The report shows the company increased the amount of recycled content going into its products.

Apple Inc., Cupertino, California, has released a report highlighting its recycling efforts, including increasing recycled content in its products.   

According to the report, in the fiscal year 2021, 18 percent of the material the company shipped in products came from recycled and renewable sources. This milestone is part of the company’s broader strategy focusing on 14 materials accounting for more than 90 percent of the total product mass shipped.  

In 2021, 59 percent of all the aluminum Apple shipped in its products came from recycled sources. According to the report, all iPad models featured 100-percent-recycled aluminum in their enclosures.   

The company says 13 percent of the cobalt shipped in its products came from certified recycled sources on a mass-balance basis, including postindustrial scrap and postconsumer scrap from end-of-life batteries.  

Apple also has begun using recycled gold in its iPhones. The iPhone 13 used 100-percent-recycled gold for its front and rear cameras. The company says to obtain this from entirely recycled sources required a new way to trace recycled gold to build a supply chain of exclusively recycled content.  

In the fiscal year 2021 alone, Apple says it introduced more than 100 parts with an average of 45 percent recycled plastic. This includes the antenna lines on iPhone 13, which use upcycled plastic from bottles that have been chemically transformed into a stronger, high-performance material. Additionally, 15 other components used plastics made with bio-based content.   

According to the report, since 2015, Apple has reduced plastic in its packaging by 75 percent.  

In its material recovery facility in Austin, Texas, the company has introduced a new robot Taz, a machine using new shredder-like technology to separate magnets from audio modules and recover more rare earth elements.  

Apple also has further expanded the capabilities of its patented iPhone disassembly robot Daisy to increase recycling capabilities from 15 to 23 models of iPhone. The company has offered to license those patents to other companies and researchers for free. An additional robot, Dave, disassembles taptic engines, helping to recover valuable rare earth magnets, tungsten and steel.  

The company says it also is working on landfill diversion from its offices, retail locations, data centers and construction sites. This effort also extends to its suppliers. Additionally, Apple is taking steps to eliminate the waste generated during manufacturing, engaging with local specialty recyclers and composters to redirect materials from landfills.  

According to the report, recycling and composting efforts by the company led to a diversion rate of 68 percent, limiting landfill waste from global operations to about 15,000 metric tons. Apple says it achieved a construction and demolition waste diversion rate of 85 percent, about 13,000 metric tons, through recycling and source-separation efforts.  

More than 100 facilities had been zero-waste verified, meaning no waste is generated in the manufacturing process. The company adds that in the fiscal year 2021, suppliers redirected 491,000 metric tons of waste from landfills.  

For more information on Apple’s sustainability goals, click here.   

After weakening in late 2021 and early 2022, polypropylene has seen demand and pricing rebound.

After weakening at the end of 2021 and the start of this year, the market for polypropylene (PP) scrap has “turned around and gotten tight,” says Scott Saunders, general manager of Troy, Alabama-based KW Plastics. 

KW Plastics reprocesses high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and PP. The company began operating a new wash line for PP late last year that increased its processing capacity by 100 million pounds per year. Saunders says that line already is running at capacity, so KW has plans to install another wash line that should be up and running in January of next year.

“We’re running at 98 percent capacity,” he says as of late mid-April. That’s after adding an extruder earlier this year. Before that addition, Saunders says KW was running at “102 percent capacity.” 

Rather than making substantial gains in capacity with the new equipment, he says it instead is allowing the company to bring some of its other equipment down for maintenance as it’s been running full-bore for the last two years.

Saunders says delivery of equipment of all types is 24 to 40 weeks out. “You really have to plan if you’re going to make any additions.”

He attributes the softening in PP markets in late 2021 and the start of 2022 to pandemic-related manufacturing slowdowns and a buildup of inventories. Since then, however, prices have increased as has demand for PP as well as for mixed-color and natural HDPE, Saunders says.

Virgin prices for these resins also have increased. “I’m not sure how much of that is buoyed by the high price of oil,” he says.

While bale prices have come off the highs they reached earlier in the pandemic, PP and HDPE scrap pricing is still high in historical terms, Saunders says. Bales of PP tubs and lids are trading for nearly 40 cents per pound, down from 60 cents as of April of last year.

When pricing for natural HDPE bales rose near the $1.20 per pound price last year, he says a few brand owners pulled back on their commitments. However, others were “waiting on the sidelines and stepped in.”

Saunders continues, “We had a little depression there for a while, but now we are shipping at COVID-level volumes.”

He says he hopes the situation doesn’t overheat, adding, “We expect to see good, firm pricing through the end of the year unless something dramatically changes.”

Regarding postindustrial scrap, Scott Melton, president of ACI Plastics, headquartered in Flint, Michigan, says, “Automotive scrap generation is still slower than normal due to the chip shortage and reduced production. The medical scrap generation is continuing at the same pace as 2021.”

