Will Apple Achieve Their Goal of Using 100% Recycled Cobalt in Their Batteries by The End of 2025?
Ethical and technological hurdles complicate the journey
In April 2023, Apple set an ambitious goal: by 2025, all the cobalt in its device batteries would be 100% recycled, a key step toward its broader aim of carbon neutrality by 2030. Cobalt is critical for high-energy-density batteries in iPhones, iPads, and MacBooks. While metal recycling in general is good for a sustainable future, cobalt in particular has been a hot topic due to ethical concerns surrounding its mining in certain sub-regions and contexts, particularly in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Half-way through 2025, how is Apple faring, and what hurdles remain?
Apple has made strides. In 2022, 25% of the cobalt in Apple’s products was recycled, up from 13% in 2021, with over 11,000 kilograms recovered since 2019 via its disassembly robot, Daisy, which dismantles 36 iPhone models to recover cobalt and other materials. Apple has partnerships with recyclers to ensure high material recovery rates. Apple’s trade-in program further fuels its supply of recyclable cobalt, with devices refurbished or recycled to keep materials in circulation. By September 2023, the company announced that its iPhone 15, Apple Watch Series 9, and Apple Watch Ultra 2 batteries already use 100% recycled cobalt, an impressive achievement for these flagship products.
Beyond cobalt, Apple’s recycling efforts are robust. In 2022, over two-thirds of its aluminium, nearly three-quarters of rare earth elements, and 95% of tungsten came from recycled sources. The company’s 2025 targets also include 100% recycled rare earth magnets and tin soldering, alongside fully recycled gold plating for circuit boards. These efforts align with the company’s 2030 goal of reducing emissions by over 60% since 2015, while boosting recycled material use to 24% of shipped product mass in 2024.
Tech Fun Fact : Apple’s Daisy robot can disassemble 200 iPhones per hour, recovering not just cobalt but also rare earth elements often lost in traditional recycling. Its “overhead projector-based augmented reality system” guides human recyclers, making the process both high-tech and collaborative.
The journey has its challenges and critics. Scaling recycled cobalt to all Apple-designed batteries remains complex. Apple doesn’t directly source cobalt or refine it, relying on a vast supplier network, including 23 cobalt smelters and refiners listed in its 2021 report. Ensuring these suppliers meet the 100% recycled goal is a logistical nightmare, especially since cobalt recycling is costly and technologically nascent. The DRC, which supplies 70% of global cobalt, often involves artisanal mining with questionable oversight, complicating traceability. Apple’s mass balance allocation for cobalt claims—where recycled and virgin materials are mixed in production and then “recycled percent” allocated uniformly across products—has raised questions about transparency and accuracy (eg it is technically possible than an individual product could have no recycled cobalt).
Apple’s ethical track record has faced scrutiny. In 2019, a lawsuit by International Rights Advocates accused Apple and other tech giants of complicity in child labour in DRC cobalt mines, challenging Apple’s responsible sourcing claims. Critics argue that Apple’s shift to recycled cobalt sidesteps accountability for cleaning up primary sourcing practices. The 2016 Amnesty International and Afrewatch report further flagged inadequate oversight of cobalt supply chains, implicating Apple alongside other tech firms. While Apple has mapped its cobalt and lithium refiners since 2016 and conducts third-party audits, its 2022 supply chain report omitted mine-level assessments, fueling skepticism.
Apple’s early achievements with iPhone 15 and select Apple Watch batteries is a win, but scaling to all products by 2025 demands tighter supplier coordination and technological leaps. The company’s focus on recycling innovation and carbon neutrality keeps it ahead of peers—Samsung, for instance, hit 50% recycled cobalt in its Galaxy S25 series in 2025. Yet, critics urge Apple to address primary sourcing ethics head-on, not just pivot to recycling.
Questions remain, on whether Apple can balance innovation, ethics, and transparency in its quest for a greener supply chain.