Apple announced today that its iPhone recycling program is now being expanded to Best Buy locations in the United States. This means that there are now significantly more locations where customers can return their old devices if they want the peace of mind that they will be recycled properly. It was previously possible to do this through Apple’s website or its retail stores.
Apple has made custom robots called Daisy to properly disassemble recycled iPhones. The robot is capable of disassembling 15 different iPhone models, that’s a good improvement compared to the 8 it could handle last year. The robot is quite fast it what it does too as it can take apart 200 iPhones per hour which turns out to be around 1.2 million iPhones per Daisy robot, per year.
Apple mentions that it has received almost one million devices through its programs for recycling. Expanding this program to Best Buy locations in the United States will ensure that the company gets in more units for proper recycling.
The company refurbished more than 7.8 million Apple devices which helped divert over 48,000 metric tons of electronic waste from landfills last year. Apple has also opened its Material Recovery Lab which will work on discovering future recycling processes at its 9,000 square foot facility in Austin, Texas.