April 16, 2026
UPDATE
Apple accelerates environmental progress with highest‑ever recycled material in its products
New milestones include removing plastic from packaging, using 100 percent recycled cobalt in Apple-designed batteries, and replenishing more than half of Apple’s corporate water use
Apple today announced that a record 30 percent of material across all of its products shipped in 2025 came from recycled content.1 The achievement, along with other key progress milestones Apple shared today, is the result of innovation by teams across Apple and deep collaboration with its global supply chain. As part of this work, Apple now uses 100 percent recycled cobalt in all the batteries it designs and 100 percent recycled rare earth elements in all magnets.2 The company also accomplished its goal to remove plastic from packaging, with Apple products now shipping in fiber-based packaging that can be easily recycled at home.3
“At Apple, we believe deeply in leaving the world better than we found it, and that commitment runs across everything we do,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “These milestones in our work to protect the planet show that ambitious goals can also be powerful engines of innovation. And as always, we’ll keep pushing to build on this progress even more.”
In its annual Environmental Progress Report released today, Apple marked progress toward Apple 2030, the company’s ambitious goal to be carbon neutral across its entire footprint by the end of this decade. Apple’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2025 remain down over 60 percent compared to 2015 levels, holding constant from 2024 even in a year of significant business growth. The report highlights additional progress in renewable energy, materials innovation and recycling, water stewardship, and zero waste.
“Across every part of our business, we’re showing how innovation and collaboration can turn big ideas and bold ambitions into measurable progress,” said Sabih Khan, Apple’s chief operating officer. “From expanding recycled material to removing plastic from our packaging, we’re setting new benchmarks that inspire us to reach further and work even harder for the good of people and planet.”
As Apple celebrates Earth Day with its teams, partners, and customers around the world — including with a special offer for users who bring in their Apple devices for recycling at participating Apple Store locations4 — here’s a look at the progress the company is making across its environmental initiatives.
Setting New Benchmarks for Recycled Content
On top of hitting 30 percent recycled content across all of its products shipped in 2025, Apple also reached several targets for recycled content in select components last year. Today, all batteries designed by Apple are made with 100 percent recycled cobalt, and all magnets are made with 100 percent recycled rare earth elements. Additionally, all Apple-designed printed circuit boards are made with 100 percent recycled gold plating and tin soldering. Whether materials are recycled or primary, Apple is committed to sourcing all materials responsibly, and drives high standards for human rights and the environment across its supply chain.
Innovating to Remove Plastic
Apple completed the transition to 100 percent fiber-based packaging last year, fulfilling its pledge to remove plastic from packaging by 2025. Over the past 10 years, Apple engineers and designers have developed alternatives to common packaging components, replacing plastic screen protectors and trays with versions made with recycled or responsibly sourced paper. They also innovated to make packaging more recyclable, designing the largest boxes, like for the new Studio Display XDR, to collapse into smaller pieces that fit into a home recycling bin. Apple avoided more than 15,000 metric tons of plastic in the past five years alone — the equivalent of about 500 million plastic water bottles.5
Investing in Next-Generation Recycling Technology
As the company expands the use of recycled material in its products, Apple is also developing new technology to help maximize the material recovered from devices at the end of their life. Apple launched Cora, a new world-class electronics-recycling line located at the Advanced Recovery Center in California. Designed and built in the U.S., Cora uses precision shredding and advanced sensor technology to achieve material recovery rates that are significantly higher than industry baselines. Apple also developed A.R.I.S., a new detection system powered by machine learning, to help recyclers efficiently classify and sort electronic scrap. Leveraging the A.R.I.S. software, which runs on Mac mini, Apple is piloting new, industry-deployable recycling tools with partner recyclers.
Expanding Renewable Energy Across Apple’s Footprint
Apple’s direct suppliers procured more than 20 gigawatts of renewable energy last year as part of the Supplier Clean Energy Program, generating more than 38 million megawatt-hours of electricity. That’s enough clean electricity to power more than 3.4 million U.S. households for a year.6 Apple procured an additional 1.8 gigawatts of renewable energy to power its offices, retail stores, and data centers with 100 percent renewable electricity. And the company is advancing toward its Apple 2030 goal by enabling new renewable energy projects around the world to help match the energy customers use to charge and power their Apple products with 100 percent clean electricity.
