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> Mac mini is made with over 50 percent recycled content overall, including 100 percent recycled aluminum in the enclosure, 100 percent recycled gold plating in

> Mac mini is made with over 50 percent recycled content overall, including 100 percent recycled aluminum in the enclosure, 100 percent recycled gold plating in all Apple-designed printed circuit boards, and 100 percent recycled rare earth elements in all magnets. The electricity used to manufacture Mac mini is sourced from 100 percent renewable electricity. And, to address 100 percent of the electricity customers use to power Mac mini, Apple has invested in clean energy projects around the world. Apple has also prioritized lower-carbon modes of shipping, like ocean freight, to further reduce emissions from transportation. Together, these actions have reduced the carbon footprint of Mac mini by over 80 percent. I’m inclined to trust Apple with this information but the skeptical side of me is questioning, how can we fact check this data? If it’s true it is very cool.

eddieroger 2y ago
Third party auditors that come in to verify it. "We" probably can't verify it, but Apple more than likely has these claims audited so they are prepared when they get sued over them.
- toomuchtodo 2y ago
  If they're lying, it's also securities fraud if you're an Apple investor, so I am inclined to believe them.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
infecto 2y ago
https://www.supplychainreports.apple https://www.supplychainreports.apple But ultimately its down to the third-party auditors they hire.
xhkkffbf 2y ago
What does it mean for the gold to be "recycled"? I get that the aluminum probably came for a pile of cans, but does this mean that the gold definitely came from a pile of electronics? Or could it be that they melted down a few old $20 coins from the US? It's not like a lot of gold ends up in landfills.
- sib 2y ago
  Per the New York Times: "According to the World Gold Council, recycled gold accounted for 28 percent of the total global gold supply of 4,633 metric tons in 2020; 90 percent of that recycled gold comes from discarded jewelry and the rest from a growing mountain of electronic waste such as cellphones and laptops."
hollerith 2y ago
The Apple employees who worked on this product cause a lot of CO2 emissions just living their lives. I'm guessing Apple didn't try to offset that CO2.
- collinmanderson 2y ago
  If we truly want to achieve zero emissions globally we need to take seriously all sources of CO2 emissions, the full carbon footprint of companies. Not just energy use. It's not entirely unreasonable to ask companies to be responsible for carbon capture or in the short term an offset for their employees breathing on the clock, as funny as that sounds. We need to take all sources of carbon emissions seriously. This shouldn't be downvoted.
  - sib 2y ago
    >> "ask companies to be responsible for carbon capture or in the short term an offset for their employees breathing on the clock" Unless you think their employees breathe more when they are on the clock than off it, I'm not sure this makes sense. When they're off the clock, they might be exercising or playing with their kids, so perhaps they actually breathe less when sitting at their desks on the clock.
    - hollerith 2y ago
      Yikes, I hope folks don't think I was referring to CO2 caused by human respiration! I was referring to the CO2 emitted for example in growing the employee's food and getting it to him, his shelter (cement production being particularly high in CO2 emissions), transportation, home heating, the CO2 emitted by the people who educated him and provided his medical care. Like someone else said, spending is a very good proxy for CO2 emissions, and about 68% of all spending is "consumer spending", which basically means keeping people alive, somewhat happy and somewhat productive.
- tonyedgecombe 2y ago
  Just like all of us. Your spending is a pretty good measure of your impact on the climate.
collinmanderson 2y ago
I don't know why you're getting downvoted. I think it's a fair question. The fine print says: > Carbon reductions are calculated against a business-as-usual baseline scenario: No use of clean electricity for manufacturing or product use, beyond what is already available on the latest modeled grid; Apple’s carbon intensity of key materials as of 2015; and Apple’s average mix of transportation modes by product line across three years. Learn more at apple.com/2030. https://www.apple.com/2030 https://www.apple.com/2030 which mostly seems to focus on the goal of being 100% carbon neutral in energy use. It sounds like they're generally only looking at carbon emissions from _energy_ use in transportation and manufacturing, and they're probably using some sort of carbon offset to achieve that "net zero". They're probably also not counting carbon emissions from building construction and they're probably not counting carbon emissions from meat served at corporate events, etc. Update: I found a breakdown for the Mac Mini (linked from the apple.com/2030 page). https://www.apple.com/environment/pdf/products/desktops/Mac_mini_PER_Oct2024.pdf https://www.apple.com/environment/pdf/products/desktops/Mac_... > 100 percent of manufacturing electricity is sourced from renewable energy > For Mac mini, we are matching 100 percent of expected customer product use electricity with electricity from low-carbon sources. They are counting transportation in the "100 percent", but are offsetting it with carbon credits.
fennecbutt 2y ago
But we offer base models with paltry memory and solder our ssds and ram modules (look at the ram/ssd chips next to the m chip itself under the heat spreader, they could make em low profile socketed for sure).

