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Apple pulled 2,204lbs of gold out of old tech gear

Even the trash is expensive in Cupertino

Apple says its recycling efforts have recovered thousands of pounds of rare metals from discarded electronics.

The Cupertino slinger of iStuff said in its annual Environmental Responsibility Report [PDF] that it pays about 160 recyclers worldwide to recover and reuse huge stocks of gold, silver and other metals from trashed gear.

The tally for 2015 includes:

  • 2,204 pounds of gold
  • 6,612 pounds of silver
  • 44,080 pounds of lead
  • 23,101,000 pounds of steel
  • 189,544 pounds of cobalt
  • 13,422,360 pounds of plastics

In total, Apple says that its recycling efforts have scrapped out 61,357,800 pounds of metals and plastics that would have otherwise gone into landfills. Some of those materials, such as lead, would also pose a health threat if they were to leach into water supplies.

Apple is required by law in various US states to pay for the recycling of hardware as a sorta goodwill gesture to society.

Though Apple has bigged up its recycling initiatives, critics have argued that the design and assembly of Apple hardware contributes to the waste problem by making the devices difficult to repair and forcing customers to toss out their old phones and tablets when they break or are replaced. ®

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