Daisy: Apple’s master plan for the environment is just in Breda

Apple has a master plan. A plan to protect the environment, in the most effective way possible, against the pollution caused by the company itself. The name of that plan is Daisy and her locations are Austin (Texas) and, sure enough, Breda. OMT editor Mark Hofman went to Brabant to find out everything about this unique project.

The planet won’t wait, neither will we. A powerful start to an introduction to a very special project. Many consumers know that Apple is committed to the environment, but only see the things that affect them. But the American company does much more than that behind the scenes. Time to bring that story to light.

Apple is fully committed to 2030

If there’s one company that leaves a hefty footprint on our environment, it’s Apple. With billions of smartphones in circulation and a production chain that scares you, it keeps the planet from getting better.

To compensate for this, Apple wants to operate completely climate neutral by 2030. Difficult, because the company will never achieve 100% climate neutral. For example, it always has to do with the pollution of production (75%), packaging (22%) and shipping (8%). To make up for that, Apple is trying to break even the other 25% through various projects that restore nature.

But of course we as consumers also notice something of the wishes. For example, you have not received a charger with your iPhone for some time, you are dealing with a company that focuses on green energy and introduced Self Service Repair.

A good start, but the real master plan is already in motion in the background. And let that happen in Breda.

The master plan is called Daisy

In the Dutch city there is an impressive robot named Daisy. To be honest, I didn’t really know what to expect beforehand and I was quite modest. In retrospect, I can’t wait to tell everyone what exactly has been set in motion in our country.

Where a regular recycling process manages to recover materials such as aluminum, Daisy really goes a step further. Rare materials, lithium, tantalum, tin and tungsten can all be extracted from Apple’s own products. Materials that usually remain and are thrown away.

That is a shame, because recovering materials is exactly where the difference can be made. For example, a metric ton can ensure that the hours in the mines are less necessary. Simply put: the material no longer needs to be taken out of the ground, because we already have it back,

This is how Apple works with Daisy

While that’s very interesting and makes the future a lot brighter, it’s the process that makes Daisy impressive. For example, the robot works with four different cabins where a single iPhone – no matter which model it is – can be taken apart very quickly.

In the first section, Daisy scans the type of iPhone, adjusts her work rhythm to it and starts to detach the screen from the smartphone. This screen is then completely separated in a second part and falls directly into a container. A container where the SIM card tray is also kept separate.

The second cabin is one for the winter coat. The iPhone is held against cold air of -80 degrees Celsius. This takes about forty seconds, after which the battery detaches from its casing. Then the device is shaken, the battery falls out and it is manually taped and placed in a container.

Daisy then stops the device in cabin number three, where she simply knocks the screws out of the iPhone. In previous models, which had the name Liam 1.0 and Liam 2.0, for example, these were still slowly turned out. This caused the disassembly to take about 12 minutes, where the process currently only takes 12 seconds.

The last step is the so-called iPhone car wash. The phone is completely blown clean here, so that the other parts end up on a vibrating plate. This plate then sieves all usable parts of the herd.

2.4 million a year is still too much

As I said, it’s an impressive process. Not only in terms of effect, but also in terms of effectiveness. The large bins full of different parts, which impressively fill a central hall next to Daisy, show that the process works.

Daisy has the ability to completely strip 1.2 million iPhone models for reuse on an annual basis. The first model is in Texas that can handle the same numbers. In total, 2.4 million iPhone models are stripped per year. Or at least, that’s the intent.

While 2.4 million iPhone models may not seem like a lot, it is. Apple would love to run Daisy 24 hours a day, seven days a week, but too few consumers are handing in their old phones to get that done.

Apple’s master plan in Breda is groundbreaking. Now it has to prove itself. Time to take a good look around at home and give this hungry recycle robot some food.