eddieroger 2y ago

Third party auditors that come in to verify it. "We" probably can't verify it, but Apple more than likely has these claims audited so they are prepared when they get sued over them.

toomuchtodo 2y ago
If they're lying, it's also securities fraud if you're an Apple investor, so I am inclined to believe them.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

infecto 2y ago

https://www.supplychainreports.apple https://www.supplychainreports.apple But ultimately its down to the third-party auditors they hire.

xhkkffbf 2y ago

What does it mean for the gold to be "recycled"? I get that the aluminum probably came for a pile of cans, but does this mean that the gold definitely came from a pile of electronics? Or could it be that they melted down a few old $20 coins from the US? It's not like a lot of gold ends up in landfills.

sib 2y ago
Per the New York Times: "According to the World Gold Council, recycled gold accounted for 28 percent of the total global gold supply of 4,633 metric tons in 2020; 90 percent of that recycled gold comes from discarded jewelry and the rest from a growing mountain of electronic waste such as cellphones and laptops."

hollerith 2y ago

The Apple employees who worked on this product cause a lot of CO2 emissions just living their lives. I'm guessing Apple didn't try to offset that CO2.

collinmanderson 2y ago
If we truly want to achieve zero emissions globally we need to take seriously all sources of CO2 emissions, the full carbon footprint of companies. Not just energy use. It's not entirely unreasonable to ask companies to be responsible for carbon capture or in the short term an offset for their employees breathing on the clock, as funny as that sounds. We need to take all sources of carbon emissions seriously. This shouldn't be downvoted.
- sib 2y ago
  >> "ask companies to be responsible for carbon capture or in the short term an offset for their employees breathing on the clock" Unless you think their employees breathe more when they are on the clock than off it, I'm not sure this makes sense. When they're off the clock, they might be exercising or playing with their kids, so perhaps they actually breathe less when sitting at their desks on the clock.
  - hollerith 2y ago
    Yikes, I hope folks don't think I was referring to CO2 caused by human respiration! I was referring to the CO2 emitted for example in growing the employee's food and getting it to him, his shelter (cement production being particularly high in CO2 emissions), transportation, home heating, the CO2 emitted by the people who educated him and provided his medical care. Like someone else said, spending is a very good proxy for CO2 emissions, and about 68% of all spending is "consumer spending", which basically means keeping people alive, somewhat happy and somewhat productive.
tonyedgecombe 2y ago
Just like all of us. Your spending is a pretty good measure of your impact on the climate.

collinmanderson 2y ago

I don't know why you're getting downvoted. I think it's a fair question. The fine print says: > Carbon reductions are calculated against a business-as-usual baseline scenario: No use of clean electricity for manufacturing or product use, beyond what is already available on the latest modeled grid; Apple’s carbon intensity of key materials as of 2015; and Apple’s average mix of transportation modes by product line across three years. Learn more at apple.com/2030. https://www.apple.com/2030 https://www.apple.com/2030 which mostly seems to focus on the goal of being 100% carbon neutral in energy use. It sounds like they're generally only looking at carbon emissions from _energy_ use in transportation and manufacturing, and they're probably using some sort of carbon offset to achieve that "net zero". They're probably also not counting carbon emissions from building construction and they're probably not counting carbon emissions from meat served at corporate events, etc. Update: I found a breakdown for the Mac Mini (linked from the apple.com/2030 page). https://www.apple.com/environment/pdf/products/desktops/Mac_mini_PER_Oct2024.pdf https://www.apple.com/environment/pdf/products/desktops/Mac_... > 100 percent of manufacturing electricity is sourced from renewable energy > For Mac mini, we are matching 100 percent of expected customer product use electricity with electricity from low-carbon sources. They are counting transportation in the "100 percent", but are offsetting it with carbon credits.

fennecbutt 2y ago

But we offer base models with paltry memory and solder our ssds and ram modules (look at the ram/ssd chips next to the m chip itself under the heat spreader, they could make em low profile socketed for sure).