Apple Pledges to End Mining and Use 100% Recycled Materials for Products

Just ahead of Earth Day, Apple has released its 2017 Environmental Responsibility Report [PDF] with a lofty new goal: ending mining. Apple says the company is working on a "closed-loop supply chain" that would allow it to stop mining the earth for rare minerals and metals.

"One day, we'd like to be able to build new products with just recycled materials, including your old products," Apple says on its updated Environment site. In an interview with VICE, Apple vice president of environment, policy and social initiatives Lisa Jackson commented on the mining plan, saying "it's where technology should be going."

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"We're actually doing something we rarely do, which is announce a goal before we've completely figured out how to do it," Apple's Vice President of Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives and a former head of the EPA, Lisa Jackson, told VICE News during an exclusive visit to Apple's environmental testing lab on Monday. "So we're a little nervous, but we also think it's really important, because as a sector we believe it's where technology should be going.

Much of what goes into an iPhone isn't recycled, but Apple wants to change that by more aggressively using components taken from old iPhones and combining that with "high quality recycled metals" purchased from suppliers. Apple will double down on investments like Liam, the robot that breaks iPhones down into component parts, and it plans to continue to encourage customers to return products through the Apple Renew recycling program.

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While Apple plans to source more of its materials from recycled goods, Jackson says that though a "product that lasts is really important," the company doesn't have plans to make its devices easier to repair to increase longevity.

Jackson also defended Apple's history of making products that are hard to repair. Allowing customers to repair Apple products themselves "sounds like an easy thing to say," she said. But "technology is really complex; it is sophisticated to make it work, to ensure that you have security and privacy, [and] that somebody isn't giving you bad parts."

Because of this, Apple won't be taking a "right to repair" approach to meeting its environmental goals. "All those things mean that you want to have certified repairs," Jackson said.

Other environmental milestones are also outlined in Apple's report. 96 percent of the power used by Apple facilities around the world comes from clean energy sources, and as has been the case for several years, 100 percent of the electricity that powers Apple data centers comes from solar, hydro, and wind energy sources.

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Apple now has seven suppliers that have committed to using renewable energy, and the company plans to help suppliers bring 4 gigawatts of renewable power online by 2020.

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When it comes to packaging, more than 99 percent of the packaging used for Apple products is responsibly sourced. Virgin paper is sourced from protected sustainable forests, and the company has successfully protected or created enough working forests to cover all of its packaging needs.


Lisa Jackson's full comments on the 2017 environmental report can be read over at VICE, and Apple's full Environmental Responsibility Report, which goes into much more detail on its recycling efforts, packaging, water usage, and carbon footprint, is available here.

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Top Rated Comments

Asarien Avatar
104 months ago
"Climate change"
Even if you don't believe in climate change or are dead set against "the liberal agenda," why are you against humans being resourceful instead of wasteful?
Score: 55 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Chupa Chupa Avatar
104 months ago
"Climate change"
Regardless of your thoughts on climate why would you not be for this. It's so much more than that hot button. Mining is a disaster for humans and also animal's habitat. And whether you give two ***** about that it's part of earth's ecosystem, so yes, we are all affected. It's not in dispute. If Apple can lead the way here it's a very positive step.
Score: 41 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Tapiture Avatar
104 months ago
"Climate change"
Your grandkids will love that you put it in quotes while the water is up to their waists.
Score: 33 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Appleaker Avatar
104 months ago
If they reach this goal, it will be a significant milestone. I really look forward to hearing about their progress with this.
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Count Blah Avatar
104 months ago
Lots of material to recycle, given Apple's planned obsolescence with glued/soldered in components.
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Quu Avatar
104 months ago
This is a very lofty goal (ending mining) and I commend Apple on doing it.

However I do not support their anti-repair mentality. Using glues instead of screws and harnesses for batteries, soldering everything they possibly can, not giving repair shops the proper schematics to do their repairs, using propiatary connector interfaces on their SSD's etc

Much of this stuff is where Apple has gone out of their way to make it physically more difficult to repair something on purpose. She makes it sound like technology is becoming so sophisticated that it is now impossible for some repairs to be performed without the highly trained Apple technicians and their propitiatory equipment. That is simply not true.

As I just said Apple has shipped now several generations of SSD's (SATA and PCIe ones) which use standard NAND and Chipsets. The Samsung SM951 for example is a standard part any PC OEM can purchase from Samsung and Apple uses that exact SSD in their own computers. But with one major difference, Apple changed the electrical and data pin outs on it. Other than that there are no physical changes.

And that means it cannot be serviced by users or repair shops because they do not have access to a physically compatible SSD due to this one single change that was enacted to disrupt repairs and aftermarket upgrades.

That is despicable and it creates more waste, Apple should be ashamed.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)