Apple earlier announced plans to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030. In its 2022 Environmental Progress Report, the company has now shared details about how the increased use of recycled materials across its product range draws it closer to the goal.

According to Apple’s latest report, released just a few days ahead of Earth Day, it has started using certified recycled gold while nearly doubling the volume of recycled tungsten, rare earth elements, and cobalt used. The iPhone maker claims that close to 20 percent of all the materials used in its products during 2021 were recycled.

The company states that during the year, 59 percent of the aluminum, 45 percent of the rare earth elements, 13 percent of the cobalt, and 30 percent of the tin came from recycled sources.

The Cupertino-based company also explained where customers could expect to find these recycled materials in products. All the tin used to solder logic board connections in the iPhones, iPads, and Macs originates from recycled sources. The recycled gold is used to plate the main logic board and wire up the front and rear cameras of the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro. Additionally, 100 percent of the aluminum used to make device enclosures is from recycled sources.

Besides the use of recycled materials, Apple also highlighted that its packaging has cut down on the use of plastics. The company said that this non-eco-friendly material accounts for just 4 percent of its packaging today, and the idea is to eliminate it entirely by 2025. Since 2015, Apple has slashed its use of the material by a whopping 75 percent.

In the report, Apple also announced a new machine called “Taz” that helps recover recyclable materials from electronics. The machine would help the firm reduce its dependency on mining virgin materials and source more material from scrapped and recycled electronics.

“Taz, a machine that uses new shredder-like technology to separate magnets from audio modules and recover more rare earth elements, is the latest in a series of recycling advancements spearheaded by Apple. The company has also further expanded the capabilities of its patented iPhone disassembly robot Daisy to take apart 23 models of iPhone, and has offered to license those patents to other companies and researchers free of charge. An additional robot, Dave, disassembles Taptic Engines, helping to recover valuable rare earth magnets, tungsten, and steel.”

If you seek more insight into Apple’s sustainability goals and efforts, you can check out its 2022 Environmental Progress Report.