Apple has today announced a massive sustainability push for Apple-designed batteries which will see all of them use 100 percent recycled cobalt by 2025.
“Apple today announced a major acceleration of its work to expand recycled materials across its products, including a new 2025 target to use 100 percent recycled cobalt1 in all Apple-designed batteries,” the company stated Thursday.
In addition to this, magnets in Apple devices will use entirely recycled rare earth elements by 2025, and all Apple-designed printed circuit boards will use 100 percent recycled tin soldering and gold plating.
A carbon neutral future
It comes as part of Apple’s broader push to make every Apple product, from its best iPhones to its Apple TV, carbon neutral by 2030. Apple noted that last year it “significantly expanded” its use of recycled materials, and now sources “over two-thirds of all aluminum, nearly three-quarters of all rare earths, and more than 95 percent of all tungsten in Apple products from 100 percent recycled material.”
The 100 percent Cobalt target for batteries is quite ambitious given only a quarter of cobalt in Apple products last year was recycled, and only 13 percent the year before. Cobalt is used in batteries found in your iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, MacBook, and more.
The aforementioned circuit board targets will affect the circuitry connecting components like the logic board, cameras, and more in your favorite devices.
Apple is also tackling plastic and only has 4 percent plastic remaining in its packaging footprint, with labels and lamination key areas to tackle. Apple says it has developed new printing methods to print more information directly onto the boxes of iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro, while new overprint varnish found on the iPad Air, iPad Pro, and Apple Watch Series 8 reduces the plastic lamination found on these boxes.
With the future of the planet more in the public conscience than ever before, it seems like Apple products of the not-too-distant future could be a great way solution to put consumers’ minds at ease about their own impact on the environment.
