MacBook Air, Mac Mini use 100 percent recycled aluminum

Apple revealed Tuesday that its new MacBook Air and Mac Mini will be built in part using completely recycled material.

The casings for both 2018 models, Apple announced during its Mac and iPad event in Brooklyn, New York, will be comprised entirely of 100 percent recycled aluminum. Sourced directly from within Apple itself, the material comes from leftovers made during the production of other aluminum-based products.

According to AppleInsider, the tech giant previously relied on the use of new ore when creating its unibody casings. The new process is also reported to have a 50 percent smaller carbon footprint, resulting in the “greenest Mac ever.”

“Apple’s metallurgy team created a new alloy that allowed for the production to use recycled aluminum, without requiring the introduction of new ore at all,” AppleInsider states. “The new process uses fine shavings of recaptured aluminum, partly acquired as excess material from the production of other parts, with the shavings refined to the atomic level for the new enclosures.”

Aside from the more environmentally friendly casing, the new MacBook Air’s logic board also uses 100 percent recycled tin, while other parts such as the speakers similarly use 35 percent post-consumer recycled plastic. The Mac mini, Apple also disclosed, will likewise rely on 60 percent post-consumer recycled plastic.

Tuesday’s announcement also comes roughly one year after the company revealed that its entire operation had switched to 100 percent renewable energy sources.