Meet Daisy, Apple’s latest recycling robot

A few days before Earth Day, Apple unveiled its latest recycling robot named Daisy in a press announcement summing up the company’s recent environmental accomplishments. Daisy replaces Liam, the recycling robot the company announced back in 2016, and was actually made recycling some of Liam’s parts. Daisy is capable of disassembling nine versions of iPhone and sorting and recovering their high-quality components for recycling. Along with Daisy, Apple is also using the occasion to announce GiveBack, an addition to its recycling program. For every device customers turn in or trade from now until April 30, the company will make a donation to Conservation International, while customers handing in their devices will continue to receive credit for an in-store purchase or an Apple Store gift card for participating in the scheme.

Founded in 1987, Conservation International is an organization aimed at protecting the environment, using a combination of science, partnerships, and policy changes with a number of companies, communities, and countries around the world. It has helped support 1,200 protected areas and interventions across 77 countries, safeguarding more than 601 million hectares of land, marine, and coastal areas in the process.

But the environment is not the only critical aspect of electronic goods. If titans such as Apple have dramatically increased their efforts when it comes to human rights, environmental protections and responsible business practices in the supply chain, there is one company that is raising the bar higher. This company, set up as a social enterprise, is Fairphone. Fairphone was launched back in 2013 by Bas van Abel with the mission to build sustainable and conflict-free smartphones. Fairphone sources conflict-free tin and tantalum from mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo and works closely with its manufacturers to improve working conditions in its factories. The second handset Fairphone2 also focuses on durability, reparability and the availability of spare parts that can be easily replaced to extend the smartphone's usable life. Building a phone that lasts longer reduces the overall toll on people and the environment. Fairphone’s mission is to make positive social and environmental impact from the beginning to the end of a phone’s life cycle. In order to achieve this, it works on four pillars: Long-Lasting Design, Fair Materials, Good Working Conditions, Reuse and Recycling.

To read about Daisy and Apple's environmental results: https://www.apple.com/uk/newsroom/2018/04/apple-adds-earth-day-donations-to-trade-in-and-recycling-program/

To read about Conservation International: https://www.conservation.org/Pages/default.aspx

To learn about Fairphone: https://www.fairphone.com/en/