On Tuesday, Apple held its ‘Wonderlust’ event, where it unveiled the next-generation iPhone 15 and Apple Watch lineup. These new smartphones include not only fascinating improvements and functionality, but also a focus on environmental sustainability. In keeping with its commitment to providing carbon-neutral products, the company has announced plans to phase out all plastic packaging by the end of 2024 and achieve net-zero climate impact from its devices by 2030 by sourcing critical materials like aluminum, cobalt, and gold from recycled materials.
Apple is looking into other environmentally friendly materials after removing leather from the watchband. One of those materials is called “FineWoven” by the brand, and it’s constructed of 68% post consumer recycled content, giving it a substantially lighter carbon footprint than leather while providing a subtle gloss and suedelike texture.
Apple is implementing this in the bands for the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2, making them the company’s first carbon-neutral goods. Apple also highlighted the makeover of Apple Watch packaging, which is now 100 percent fiber-based, with a new badge denoting carbon-neutral models.
In addition, no new Apple product, including MagSafe wallets, and iPhone cases, will include leather.
Furthermore, the next generation Apple Watch Ultra 2 is built with over 95% recycled titanium, a substantial improvement over the previous model, which used 100% virgin titanium.
Since 2000, Apple has dribbled out sustainability efforts on a regular basis, and in recent years, it has sought to eliminate plastic wrapping and boxes. Apple said in 2021 that eliminating a layer of plastic from an iPhone packaging will save “600 metric tons of plastic.” At the time, it stated that it hoped to eliminate the use of plastic in all of its product packaging by 2025. Apple announced that a recent shift in product manufacturing to prioritize recycled materials extends to the new iPhone 15 series. The battery, for example, is made entirely of renewable cobalt. According to the business, this is a first for rare-earth material recycling.
Apple vowed in 2020 to be totally carbon neutral by 2030, and the Apple CEO said that it is on track to reach that goal. “We’ve innovated and retooled almost every part of our process to reduce our impact on the planet,” was stated by Tim Cook. “By 2030, all Apple devices will have zero net climate impact.” Since 2020, Apple’s direct activities have been carbon neutral.
All of these changes align with Apple’s commitment to use more recycled materials and achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2030. Furthermore, the firm is working with more than 50 suppliers from the United States, Europe, and Asia to achieve the ambitious goal of decreasing emissions by 75% by the end of the decade.