Apple Inc. Reports 30% Recycled Materials Milestone in 2026 Environmental Progress Update

The company attributes this milestone to ongoing innovation and close coordination with its global supply chain. It now uses fully recycled cobalt in its battery designs and entirely recycled rare earth elements in magnets. Apple  has also eliminated plastic from its packaging, replacing it with fiber-based materials that can be recycled at home.

CEO Tim Cook emphasized the company’s environmental mission, stating that Apple remains committed to improving the planet while using ambitious sustainability goals to drive innovation.

The report also outlines progress toward Apple’s long-term “Apple 2030” target of achieving carbon neutrality across its entire operations. By 2025, the company’s greenhouse gas emissions had dropped by over 60% compared to 2015 levels, maintaining the reduction achieved in 2024. Additional improvements were noted in renewable energy adoption, material innovation, water conservation, and waste reduction.

Chief Operating Officer Sabih Khan highlighted how collaboration and innovation are helping turn sustainability goals into measurable outcomes, from increasing recycled content to eliminating plastic packaging.

Apple also reported that all of its internally designed printed circuit boards now use fully recycled gold plating and tin soldering. Alongside material reuse, the company is advancing recycling technologies. It introduced “Cora,” a new electronics recycling system at its California recovery facility, which uses precision shredding and advanced sensors to improve material recovery rates. Another system, A.R.I.S., uses machine learning to help recyclers better identify and sort electronic waste.

On the energy front, Apple’s suppliers sourced more than 20 gigawatts of renewable energy in 2025, producing over 38 million megawatt-hours of electricity. Apple itself added 1.8 gigawatts of renewable energy to power its offices, retail stores, and data centers entirely with clean electricity.

As part of its push toward cleaner products, Apple introduced the MacBook Neo, its lowest-carbon laptop so far. The device contains 60% recycled materials, including fully recycled cobalt in the battery and recycled rare earth elements in its magnets. Its manufacturing process uses significantly less raw material, and a redesigned anodization technique allows about 70% of water used in production to be reused in a closed-loop system.

Waste reduction efforts have also expanded. Apple achieved a 75% waste diversion rate across its global operations. Its flagship Apple Fifth Avenue retail location became the company’s first store to earn True Zero Waste Certification, meaning over 90% of its waste is kept out of landfills. Several data centers and corporate campuses have also earned top-tier certification.

Across its supply chain, Apple and its partners diverted more than 600,000 metric tons of waste from landfills in 2025, with hundreds of facilities participating in zero-waste programs. All final assembly sites continue to operate without sending waste to landfills.

To mark Earth Day, Apple is also offering a limited-time incentive: customers who recycle eligible devices at participating stores before mid-May can receive a 10% discount on AirPods or accessories. Devices collected through this program are processed through advanced recycling systems such as Daisy and Cora.