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Belkin commits to making iPhone chargers from post-consumer recycled plastics

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Belkin commits to making accessories from post-consumer recycled plastics
One of these chargers is made from post-consumer recycled plastics and one isn't. Can you tell the difference?
Photo: Belkin

Belkin is switching to make its top-selling mobile power products out of 73% to 75% post-consumer recycled plastics. The change will make no difference to the appearance or price of the accessories, but will significantly reduce the company’s carbon emissions.

PCR versions of the poplar chargers will launch throughout 2023.

You can feel good about these tough and compostable iPhone cases

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Here's Casetify's compostable iPhone case in the color sunflower.
Here's Casetify's compostable iPhone case in the color sunflower.
Photo: Casetify

If you think something that’s “compostable” must be easily “destructible,” well, that may be true of your coffee filters. But it’s not true of everything. Take Casetify’s Ultra Compostable iPhone Cases, for example.

These things are tough as hell. They’ll protect your iPhone as well as many other iPhone cases. And the ultimate beauty of them is, once you move on to another iPhone and discard the case, it won’t hurt the environment.

There’s recycled gold in them there iPhones

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Daisy the robot can disassemble up to 1.2 million phones each year.
Daisy the robot can disassemble up to 1.2 million phones each year, helping Apple recover more valuable materials for recycling.
Photo: Apple

For the first time, Apple is putting certified recycled gold in the iPhone. It’s part of the company’s increased use of recycled content across its products. Because of these efforts, nearly 20% of all material used in Apple products in 2021 was recycled, a new high point for the company.

“As people around the world join in celebrating Earth Day, we are making real progress in our work to address the climate crisis and to one day make our products without taking anything from the earth,” said Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of environment, policy and social initiatives, in a press release Tuesday.

Apple also added a new shredderbot that rips apart audio modules to its robot recycling crew.

Revive your dying AirPods on the cheap with Podswap

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Revive dying AirPods for less with the PodSwap receycling service.
AirPods get a new life and you get a fresh pair on the cheap thanks to the PodSwap recycling service.
Photo: Podswap

Podswap takes AirPods nearing the end of their useful life and replaces them with a fresh pair. And the recycling service costs considerably less than Apple charges to replace these wireless earbuds.

Plus, anyone using the service can take comfort knowing that their old AirPods will be recycled, not thrown away.

Tokyo unveils 2020 Olympic medals made from recycled phones

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Olympicmedals
The medals were designed to promote the Tokyo 2020 brand vision of “Innovation from Harmony”.
Photo: Tokyo Olympic Committee

During the 2020 Summer Olympics games in Tokyo, metal from your old smartphone might get draped around winners’ necks.

Tokyo unveiled its Olympic medals made from recycled phones and other used electronics. They’re so beautiful that you’d never guess they’re made out of e-waste.

Take a closer look:

Apple massively expands its global recycling programs

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Apple iPhone recycling
Apple has already recycled nearly 1 million devices.
Photo: Apple

Apple’s efforts to be the greenest company in tech continue with a major expansion to its global recycling programs.

It will be easier than ever for customers to send old iPhone units off for recycling. Apple is also opening a new Material Recovery Lab in Austin, Texas. The lab will use robots and machine learning to improve the company’s recycling processes.

Apple simplifies Face ID, iOS 12 and recycling in new ads

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Face ID ad
Did you know Face ID doesn't store photos of your face?
Photo: Apple

Apple goes back to the basics in a new set of ads today uploaded to YouTube.

Doing away with fancy effects, catchy music, and even its own hardware, it highlights some of the key features of Face ID and iOS 12. It also promotes its smartphone recycling program that’s open to all handsets — even if they’re not iPhones.

How to hand off your old iPhone to family or friends

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reset iPhone
Don't stockpile your old gadgets. Give them to someone who can use them.
Photo: Blake Patterson/Flickr CC

You’ve just pre-ordered your new iPhone, and you’re wondering what to do with the old one. Selling it is a pain, and the trade-in prices on your two-year-old model are too low to bother with. So how about handing that old iPhone off to a family member, or a friend? But before you just switch it off and drop it into a bag, there are a few things you should prepare. Here’s how.

How to recycle, reuse, give away, or sell your old iPhone

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sell your old iPhone
Buying a new iPhone? Time to sell the old one.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

The new iPhone has almost arrived, and for Cult of Mac readers that means one thing — time to ditch the old iPhone to make way for the new. But what should you do with that old iPhone? Today we’ll look at the options, from selling it, to recycling it, to giving it away. Here’s how to sell your old iPhone.