Apple Plans 100 Percent Recycled Cobalt in Batteries by 2025

Summary:

• Apple plans to use only recycled cobalt in all its batteries by 2025.
• Apple aims to use recycled materials for magnets and circuit boards in its products by 2025.
• Apple already uses recycled materials in a significant portion of its products.

Apple announced on Thursday it has set a new 2025 target to use 100 percent recycled cobalt in all of its Apple-designed batteries.

By 2025, Apple says magnets in its products will be made from entirely recycled rare earth elements, while Apple’s printed circuit boards will also have 100 percent recycled tin soldering and recycled gold plating.

Apple’s goal is to have every product carbon neutral by 2030.

“Every day, Apple is innovating to make technology that enriches people’s lives, while protecting the planet we all share,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO in a statement on Thursday. “From the recycled materials in our products, to the clean energy that powers our operations, our environmental work is integral to everything we make and to who we are. So we’ll keep pressing forward in the belief that great technology should be great for our users, and for the environment.”

Apple is already a leader in the use of recycled materials it says. The company now sources over two-thirds of all aluminum, nearly three-quarters of all rare earths, and more than 95% of all tungsten in its products from 100% recycled material.

In 2022, 25 percent of all cobalt used in Apple products were from recycled material, up from 13% in the year prior.

Apple’s iPhone disassembly robot, Daisy, has separated batteries from other components since 2019, and more than 11,000 kilograms of cobalt have been recovered from batteries extracted by the robot and then returned to the secondary market.

Another robot used by Apple is called Dave. It is deployed with a recycling partner in China and is designed to help accelerate the recovery of rare earth elements by disassembling Taptic Engines.

“Our ambition to one day use 100 percent recycled and renewable materials in our products works hand in hand with Apple 2030: our goal to achieve carbon neutral products by 2030,” said Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of Environment, Policy, and Social Initiatives. “We’re working toward both goals with urgency and advancing innovation across our entire industry in the process.”