Apple could share its 'Daisy' robot to boost electronics' recycling

Developed by Apple's engineers, Daisy is a 20-yard-long machine that breaks apart iPhones and sorts their components to recover materials that "traditional recyclers can't."

It uses a blast of -80 Celsius degree air to separate the batteries of the devices and then removes screws to detach internal modules, including the ones that make the phone vibrate.

Finally, the parts are sent for mineral extraction/refining.

In its current configuration, Daisy disassembles as many as 200 iPhones per hour, extracting and recycling 14 useful minerals in the process.

Out of this batch, recycled tin, cobalt, and some rare Earth elements are already being used by the company in its products.

And, the good news is, Apple plans to build on this effort and add more recycled materials to this list.

Apple plans to boost Daisy's work to such a point that in-house extraction/recycling of minerals is enough to create a closed-loop of sorts, where iPhones and MacBooks are made from wholly recycled materials and newly extracted minerals are not needed anymore.

In fact, the company is already moving in this direction with a plan to bring more Daisy-like robots across US and Europe.

Apple's effort to boost recycling comes as it realizes that the growing demand for electronics around the world would increase the need for mining.

As part of this, Reuters reports, the Cupertino giant is also considering sharing Daisy's technology with other companies, including electric car makers, which would need minerals on a large scale, thanks to the rising popularity of EVs.

While it remains unclear when or if Apple will go ahead with the plan to share Daisy's technology, many analysts remain skeptical of the idea of creating a closed-loop with recycling.

"There is this ego that believes they can get all their minerals back, and it's not possible," Kyle Wiens, chief executive of iFixit, told Reuters, echoing the point of skeptics.