Apple says it collected nearly 90 million pounds of old iPhones and other electronic waste in 2015, through its electronic-device recycling programs.
Apple says it collected nearly 90 million pounds of old iPhones and other electronic waste in 2015, through its electronic-device recycling programs. The haul was enough for the company to recover more than 61 million pounds of material for re-use.
Here’s what the company reclaimed, according to its recently published annual report on environmental responsibility(pdf):
Material Volume (lbs) Steel 23,101,000 Plastics 13,422,360 Glass 11,945,680 Aluminium 4,518,200 Copper 2,953,360 Cobalt 189,544 Zinc 130,036 Lead 44,080 Nickel 39,672 Silver 6,612 Tin 4,408 Gold 2,204
On current prices, that amounts to roughly $1.7 million worth of silver, $6.5 million of copper, and $43 million worth of gold.
To extract these materials more efficiently, Apple has a new robot that can disassemble an iPhone in 11 seconds and sort out the parts for recycling. The robot, known as Liam, was unveiled at an Apple press conference in March. Liam prototypes are now being used at Apple facilities in California and in the Netherlands, the company says. “It’s an experiment in recycling technology, and we hope this kind of thinking will inspire others,” Apple notes in its report.