Apple says it is taking steps to boost its internal recycling efforts after the diversion rate at the company’s non-manufacturing sites fell for the second year in a row.
The Cupertino, Calif.-based electronics giant diverted 63 percent of material from landfill during the 2015 fiscal year, down from 68 percent in 2014 and 73 percent in 2013. The numbers exclude hazardous waste and relate to the company’s corporate offices and retail stores, not manufacturing or assembly facilities.
“We are working to improve our landfill diversion rate through a variety of actions, including expanding composting at our corporate campuses, and initiating zero waste at our more than 470 retail stores,” according to the company’s latest Environmental Responsibility Report.
The total materials generated by the corporate offices and retail stores increased from 10,895 tons in 2013 to 17,822 tons in 2015.
Apple is also taking steps to increase diversion rates at its final assembly facilities. For example, the Cork, Ireland facility received a zero-waste-to-landfill validation from UL in 2015, and the Foxconn Guanlan and Foxconn Taiyuan final assembly sites became the first to receive the validation in China earlier this year.
All remaining iPhone and Apple Watch assembly sites are on track to achieve the verification by 2017, according to the report.
Apple also reported on its use of recycled fiber last year. Of the roughly 143,000 tons of fiber used for packaging, shipping, in-box papers and retail bags, 61 percent was recycled material.
The report also included information on the company’s electronics recycling efforts. Click here to read more about that data in E-Scrap News, sister publication to Resource Recycling.