He continues, “We see signs of a slight uptick in automotive demand for recycled material, but it is still much slower than normal.”

Melton says ACI’s recycled pellets are “essentially sold out,” adding, “Our core group of customers have been very good about taking materials as soon as they are available and at prevailing market prices.” Black and natural PP are seeing especially strong demand.

Transportation continues to present challenges.

“Pricing of certain lanes has doubled and sometimes tripled the rate we were paying 18 months ago,” Melton says. “Finding carriers that will accept and keep their appointments has become more difficult. We are looking to add to our truck and trailer fleet so we can ensure materials will be delivered to meet customer orders.”

Saunders says that while transportation is “slightly more available,” it remains expensive. Earlier in the pandemic, he says, prices were “exorbitant and you couldn’t get a truck. Now, you have high prices and material is moving.”

A scrap buyer shares the issues that are affecting his mills and offers some suggestions for working with scrap dealers to address some of these factors.

Speaking during the Spotlight on Copper session at the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) 2022 Convention & Exposition this March in Las Vegas, Trent Poland of Kymera International offered the scrap dealers in attendance a view into the business disruptions affecting the daily operations of a scrap consumer. “I am sharing my experience inside my company. I cannot authoritatively speak about the entire copper scrap consuming segment,” he said, “but I can give you some data points that I believe are common issues.”

Poland is commodity manager for North Carolina-based Kymera International, a specialty materials company focused on nonferrous powders, granules and pastes, including aluminum, copper, tin, tantalum, titanium and their alloys, as well as vanadium, niobium and molybdenum master alloys. Kymera sells its products into the aerospace, medical, electronics, chemical, specialty auto markets. Kymera International has manufacturing facilities in the U.S., Australia, Europe and Asia. Poland, who is based in Tennessee, buys scrap for six of Kymera’s facilities, though the company has 12 locations worldwide.

The issues affecting Kymera’s operations are macroeconomic and “and generally beyond our control,” Poland said, as well as microeconomic and can be controlled to some extent.  

“Even in the best of times, demand forecasting is a bit like playing the Wheel of Fortune,” Poland said, explaining how “way back in the normal times, our customers’ offtake was largely predictable, and this wasn't a very large problem.” However, since the pandemic, customers’ offtake “moves in jerks, stops and odd accelerations.”

Plant management tries to match facility output to the sales forecasts, Poland said, “but unexplained mechanical failures do occur. And now supply chain disruptions send us scrambling to find spares. We often have to wait for a backorder to clear or throw an engineer at a problem. What once was a 15-minute fix is now a five-day headache.”

Short staffing has “sent production planning into triage mode,” Poland added.

Scrap delivery appointment requests can be delayed “as we are often waiting for the other departments to publish their forecasts,” he said, adding that wild swings in delivery appointments are common. “Recently I literally started a Monday with a three-week backlog for delivery appointments, and, by Wednesday, I was asking folks if they could get me a load that Friday morning.”

Poland suggested that recyclers let their mill customers or their brokers know if they have loads ready to ship even if their appointments are a week out. “That way, if the plant starts yelling for material, we know who to call first.

“For mills, the chaos of trying to predict what we will need when is compounded if the planned deliveries miss their appointments,” Poland continued.

He recommended that scrap dealers ensure their loads are ready to go for their appointments. “Trucks are hard enough to find these days without shooting ourselves in the foot by not having the material ready to ship.”

While Poland said mills normally address disrupted supply chains by carrying more inventory, with metals prices at all-time highs, finance departments are discouraging this. “Paradoxically, we are having to trim our raw materials inventory at the worst possible time,” he said.

“My advice to you is, again, hit your delivery appointments,” Poland said. “Because if one of my plants falls out of production, inventory starts to swell and then finance starts sweating. If you miss a delivery appointment, you have just volunteered to help fix my problems.”

Poland also said his company is seeing a “record amount” of yards that are late for their deliveries, adding that many sellers appear to be overestimating the flow of scrap across their scales. “And as we rocketed to new COMEX highs, shippers locked in loads. I might suggest that one be triply careful about overselling their position,” he said, noting that he too has “gotten burned on the opposite direction.” 

Poland added, “Let an extra measure of caution rule the day.”

He noted a decline in the quality of scrap in the first few months of the year, noting that mills are making “too much slag, baghouse dust and rework.” Poland attributed the declining scrap quality to the labor shortage, but he reminded scrap processors that downgrades and rejects eventually will result.

“My recommendation would be to increase your quality checks,” he advised. “Do an extra check before loading the truck to the mill and increase your spot checks behind your new inexperienced sorters.”

Short loads also have been an issue, with Poland noting that truckloads of scrap, which normally averaged between net 42,000 pounds and 42,500 pounds, are arriving net 39,000 pounds and even as light as net 34,000 pounds. “Our current average is now less than 41,000 pounds per truck,” he said. “This is putting the consumer at market risk, the very thing that we want to avoid given the recent large moves in COMEX. At some point, one has to buy an additional load, just to make up for all those small shortages.”

