Last year, we got a close look at the iPhone recycling robot Daisy. With over 2 billion iPhones sold worldwide, figuring out how to scale recycling smartphones efficiently is a major part of Apple’s plan to be carbon neutral by 2030. Now a new behind-the-scenes look at Daisy asks the question, “is this robot Apple’s most important device yet?”
EV and sustainability YouTube channel Fully Charged Show got to tour one of Apple’s recycling facilities that’s using Daisy. As a refresher, last year Apple shared that it can recycle up to 200 iPhones per hour making it capable of 1.2 million iPhones per year.
Now we’ve got another in-depth look at how Daisy works, how it helps reduce mining, improvements from Liam 1 and 2 (Daisy’s predecessors) like punching screws, freezing and busting out batteries, sorting iPhone modules, and much more.
Apple says iPhone is now 20% made from recycled materials and the goal is that eventually all new iPhones will be made from 100% recycled materials.
Additionally, Apple shared it is making as much of the recycling intellectual property as possible open source so other companies can take advantage of its advancements.
For more details on Apple’s sustainability progress, check out the Check out its 2023 report. And here’s the full 12-minute behind-the-scenes look at Daisy:
Top image via Fully Charged
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