Apple said on 13 April 2023 that every battery it designs will contain 100 percent recycled cobalt by 2025. Two other metals got the same deadline: the magnets in its devices will use only recycled rare earth elements, and its circuit boards will use recycled tin solder and recycled gold plating.
The company said it sourced one quarter of all cobalt in its products from recycled material in 2022, up from 13 percent a year earlier. Cobalt matters because it gives the batteries in most consumer electronics their high energy density. Batteries in the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and MacBook account for a significant majority of Apple’s cobalt use.
“Every day, Apple is innovating to make technology that enriches people’s lives, while protecting the planet we all share,” chief executive Tim Cook said. Lisa Jackson, the vice president for environment, policy and social initiatives, tied the push to Apple’s goal of carbon neutral products by 2030. “We’re working toward both goals with urgency,” she said.
The other metals
Recycled rare earths in Apple products rose from 45 percent in 2021 to 73 percent in 2022. Magnets are by far the company’s biggest use of rare earths, so the 2025 target would make nearly all of them recycled. Apple first used recycled rare earths in the Taptic Engine of the iPhone 11.
On circuit boards, Apple said recycled gold plating would cover both rigid boards, such as the main logic board, and the flexible ones that link to cameras and buttons. It had already pioneered an all-recycled gold supply chain for the iPhone 13 logic board. For tin solder, 38 percent of the tin used last year came from recycled sources.
The company also reported that over two-thirds of its aluminum, nearly three-quarters of its rare earths and more than 95 percent of its tungsten came from 100 percent recycled material in 2022. About 20 percent of all material shipped in its products was recycled or renewable.
Robots and sourcing
Apple credited part of the progress to Daisy, its iPhone disassembly robot, which separates batteries from other parts so specialty recyclers can recover cobalt and lithium. Since 2019, the company estimates, Daisy has helped recover more than 11,000 kilograms of cobalt. A second robot, Dave, is working with a recycling partner in China to take apart Taptic Engines and recover rare earths.
Apple also said it was backing communities that depend on mining. It is working with the Fund for Global Human Rights to support human rights and environmental defenders, including in the African Great Lakes region, along with vocational programs for people leaving mining. The company said it was the first electronics maker to publish a list of cobalt and lithium refiners in its battery supply chain, with cobalt in 2016 and lithium in 2020.
Apple’s cobalt figures are reported on a mass balance basis.
