Apple Inc., a leader in technology today worth billions of dollars, has taken on strong initiatives to create an eco-friendlier and environmentally sound company. Apple has used much of its revenue to invest in multiple projects to adopt more efficient energy sources, focus on recycling, and remove toxins from their electronics.

Meet Liam

Apple wanted to solve the problem of waste that comes with throwing away old electronics or replacing them with news ones. The company’s solution: Liam. Liam is a 39-armed robot whose sole purpose is to break down old iPhones part-by-part to repurpose the materials inside of those parts. As per Apple’s video introducing the robot, Liam will take out the phone’s battery to rescue cobalt and lithium, remove the gold copper from the camera, and extract silver and platinum from the main logic board. This way, these elements can be recycled and used to make new products.

100% Renewable Energy

While this is quite a heavy goal, Apple is determined to use energy that is made up of 100% renewable sources. In 2015, 93% of the energy used was created from these sources. In efforts to reduce their carbon footprint, Apple’s products have steadily decreased in their carbon make-up, and almost all of their stores, offices, and data centers produce clean and renewable energy. In the last year, the company has also reduced their energy and power usage in their facilities. Currently, Apple stated that they are building 200 megawatts of solar in China to begin counteracting their manufacturing emissions.

Use and Reuse

Apple has vowed to protect and preserve the forest as much as possible. That being said, they have begun to use recycled products for their packaging. Not only are they recycling paper products, they have also vowed to reduce their water usage as well. In order to diminish the amounts of their products in landfills, Apple implemented the Apple Renew program. Apple Renew allows customers to recycle their devices inside of their local retail store or online. Not only does this promote environmentally sound techniques within the company, but to Apple’s customers, as well.

Taking Out Toxins

A lot of electronic products contain hazardous substances, such as mercury, lead, and beryllium. Apple wants to make products that are not only safe for the environment, but for customers as well. They have set high standards for checking each of their products for these types of materials. In order to implement these regulations, Apple needed a board of experts to advise the company on innovative ways to minimize toxins in products. And so, they created their own Green Chemistry Advisory Board made up of some of the world’s most elite toxicologists, researchers, and academics.

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