Like many other brands, Apple wants in on the whole carbon-neutral faze. An iconic move by the brand was to remove in-box accessories to meet its environmental goals. Chargers and earphones were removed from its iconic packaging, meaning the packaging would be smaller and lighter hence allowing ‘70% more boxes to be shipped on a pallet’ (Mishra, 2020).

However, other than removing the charger and earphones, Apple as a brand has started taking more initiatives in the sustainability aspect of its carbon-neutral 2030 plan.

According to Apple’s Climate Roadmap, here are the main aspects under this initiative

1. Low carbon product design
2. Expanding energy efficiency
3. Renewable energy
4. Process and material innovations
5. Carbon removal

In 2018, Apple had sent 36.5 million pounds — or 18,250 tons — of waste to landfills. To curb this issue, Apple as a company will not be going to reduce their production as they are still a profit-driven entity. However, they have tweaked their supply chain production by adopting a closed-loop supply chain and hence all their products will be made with 100% recycled materials (Neely, 2019).

Utilising these recycled materials require less processing than raw materials. This would thus be less damaging to the environment as fewer  raw materials are to be mined — an action responsible for water and soil contamination and erosion.

Apple Recycling Programme

In a bid to push for a circular economy, Apple has been pushing its trade-in programe extensively. Customers can send their iPhone to be disassembled by Daisy, its new recycling robot. In Singapore too, consumers are encouraged to trade in their old Apple products and will receive a sum of money in return, depending on the condition of course!

Apple’s VP of Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives, Lisa Jackson, acknowledged that “Advanced recycling must become an important part of the electronics supply chain”. The recovered materials will then be recycled back into the manufacturing process, for instance, cobalt will be recovered and used to make brand-new batteries. This ensures a close-looped circular economy for this precious material (Apple, 2019).

The new MacBook Air and Mac mini rolled out by Apple also produce only half the carbon footprint of earlier models of Mac products. This is due to the advanced engineering of aluminium alloy which is made of 100% recycled aluminium through the new recycling programme.

While Apple may seem to have simply relocated or pushed away from its environmental issues to China, they seem to be heavily interested in more energy-efficient ways. But, then to what extent is most of this only merely a marketing gimmick? Or is Apple truly keen on making its supply chain clean?

 

References