Poland suggested that scrap dealers avoid shipping short loads without getting the mill’s OK first, saying “it is exasperating on our end when we receive a 36,000-pound load while the plant is not in full production, as we could have easily waited a week or two and gotten the full load instead.”

With daily “scrap-induced ulcers,” Poland said creative problem solving and conflict resolution “are the skills that are going to get us all through this.”

He said personal relationships always have been an important and unique facet to scrap transactions. “To me, that is the fundamental key of getting past these challenges. Because when things go wrong, and they inevitably will, we have to work it out with our creative problem solving and conflict resolution skills. And we do that with people that we have solid business relationships with. That way, we can hammer out a solution that we can both live with. And we survive to scrap another day.”

Decluttering firm that stresses landfill diversion receives funding from a real estate-affiliated venture capitalist.

San Francisco-based Remoov, which describes itself as a decluttering and reselling service, says it has received $2.4 million in new funding from a venture capital firm founded by “a real estate mogul with a passion for social change [who] supports the decluttering startup’s drive to increase charitable upcycling and reduce landfill waste.”

According to public relations spokesperson representing Remoov, the company seeks first to refurbish and resell items it obtains, but Remoov will “responsibly dispose of any remaining items to the proper recycling facilities.”

In a summary of its previous activities, Remoov says it has diverted 560,000 cubic feet of material from landfills since being

Operating in the San Francisco Bay Area, Phoenix and South Florida, Remoov says it helps homeowners and businesses “get rid of and recycle their pre-owned goods in four ways: by picking up what the owners don't want; selling what they can for the owner’s profit; donating what they can; and responsibly disposing of any remaining items.”

Remoov thus far it has reduced America’s 12 million tons of annual landfill waste by some 3,150 tons. "Sustainability is at the core of our business, [and] our investors have a vested interest in supporting companies that have an impact beyond making money,” says Luis Perez, founder of Remoov.

“We are intentional about our business practices and believe that, as citizens of the world, we have a responsibility to prioritize environmental safety and ensure a healthy planet for future generations. We are especially excited to gain support from investors who align with our ideals and want to help us make the world a better place.”

Inspired by its impact, Remoov says investor LAT VC, the fund co-founded by Gary Acosta to invest in Latino-led, tech-enabled businesses, has made the new investment in the company.

“When evaluating potential investments, we look at the company’s potential for growth and also impact in our society,” says Acosta, a founding partner at LAT VC. “Remoov is ideally positioned to provide a service that can help every home and business while reducing global waste.”

LAT VC describes itself as a $100 million purpose-led venture fund that invests in early-stage United States Latino-led and owned businesses. Global executive Sol Trujillo leads the firm. He describes himself as the first U.S.-born Latino to lead a Fortune 200 company. Along with Trujillo, Acosta, Kennie Blanco and new partners Oscar Munoz and Laura Moreno, LAT VC says it is on a mission to change the face of venture capital and entrepreneurship.

Lithium-ion battery recycler will use crystallization technology from Veolia Water Technologies.

Toronto-based Li-Cycle Holdings Corp. has selected Veolia Water Technologies as a partner for its lithium-ion battery recycling plant in Rochester, New York. The company chose Veolia for its HPD crystallization technology.

Manon Painchaud, the communications project manager for Veolia, says crystallization is the process by which a solid forms from a liquid phase, where the atoms or molecules are highly organized into a structure known as a crystal. During the crystallization process, the desired components are selectively crystallized while undesirable impurities remain in the liquid. 

The company describes the technology as the key in a final stage of the battery recycling process, as it allows a recycler to optimize the creation of nickel sulfate and cobalt sulfate from lithium-ion batteries and transforms them into high-purity raw materials, ready to be used in new batteries.

Li-Cycle will use Veolia’s HPD crystallizers to produce approximately 42,000 to 48,000 metric tons of nickel sulfate and 6,500 to 7,500 metric tons per year of cobalt sulfate annually. This material, Veolia says, can then be resold to battery manufacturers.

When fully operational in 2023, the Rochester facility will help “give life back to the equivalent of approximately 225,000 electric vehicle batteries per year,” the two companies say.

“At Li-Cycle, we are committed to doing our part to create a safer, cleaner and healthier world by striving to create a truly closed-loop lithium-ion battery supply chain to address these global challenges,” says Ajay Kochhar, CEO of Li-Cycle.

“Veolia is looking forward to partnering with Li-Cycle to help recover critical materials from lithium-ion batteries, so they can be reintroduced back into the supply chain,” says Vincent Caillaud, CEO of Veolia Water Technologies. “We have vast experience in the lithium production industry, where we enjoy a technology leadership position and will now apply our expertise in crystallization to battery recycling. Active throughout the entire value chain of battery recycling, Veolia is proud to take another step forward towards building a circular economy for lithium-ion batteries.”