Apple Reports Milestone 30% Recycled Content In Its Products

NEW DELHI- Apple said on April 16 that a record 30 per cent of material used across all its shipped products in 2025 came from recycled content.

The company said it has removed plastic from packaging and now uses 100 per cent recycled cobalt in Apple-designed batteries. It also uses 100 per cent recycled rare earth elements in all magnets.

Apple said its products now ship in fiber-based packaging that can be easily recycled at home.

The company said its greenhouse gas emissions in 2025 declined more than 60 per cent compared with 2015 levels, remaining flat from 2024 despite significant business growth. It also highlighted progress in renewable energy, materials innovation and recycling, water stewardship, and zero waste efforts.

“At Apple, we believe deeply in leaving the world better than we found it, and that commitment runs across everything we do,” Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO said. “These milestones in our work to protect the planet show that ambitious goals can also be powerful engines of innovation,” he added.

Apple said its printed circuit boards are made with 100 per cent recycled gold plating and tin soldering, and that it has avoided more than 15,000 metric tons of plastic over the past five years.

The company said its engineers and designers have spent the past decade developing alternatives to conventional packaging materials, replacing plastic screen protectors and trays with versions made from recycled or responsibly sourced paper.

Separately, sources said Apple increased iPhone production in India by about 53 per cent in 2025, assembling around 55 million units compared with 36 million a year earlier.

A Bloomberg report, citing people familiar with the matter, said the company now makes about a quarter of its flagship products in India to reduce tariff exposure linked to China.

Apple produces about 220–230 million iPhones annually worldwide, with India’s share rising rapidly, driven largely by government-backed production-linked incentives. The subsidies have helped offset structural cost disadvantages such as weaker supply chains and logistics challenges compared with China. (IANS)