Apple wants to use only recycled cobalt in iPhones and Macbooks by 2025

From 2025, Apple wants to equip all its devices with batteries made from recycled cobalt. Now that is roughly a quarter, says the company, but the share of recycled cobalt is increasing. Other used materials must also be reused.

Apple writes that it sets that deadline for 2025. All cobalt that the company wants to use in iPhones, iPads and Apple Watches, but also Macbooks, must be 100% recycled cobalt. That cobalt is in the batteries of the devices, which Apple designs for the vast majority itself.

The company also wants to make all magnets in the devices from recycled rare earth metals. PCBs must also be made with recycled material, such as tin for soldered parts and gold. This must also be completely recycled material by 2025.

By 2022, about a quarter of all cobalt used by Apple will have been recycled. In 2021 that was still thirteen percent, says the company. Apple says it wants to be circular by 2030 and this step is an important one. At the same time, the company is also criticized for greenwashing, for example by no longer supplying a charger with iPhones. Critics say that Apple mainly does this to make money from selling chargers.