Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

Thank you, Mr. Air, a netizen of CTOnews.com, for your clue delivery! CTOnews.com, April 13 (Xinhua)-- Apple has announced that it will use 100% recycled cobalt in batteries by 2025, opening a new path for the use of key recycled metals in batteries, magnets and circuit boards.

Apple today announced a major acceleration to advance the use of renewable materials in its products, including a new 2025 goal of using 100 per cent recycled cobalt in all Apple-designed batteries. In addition, by 2025, the magnets in Apple equipment will fully use recycled rare earth elements, and all printed circuit boards designed by Apple will use 100% recycled tin solder and 100% recycled gold plating. In 2022, the company greatly promoted the use of important recycled metals, and now more than 2/3 of aluminum, nearly 3/4 of rare earths and more than 95% of tungsten in Apple products come from 100% recycled materials. This rapid process brings Apple closer to its goal of one day using only recycled and renewable materials for all products, and advancing the company's 2030 goal of making every product carbon neutral.

By 2025, all printed circuit boards designed by Apple, including all main logic boards, will use 100% recycled gold plating and 100% recycled tin solder.

Apple has significantly promoted the use of 100% certified recycled cobalt over the past three years, which will make it possible to use this material in all Apple-designed batteries by 2025. In 2022, 1/4 of cobalt in Apple products came from recycled materials, up from 13% the previous year. Cobalt is a key material used in the batteries of most consumer electronics, including Apple devices, with high energy density while meeting Apple's stringent standards for durability and safety. Apple-designed batteries used by iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, MacBook and many other products account for the vast majority of the company's use of cobalt.

By 2025, all Apple designed batteries will use 100% recycled cobalt, and all Apple equipment magnets will use 100% recycled rare earth elements. The company also boosted the use of 100% certified recycled rare earth elements last year, rising from 45% in 2021 to 73% in 2022. Since iPhone 11 first used recycled rare earth elements in its tactile engine, Apple has continued to promote the use of this material in its equipment, including on all magnets in the latest iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, MacBook and Mac models. Magnets account for the vast majority of Apple's use of rare earth elements, and the new 2025 target means that Apple products will soon fully use 100% recycled rare earth elements.

As part of the accelerated new schedule, all printed circuit boards designed by Apple will be able to use 100% certified recycled gold plating by 2025. Include rigid boards, such as main logic boards, and flexible boards, such as circuit boards connected with cameras or buttons in iPhone. Since creating a supply chain specializing in gold recovery for iPhone 13's main logic board plating, Apple has continued to promote the use of this material in more components and products, including wires for all cameras in the iPhone 14 series and printed circuit boards for iPad, Apple Watch, AirPods Pro, MacBook Pro, Mac mini and HomePod. Apple is also committed to encouraging the entire electronics industry to use recycled gold more widely in non-custom components.

IPhone 14 series products use 100% recycled rare earth elements in all magnets, 100% recycled tungsten in tactile engines, 100% recycled tin in solders for multiple printed circuit boards, and 100% recycled gold in electroplated coatings on multiple printed circuit boards.

By 2025, the company will use 100% certified recycled tin to weld all Apple designed rigid and flexible printed circuit boards. CTOnews.com learned from the report that in recent years, Apple has promoted the use of recycled tin in solders for many flexible printed circuit boards of various products, and 38 per cent of all tin metals used last year came from recycled materials. The company is about to apply recycled tin in more components and involve more suppliers in this effort. The innovation also promotes another 2025 commitment of Apple: to remove plastic from the packaging of the company's products. The development of fiber alternatives for packaging components, such as screen saver films, outer packaging and foam cushions, has enabled Apple to move steadily towards this ambitious goal. To address only 4% of the plastic left in the company's packaging footprint, Apple is actively innovating to replace labels, lamination and other small parts. Last year, Apple developed a custom printing device that can print digitally directly on the boxes of iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro, eliminating the need for most labels. IPad Air, iPad Pro and Apple Watch Series 8 packaging use a new overprinting varnish to replace polypropylene plastic lamination on packaging boxes and packaging parts. This innovation has helped avoid more than 1100 metric tons of plastic and more than 2400 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions.

Apple procures raw materials responsibly and promotes the highest environmental and human rights standards throughout the supply chain. Apple is the first electronics company to publish a list of cobalt and lithium refineries in the battery supply chain, including cobalt refineries in 2016 and lithium refineries in 2020. In 2017, the company tracked the path of rare earth elements in the supply chain. Since 2015, all Apple certified smelters and refineries of tin, tungsten, tantalum and gold have participated in independent third-party audits. In its transition to recycled materials and renewable content, Apple prioritized 14 materials based on environmental, human rights and supply chain impacts, which together account for nearly 90% of shipments of Apple products, including aluminum, cobalt, copper, glass, gold, lithium, paper, plastics, rare earth elements, steel, tantalum, tin, tungsten and zinc.

In 2022, nearly 20 per cent of all shipments of Apple products came from recycled or renewable sources. This includes the first use of recycled copper foil on the main logic board of iPad (tenth generation), the first use of certified recycled steel in the battery tank of MacBook Air with M2 chip, the use of 100% recycled tungsten in the latest Apple Watch product lineup, and the aluminum shell of many Apple products is made of 100% recycled aluminum alloy designed by Apple.

Apple's iPhone disassembly robot, Daisy, separates the battery from other components, allowing professional recycling agencies to recover other materials such as cobalt and lithium. Apple estimates that more than 11000 kilograms of cobalt have been recycled from batteries extracted by Daisy and returned to the secondary market since 2019. Daisy can also help recycle rare earth elements, most of which are lost in the traditional electronics recycling process.

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