Conserving and Replenishing Fresh Water Around the World
Last year, Apple and its suppliers saved 17 billion gallons of fresh water — enough to fill more than 25,000 Olympic-size swimming pools. The company is also driving water conservation efforts across its corporate operations, and by 2030, is working to replenish all of the fresh water withdrawn to support Apple’s facilities worldwide through innovative, long-term partnerships designed to save, restore, and secure water at the watershed level. In 2025, Apple’s contracted projects replenished more than half the water it withdrew to support its global offices, data centers, and retail stores. Additionally, all eight Apple-owned data centers have now been certified to the Alliance for Water Stewardship standard.
Launching the Lowest-Carbon MacBook
Earlier this year, Apple launched MacBook Neo, which was built from the ground up to be the company’s lowest-carbon MacBook. Featuring 60 percent recycled content overall, MacBook Neo has the most recycled content of any Apple device yet, including 100 percent recycled cobalt in the battery and 100 percent recycled rare earth elements in all magnets.7 Its beautiful, durable enclosure is manufactured with a material-efficient forming process that uses half the raw material compared to traditional machining methods. And to conserve water in its production, Apple and its suppliers developed an enhanced, new anodization process that achieved a 70 percent water-reuse rate — transforming a traditionally water-intensive process into a closed-loop system that continuously recycles and recirculates water, preserving fresh water for only the most critical uses. Apple is working to expand this anodization process to additional production lines in the coming years.
Driving Waste to Zero
Through recycling, composting, and waste reduction efforts across all of its global facilities, Apple reached a waste diversion rate of 75 percent last year. And earlier this year, Apple Fifth Avenue became the company’s first-ever retail store to achieve TRUE Zero Waste Certification, which recognizes facilities that divert more than 90 percent of their waste from landfills. Apple Fifth Avenue joins five data centers and four corporate campuses that have already earned the certification at the platinum level. Across the supply chain, Apple and its suppliers redirected more than 600,000 metric tons of waste from landfills in 2025, with 400 supplier facilities actively participating in the company’s Zero Waste Program. All Apple products continue to ship from final assembly sites that maintain zero-waste-to-landfill operations.8
Celebrating Earth Day by Recycling with Apple
As part of Apple’s Earth Day celebration, customers who recycle an eligible Apple product at their local participating Apple Store from now until May 16 can receive 10 percent off Apple AirPods or accessories. Products brought to Apple for free recycling undergo thorough screenings, and eligible devices are sent to Apple’s advanced recycling systems, including Daisy and Cora, for further processing.
- Apple defines recycled content in alignment with ISO 14021. Total recycled material shipped in products is driven by product material composition and volume of units sold.
- Excludes inventory for replacement and repair, as well as excess inventory purchased prior to year-end currently being consumed and representing less than 0.1 percent of total material usage.
- Apple achieved its goal of removing plastic in its packaging and transitioning to 100 percent fiber-based packaging. Every package manufactured today is made with 100 percent fiber-based materials. Apple’s goal excluded the inks, coatings, or adhesives used in its packaging. Existing inventory shipped with plastic-containing packaging will be sold until consumed to avoid waste. This category represented less than 0.4 percent of Apple’s total packaging footprint in fiscal year 2025.
- Offer available to customers who recycle an eligible Apple device and purchase a new eligible AirPods or accessory in the same transaction between April 16 and May 16, 2026. Only at Apple Store locations. See apple.com/promo for additional terms.
- Savings from 2021 to 2025 were calculated by multiplying each year’s sales volume by the previous year’s estimated plastic per unit for each product line, and then subtracting that year’s estimated plastic use. The water bottle equivalent assumes each bottle weighs 30 grams.
- Source based on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s greenhouse gas equivalencies calculator: epa.gov/energy/greenhouse-gas-equivalencies-calculator.
- Product recycled or renewable content is the mass of certified recycled material relative to the overall mass of the device, not including packaging or in-box accessories.
- All established final-assembly supplier sites — or those that have been Apple suppliers for more than one year — for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, AirPods, HomePod, Apple TV, and Apple Vision Pro have been third-party verified by UL Solutions against the UL 2799 Zero Waste to Landfill Environmental Claim Validation Procedure (ECVP). UL Solutions requires at least 90 percent diversion through methods other than waste-to-energy to achieve Zero Waste to Landfill designations.
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