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 Independent recycling professionals can obtain removal instructions for the battery and other components that require selective treatment by calling Apple Support. ||||| Not a real Apple exec. TBS A big push for Apple this year is recycling, as it uses partners and fancy new robots to make sure that valuable parts from the millions of iPhones sold per year don't end up in landfills. 
 
 The company released its annual environmental report on Thursday, and it included some information about just how much it can recover from old computers — over 61 million pounds of steel, aluminum, glass, and other materials. 
 
 As part of that, Apple recovered 2,204 pounds of gold— well over a ton. 
 
 At the current spot price of $1,229.80 per troy ounce of gold, Apple recovered just under $40 million in gold from old phones and computers. 
 
 But where did this $39,502,000 of gold come from? According to Fairphone, an activist group focused on electronics supply chains, the average smartphone uses 30 milligrams of gold, mostly in circuit boards and other internal components. And Apple pays to recycle millions of iPhones and other computers that have tiny bits of gold in them. 
 
 It's also possible that Apple might have recycled a few golden Apple Watches, which have been estimated to have over 50 grams of 18-karat gold in it. But it's hard to imagine people who spent over $10,000 on an Apple Watch would turn it back to Apple for recycling in less than a year. 
 
 Here's the full table with the amount of materials Apple recovered last year: 
 
 Apple 
 
 Now enjoy this Conan O'Brien sketch from when Apple announced that it was going to produce a gold-colored iPhone. Gold is best:
– Apple has released figures on its Apple Renew recycling program, and it's clearly paying dividends. Out of nearly 90 million pounds of electronic equipment it recovered last year, 61 million pounds were recycled, Apple reports. Specifically, it reclaimed 23 million pounds of steel; 13 million pounds of plastic; 12 million pounds of glass; 4.5 million pounds of aluminum; 3 million pounds of copper; 6,600 pounds of silver; and 2,200 pounds of gold. That amounts to $1.7 million worth of silver, $6.5 million of copper—and a whopping $43 million in gold, reports Quartz. Activist group Fairphone, which watches electronics supply chains, notes that a typical smartphone contains 30 milligrams of gold, mainly in circuit boards and other internal components, reports Business Insider. It's not a lot, but spread across millions of phones and other electronics, it adds up. CNNMoney reports that while it's pricey, gold is a popular choice in consumer electronics for being corrosion resistant yet excellent at conducting electricity. (Silver is a superior conductor but corrodes easily.) In March, Apple unveiled an experimental bot called Liam, which can disassemble an iPhone in 11 seconds and sort its parts for recycling. Prototypes are already at work, and the line is designed to take apart 1.2 million phones a year. "It's an experiment in recycling technology, and we hope this kind of thinking will inspire others," Apple notes. (This woman unknowingly dropped off a $200K Apple I to be recycled.)