“As a country, we’re throwing hundreds of thousands of devices in the trash every day. We have a huge e-waste problem,” Gabe Middleton, co-founder and CEO of tech recycling company Human I-T, tells MindBodyGreen.
The iPhone XR and iPhone X will use 32% biobased plastic in their frames. The speaker enclosures of the two new models will also include 35% post-consumer recycled plastic.
Apple, which has sold 2 billion devices, is also trying to eliminate the need to mine new materials, Apple’s vice president of environment, policy, and social initiatives Lisa Jackson said during Apple’s recent launch even.
Apple also encouraged users to recycle their older phones, and noted they recently developed Daisy, a robot that can dissemble 200 old iPhones an hour to reclaim materials.