To get the trademark look, feel and durability of MacBook cases, Apple previously had to mine high-purity aluminum ore. However, that's no longer the case. Apple designed a brand-new custom alloy for these Mac cases; these machines now use fine shavings of excess aluminum from production processes. These offcuts are then reengineered at the atomic level, which means that the entire case can be constructed from recycled aluminum.

Apple has been working on improving its carbon footprint for years; as it touted during the Mac event, 100 percent of the company's retail locations are powered by renewable energy. The company has also invested in a new way to produce aluminum that's more eco-friendly. Apple, aluminum companies Alcoa and Rio Tinto, and the government of Canada have invested a combined $144 billion into a new process of making aluminum without adding to direct greenhouse gas emissions.

This isn't quite at the level of recycling Macs, but it's a solid start. Reducing waste is always a great goal to have, but it isn't the same as recycling used machines and producing new ones from those materials. Hopefully Apple is still working toward that end.

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