Apple is tapping a rich vein by mining all the metals from its used gadgets.
Apple may not have needed another earnings stream but they’ve found it by harvesting metals like gold, silver and copper from iPhones, iPads and Mac laptops.
Their latest Annual Environment Report shows their e-waste efforts hauled in 3 million pounds of copper, 23 million pounds of steel, 4.5 million pounds of aluminum and 6,600 pounds of silver.
They also recovered 2,204 pounds (more than a ton) of gold and while small in comparison to the recovered copper or silver was still worth around $40 million.
Of the 90 million pounds of e-waste through its recycling programs, Apple said 61 million was in reusable materials, including glass and plastics too.
Apple is boosting its e-waste profile. Not only does it let customers recycle their Apple gadgets, but recently introduced Liam, a line of robots specifically designed to help it take apart and re-use 1.2 million smartphones a year.
Apple Environment Report(pdf): http://images.apple.com/environment/pdf/Apple_Environmental_Responsibility_Report_2016.pdf