Tomas Chlebek Apple released message about its impact on the environment for 2016. Among other things, it mentions an ambitious plan to produce products only from recycled materials.
The main sections of this year's report concern the use of renewable energy sources and the reduction of carbon emissions in the fight against climate change, the detailed monitoring of materials used in products for their quality and possible toxicity, the testing of products in use and the monitoring of their durability and safety, and the newly set goal of a gradual transition to products made exclusively from recycled materials, whether from own products or purchased from third parties.
Lisa Jackson on this ambitious plan in interview with VICE she said, “We're actually doing something we rarely do, which is to present a goal before we've fully figured out how we're going to achieve it. So we're a bit nervous, but we also think it's very important because as a market sector we believe this is where the technology should go."
AppleInsider points out, that a significant (or complete) reduction in the need to extract additional material for the production of products would, in addition to the environment, also have a positive impact on Apple's political reputation. Along with the entire technology sector, it is said to have been criticized recently for the production of batteries from cobalt mined in the Congo. Of course, Apple's report does not mention this aspect and instead emphasizes the consequences of meeting the set goal.
While traditionally the supply chain is linear with the extraction of materials at the beginning, its processing, production and use of products in the middle and disposal of waste at the end, Apple wants to create a closed loop consisting only of the middle of this chain. Currently, the company is said to focus on ensuring responsible sources of materials and is gradually increasing the recycling rate of its products.
It does so through programs for customers to return their old devices to Apple for recycling for free or for a reward, in which a year ago began use Liam the robot for efficient disassembly of iPhones into the most basic parts possible, from which new ones can then be made.
Apple also created profiles of 44 elements used in its products to prioritize the elimination of their extraction based on environmental, social and distributional factors. In connection with this, it is then described how different materials require different approaches in terms of obtaining them from discarded products and the recycling processes themselves, in which Apple is also said to invest in an effort to increase the quality of recycled materials.
Apple last presented a large, although not so ambitious, environmental plan more than three years ago, when the goal was to power all of Apple's global activities with energy from renewable sources only. Last year, Apple was at 93 percent of this goal, this year it is at 96 percent - for the US, the energy used has been 2014 percent "green" since XNUMX.
Of course, what is important is what the renewable energy is used for, so the very first part of the report contains detailed information on the amount of greenhouse gases emitted, both during production (which accounts for over three quarters of the total value) and during the transportation of products, their use and recycling, and the percentage office operations also have a share in the total value. So Apple is trying to get as many of its suppliers as possible to switch to renewable sources - by 2020, together with its suppliers, it wants to generate 4 gigawatts of energy from renewable sources. Apple itself has built 485 megawatts of wind and solar power plants in China as a model for suppliers.
Two pages of the report are also dedicated to the new headquarters Apple Park, which is slated to become the largest office building in the United States to be LEED Platinum certified, one of the world's most popular certification programs that evaluates the design, construction, operation and maintenance of buildings.
In conjunction with today's Earth Day, Apple on its own YouTube Channel has posted some entertaining videos regarding his activities related to reducing the negative impact on the environment. One of them explains how the solar panels are placed higher above the earth's surface to leave enough space under them for, for example, yaks to graze. The second describes dealing with the waste generated during product assembly in Chinese factories, while the third explains the importance of producing one's own synthetic sweat to test the reaction of human skin to watch straps.
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Finally, in the fourth video, Apple's vice president of real estate introduces Apple Park as a "breathing building," as it is one of the largest buildings in the world using a sophisticated natural ventilation system that requires minimal additional energy. Tim Cook appears in all the videos, but it is not easy to find him.
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