in the batteries of most consumer electronics, including Apple devices, and the company's batteries for products such as the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, MacBook, and other devices contain a significant proportion of cobalt.
Apple's use of 100 percent certified recycled rare earth elements has also seen substantial growth, with the percentage rising from 45 percent in 2021 to 73 percent in 2022. The company has been using recycled rare earths since introducing them in the Taptic Engine of the iPhone 11, and this material is now found in all magnets in the latest models of Apple devices. The new 2025 target aims to make almost all rare earths in Apple products 100 percent recycled.
Furthermore, by the year 2025, Apple intends to implement 100% certified recycled gold plating in all of their printed circuit boards, both rigid and flexible. Apple has extended the use of recycled gold in several components, such as the wire of all cameras in the iPhone 14 range and printed circuit boards of the iPad, Apple Watch, etc. The company is also encouraging other electronics industry players to adopt recycled gold in non-custom components.
All of the printed rigid and flexible circuit boards that are designed by Apple will be using tin soldering that is certified as recycled, by the year 2025. The company is actively seeking to apply
recycled tin to even more components and it is working with more suppliers to achieve this goal.
Lastly, Apple is making progress toward eliminating plastics from its packaging by developing fiber alternatives for packaging components such as screen films, wraps, and foam cushioning. The company has come up with new ways of improving its products by using digital printing to directly print onto the iPhone 14 and 14 Pro boxes, which reduces the need for labels. Additionally, the company has replaced the plastic lamination on the packaging components with a new overprint varnish used in iPad Air, iPad Pro, and Apple Watch Series 8 packaging. These innovations have helped the company to reduce its plastic waste by over 1000 metric tons and decrease its carbon dioxide emissions by over 2000 metric tons.
