Apple says 30% of all materials used across its products shipped in 2025 came from recycled sources, marking its highest-ever figure. The milestone comes from the company’s latest Environmental Progress Report and reflects a steady push toward its 2030 carbon neutrality goal.
The update is not just about a single number. Apple is tightening its approach across materials, manufacturing, energy use, and recycling systems, showing how environmental targets are now directly shaping product design and supply chain decisions.
At a component level, Apple has now reached 100% recycled materials in several key areas. All Apple-designed batteries use recycled cobalt, all magnets rely on recycled rare earth elements, and all printed circuit boards use recycled gold plating and tin soldering. These are high-impact materials, so hitting full recycling here significantly reduces the need for new mining.
Packaging has also shifted completely. Apple has removed plastic from all product packaging, moving to fully fiber-based materials that can be recycled at home. Over the past five years, the company says this transition helped avoid more than 15,000 metric tons of plastic.
The newly introduced MacBook Neo stands out as the most environmentally focused product in the lineup. It uses 60% recycled content overall, the highest in any Apple device so far. Apple also introduced a new aluminum forming process that cuts raw material use in half, along with an updated anodization method that reuses 70% of water, turning a traditionally resource-heavy step into a more efficient system.
Beyond materials, Apple is investing in recycling technology. A new system called Cora uses precision shredding and advanced sensors to improve material recovery from old devices. Another tool, A.R.I.S., uses machine learning to help recyclers identify and sort electronic waste more accurately. These systems are designed to increase the amount of usable material recovered at the end of a product’s life.
Energy usage across Apple’s operations and supply chain is also shifting. Suppliers procured more than 20 gigawatts of renewable energy in 2025, while Apple itself added 1.8 gigawatts to power offices, retail stores, and data centers with clean electricity. Combined, this supports Apple’s broader effort to cut emissions, which remain down more than 60% compared to 2015 levels.
Water conservation is another area seeing measurable progress. Apple and its suppliers saved 17 billion gallons of fresh water in 2025 and replenished more than half of the water used across global operations. The company aims to fully replenish its water usage by 2030.
Waste reduction efforts are scaling as well. Apple reports that over 600,000 metric tons of waste were diverted from landfills across its supply chain in 2025, with hundreds of supplier facilities participating in its zero waste program. Its Fifth Avenue retail store in New York also became the first Apple location to achieve TRUE Zero Waste certification.
All of this ties back to Apple’s broader 2030 target. The company is aiming for full carbon neutrality across its entire footprint, including manufacturing and product use. The latest numbers suggest steady progress, but also highlight how much of that goal depends on continued changes across suppliers and production systems.
(via Apple)
