Yesterday, Apple released its 2022 Environmental Progress Report, detailing the progress the company has made in how much of the materials in its products are recycled. According to Apple’s press release, nearly 20% of the material in its products are recycled, and it more than doubled the use of recycled tungsten, rare earth elements, and cobalt.

To celebrate Earth Day, which is Friday, April 22nd, Apple also announced tie-ins in its Maps and App Store apps, as part of its Fitness+ and Apple Pay services, and at retail stores. In addition, the company is featuring Earth Day editorial content in Apple News, Apple Books, Apple Podcasts, and the Apple TV app, along with an interactive augmented reality experience on Snapchat to learn about Daisy, the company’s recycling robot.

Another way to learn about Daisy the robot is in this guided tour by Sara Dietschy, who was given access to Apple’s Texas Material Recovery Lab, where the robot can disassemble up to 1.2 million iPhones per year:

Having followed the Apple’s original robot Liam, and now Daisy, over the past several years, it was fascinating to get an up-close look at how Daisy works.

With Earth Day just around the corner, Apple has issued a press release announcing the expansion of its existing iPhone recycling program, an Apple Watch fitness challenge and more.

Last year for Earth Day, Apple took the wraps off of Daisy, a recycling robot that replaced Liam, an iPhone disassembly robot first introduced to the world in 2016. Daisy can take apart 15 different models of iPhones for a total of 1.2 million devices every year. The recycling process allows Apple to recover materials like cobalt from batteries, tin from logic boards, and aluminum, which is being remelted into cases for Mac minis and now, MacBook Airs.

This year Apple has announced that it is expanding its recycling program to include iPhone returned to Best Buy stores in the US and KPN stores in the Netherlands. Previously, iPhones could only be returned to an Apple Store as part of the company’s Trade In program. Apple says this will quadruple the number of locations where customers can return iPhones in the US. The company also announced the opening of a 9,000 square foot Material Recovery Lab in Austin, Texas.

Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives said:

“Advanced recycling must become an important part of the electronics supply chain, and Apple is pioneering a new path to help push our industry forward. “We work hard to design products that our customers can rely on for a long time. When it comes time to recycle them, we hope that the convenience and benefit of our programs will encourage everyone to bring in their old devices.”

Additional information is about Apple’s environmental efforts are available in its 2019 Environment report.

Finally, Apple is celebrating Earth Day, which is next Monday, April 22nd, with an Apple Watch Earth Day Challenge. Apple Watch users who complete a 30-minute outdoor workout on April 22nd will receive a special Earth Day award and stickers for Messages. The company will also be conducting special Earth Day-themed Today at Apple sessions in its retail stores.

I just finished Leander Kahney’s book about Tim Cook, which does an excellent job chronicling Apple’s environmental programs over the years, and it’s interesting to see the steady march of progress as Apple recovers more and more of the materials used to build iPhones. The addition of retailers like Best Buy to the recycling program is just as significant a step forward though because it makes those programs more accessible for the first time to iPhone owners who don’t have an Apple Store near their homes.

Apple has issued a press release announcing that from today through April 30th, the company will make a donation to Conservation International for each device turned in for recycling through Apple’s GiveBack program. The company also took the opportunity to introduce Daisy, its next-generation iPhone recycling robot.

Through Apple GiveBack, devices can be recycled in person at an Apple Store or using apple.com. In exchange for eligible devices, customers will receive in-store credit or an Apple gift card and Apple will donate to Conservation International, which:

…uses science, policy and partnerships to protect the natural world people rely on for food, fresh water and livelihood. Founded in 1987, the organization works in more than 30 countries on six continents to ensure a healthy, prosperous planet.

Apple introduced the world to its iPhone disassembly robot dubbed ‘Liam’ in 2016. According to Apple, its successor Daisy:

…is the most efficient way to reclaim more of the valuable materials stored in iPhone. Created through years of R&D, Daisy incorporates revolutionary technology based on Apple’s learnings from Liam, its first disassembly robot launched in 2016. Daisy is made from some of Liam’s parts and is capable of disassembling nine versions of iPhone and sorting their high-quality components for recycling. Daisy can take apart up to 200 iPhone devices per hour, removing and sorting components, so that Apple can recover materials that traditional recyclers can’t — and at a higher quality.

Apple’s press release includes a video showcasing Daisy in action too.

Finally, notifications are being sent to Apple Watch users today announcing an Earth Day fitness challenge. Users who complete a 30-minute workout this Sunday, April 22nd will earn a special badge in the Apple Watch and iOS Activities apps and iMessage stickers.

Apple announced today that its global facilities, which include retails store, offices, data centers, and co-located facilities in 43 countries are powered by 100 percent clean energy. Apple CEO Tim Cook said:

“We’re committed to leaving the world better than we found it. After years of hard work we’re proud to have reached this significant milestone,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “We’re going to keep pushing the boundaries of what is possible with the materials in our products, the way we recycle them, our facilities and our work with suppliers to establish new creative and forward-looking sources of renewable energy because we know the future depends on it.”

The list of Apple’s renewable energy projects around the world is impressive, as are the aggregate numbers involved:

Apple currently has 25 operational renewable energy projects around the world, totaling 626 megawatts of generation capacity, with 286 megawatts of solar PV generation coming online in 2017, its most ever in one year. It also has 15 more projects in construction. Once built, over 1.4 gigawatts of clean renewable energy generation will be spread across 11 countries.

Apple also announced the names of nine additional manufacturing partners that have committed to powering their Apple production with 100 percent clean energy, which brings the total number to 23.

In addition to its press release, Apple’s Vice President of environment, policy, and social initiatives Lisa Jackson sat down with Fast Company for an interview:

According to Jackson, it would have been easy enough for Apple to trumpet its landmark achievement in renewable energy earlier. “If you look at our trajectory, for the last couple of years we’ve been close to 100%,” she says. “It’s just four percent more, but it’s four percent done the right way. So this announcement feels like a classic Apple product release. Like our products, we sweat the details, we have pretty strict standards, and we prefer to wait and meet our standards than to rush and make a claim.”

Fast Company’s feature is an in-depth look at Apple’s clean energy initiatives that excels at providing context and a sense of the scope of the effort. One such example is Apple’s enormous Nevada data center:

You have to see Apple’s Reno, Nevada, data center from the inside to truly understand how huge it is. It’s made up of five long white buildings sitting side by side on a dry scrubby landscape just off I-80, and the corridor that connects them through the middle is a quarter-mile long. On either side are big, dark rooms–more than 50 of them–filled with more than 200,000 identical servers, tiny lights winking in the dark from their front panels.

The Fast Company profile is worth reading in its entirety because it also dives deep into the role of Renewable Energy Certificates and suppliers in Apple’s clean energy projects. The article provides the substance behind Tim Cook’s press release statement, backing up the company’s renewable energy claims with a close look at every facet of the initiative.