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Apple pledges to stop mining for iPhone materials
Apple is hoping to stop using mined products in its devices and to "one day" make them from completely recycled materials, but says it won't give customers the "right to repair" their devices and add longevity to its products.
The company said it is looking at ways to make its devices 100 per cent recycled, as well as stopping using metals and toxic rare materials such as tungsten, tantalum, gold and cobalt that can only be retrieved from mining.
The iPhone giant has faced criticism in the past for using resources that are often associated with mines that use children as young as seven, in war-torn regions, and in places where environmental protections aren't well-regulated.
After years using mined materials in its iPhones, iPads and Macbooks, among other products, the company now wants to rid its supply chain of them and instead use recycled alternatives. At the moment, recycled materials make up a minor proportion of those used within Apple's products.
"We're moving toward a closed-loop supply chain. One day we'd like to be able to build new products with just recycled materials, including your old products," the company said in its annual environment report.
The exact time frame for the change isn't clear, with Apple saying it wants to "one day" achieve the goal but is not yet sure how to do so.
"We're actually doing something we rarely do, which is announce a goal before we've completely figured out how to do it," Lisa Jackson, vice president of environment, policy and social initiatives, told Vice. "We're a little nervous but I think it's really important, because as a sector we believe it's where technology should be going."
Jackson, who was previously head of the Environmental Protection Agency, added: "We are committing as a company to not necessarily having to source from the earth for everything that we need."
Apple currently works on the basis that its customers to replace their iPhones every three years. It has admitted that longer shelf lives for products would add to sustainability efforts, but said it will not be altering its stance on the "right to repair". The company has faced calls to allow users to have their devices repaired by third parties, with Australia recently suing it over the issue.
Jackson said the products are too "complex" to be repaired by unauthorised parties. "Trying to pretend that we can make it easy to repair the product, and that you still get the product that you think you're buying - that you want - isn't the answer," she said.
Apple last year unveiled a recycling robot that can deconstruct an iPhone 6s in order to recycle it, as it announced that it had recovered almost a ton of gold through recycling iPhones and iPads. It also conducted an audit of its supply chain after reports that children had been seen working in a cobalt mine in the Congo.