Apple will use only recycled cobalt in batteries by 2025
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Apple will use only 100% recycled cobalt in batteries designed for its devices by 2025. By the same year, device magnets will also use fully recycled rare earth elements and all company-designed printed circuits will use 100% recycled tin solder and gold plating.
The announcement came from the company in recent days. Cobalt is a strategic material for technological products and energy transitions. Even in Europe. On its way to climate neutrality in 2050, Belgian Catholic University (KU Leuven) Estimated increase in European demand Lithium equals 3535%, Cobalt 330% and Nickel 100%. China today processes 65% of the world’s production: 70% is actually extracted from the DRC, but of the 19 industries in this sector in the country, 15 are wholly or partly owned by Chinese companies.
In the press release, Apple explains where it’s starting and plans for the future. In 2022, the company has expanded its use of recycled key metals and more than two-thirds of all aluminum, nearly three-quarters of all rare earth elements, and more than 95 percent of all tungsten in Apple products come from recycled materials. 100% recycled.” A pathway included in the goal of making every product carbon neutral in 2030.
In 2022, a quarter of the cobalt in Apple products came from recycled materials, up from 13% a year earlier. The use of 100% recycled rare earth elements increases from 45% in 2021 to 73% in 2022.”The use of these materials is in all of their devices, including the magnets found in the latest iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, MacBook and Mac.
In this process the contribution comes from the robots. Daisy, Apple’s iPhone disassembly robot. There is one in Texas, United States, and one in the Netherlands. It separates the batteries from other components and allows specialized recycling centers to recover the cobalt and other materials, including lithium. Since 2019, Apple estimates that more than 11,000 kilograms of cobalt has been recovered from batteries recovered from Daisy and then returned to the secondary market.
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