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 CEO Tim Cook took the stage at Apple's Cupertino campus to introduce a smaller, four-inch version of the iPhone, called the iPhone SE. 
 
 The key marketing words for Apple products have usually been thinner, faster, bigger. IPhones have grown up over the past nine years, going from the original 3.5-inch display to the iPhone 6S Plus' 5.5-inch screen. Apple went in the opposite direction and announced a new iPhone that's actually smaller. 
 
 Cook also introduced a new iPad Pro, new Watch bands and some software updates. And he kicked off the event by previewing Apple's court battle with the FBI on Tuesday over iPhone encryption.. 
 
 The 4-inch iPhone SE 
 
 The big announcement of the day was the smaller iPhone SE -- a 4-inch iPhone with updated internals. 
 
 It looks like the iPhone 5S, Apple's last 4-inch phone released in 2014, but has the same processor and graphics performance as the iPhone 6S. Inside is Apple's A9 chip, which doubles the speed of the iPhone 5S. It can use Hey Siri, the hands-free voice assistant, has a 12MP camera, and shoots 4K video. There is an NFC chip inside so the phone can work with Apple Pay. 
 
 The smaller iPhone is an attempt to appeal to fans of more pocketable devices. Last year, Apple sold 30 million phones that were 4-inches and smaller. A chunk of Apple customers have resisted upgrading to the recent 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch smartphones. According to Mixpanel, a third of iPhone owners are still using a device with a 4-inch screen or smaller. 
 
 The 16 GB iPhone SE starts at $399 but will be free with a two-year contract or $17 a month on an installment plan. The company will start taking orders for the phone on March 24, and it will be available on March 31. 
 
 New 9.7-inch iPad Pro 
 
 Apple's other big hardware news is that it took the iPad Pro and make it smaller. Also called the iPad Pro, the new 9.7-inch version includes many of the same powerful features as the larger 12.9-inch Pro model. 
 
 Inside is the same A9x chip. The screen is less reflective but brighter and has more color saturation, for all those pros using it as a primary work device. It has a true tone display that measures the color temperature of ambient light with new light sensors and adjusts the screen accordingly. 
 
 The smaller iPad Pro works with the Apple Pencil stylus and new line of snap on keyboards the company introduced in with the original iPad Pro. People really like using the cameras on their tablets, for some reason, so the new iPad Pro has a 12-megapixel camera and a LED back-facing flash. 
 
 The tablet starts at $599 for the 32 GB Wi-Fi version and $749 for the 129 GB model. In a first, Apple is offering a new larger 256 GB option that starts at $899. It comes in silver, gold, space gray and rose gold. 
 
 Apple Watch gets cheaper, more colorful 
 
 Apple (AAPL) really wants people to try out the Apple Watch. Tim Cook announced a new line of straps for the wearable, including all new woven nylon bands, a space black Milanese Loop, and additional sport and leather bands in a variety of colors. 
 
 Pretty watch straps on their own might not be enough to lure in new customers, so Apple dropped the price of the watch. It now starts at $299. 
 
 Why go small? Apple says it sold 30 million four-inch iPhones in 2015, so there's clearly demand for a smaller, cheaper iPhone. 
 
 Software Updates 
 
 The latest version of Apple mobile operating system, iOS 9.3, is available starting today. Key new features including Night Shift, which adjusts the screen for late night reading for better sleep, and finger print lock for top secret documents in the Notes app. 
 
 There is a small update for the Apple TV OS that adds folders for apps and Siri voice dictation. 
 
 It also announced a new health-related jSDK called CareKit. It's built for personal care apps. For example, a hospital might make an app to help patients taking the proper steps after a major surgery. The first application is a partnership with major universities and medical centers for monitoring Parkinson's. 
 
 Encryption 
 
 Before the iPhone SE and Watch announcement, Cook opened with what he admitted is "on everybody's mind": encryption. 
 
 "We built the iPhone for you our customers and we know that it is a deeply personal device," said Cook. "For many of us the iPhone is an extension of ourselves." 
 
 "We need to decide as a nation how much power the government should have over our data and over our privacy," said Cook. "We will not shrink from this responsibility." 
 
 On Tuesday, Apple will face off against the FBI in a California court. 
 
 Related: Apple could reveal mini iPhone 5SE on March 21 
 
 Apple likes the environment 
 
 Apple brought out Lisa Jackson, its vice president of environment, to talk about a new, special Apple employee, Liam. 
 
 Liam is a custom robot that takes old iPhones apart to recycle them. While it disassembles them, it detects what components can be reused and recycled. It identifies materials in a device like gold, silver and tungsten. In the future, you might see a Liam robot doing its thing inside an Apple store. 
 
 Apple uses 100% renewable power in 25 countries including the US and China. In China, Apple even built a solar farm to accommodate adorable grazing yaks. ||||| Japan is lacking in natural resources, but it is the home of one of the world's biggest "urban mines." 
 
 TOKYO -- Organizers of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics are hoping to source the gold, silver and bronze needed to make medals for the games by tapping the country's "urban mine" -- made up of millions of discarded smartphones and other small consumer electronics. 
 
 Such electronic waste contains enough precious metals to produce all the medals for the Olympic and Paralympic Games to be held in Japan's capital four years from now, according to a group of Olympic organizers, government officials and company executives that discussed the proposal in June. 
 
 For the 2012 London Olympics, 9.6kg of gold, 1,210kg of silver and 700kg of copper -- the primary component of bronze -- were used to produce medals. In comparison, the amount of precious metals recovered from discarded small consumer electronics in Japan in 2014 included 143kg of gold, 1,566kg of silver and 1,112 tons of copper. 
 
 While Japan is poor in natural resources, its "mine" of gold and silver contained in small consumer electronics is equivalent to 16% and 22% of the world's total reserves, respectively -- surpassing the reserves of any natural resources-abundant nation. 
 
 Olympic host cities usually procure metal for medals largely by asking mining companies to donate them. 
 
 The idea of using recycled electronics was discussed at a June 10 meeting in Tokyo to consider "cooperation proposals for the Tokyo 2020 operation plan" with an eye toward a "sustainable future." Participants included officials of the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic organizing committee, the Ministry of the Environment and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, as well as executives from mobile phone company NTT DoCoMo, precious metals company Tanaka Kikinzoku Kogyo, and recycling companies. 
 
 Collection challenge 
 
 One challenge is the fact that Japan has not fully implemented a system for collecting discarded consumer electronics. While about 650,000 tons of small electronics and electric home appliances are discarded in Japan every year, it is estimated that less than 100,000 tons is collected under a system based on the small home appliance recycling law, which came into force in 2013. The Environment Ministry has called on municipalities to target collecting 1kg of small consumer electronics per person per year, but many municipalities have fallen short of collecting even 100 grams per person. 
 
 In addition, much of the metal that is recovered is already being reused to make new electronics. Silver, in particular, faces a tight supply-demand balance, making it uncertain whether enough can be obtained to produce the Olympic medals. 
 
 By raising public awareness, the amount of electronic waste that is collected and recycled could be increased. Recycling is already widespread in Japan for many products, including milk cartons and plastic bottle caps, thanks to the efforts and cooperation of environmentally conscious consumers. 
 
 "We need a system that makes it easy for consumers to turn in used consumer electronics," said Takeshi Kuroda, president of ReNet Japan Group, an Obu, Aichi Prefecture-based company that purchases and sells used home appliances. ReNet is among the companies backing the plan to make Olympic medals from electronic waste. 
 
 "A collection system should be created by the private sector, and central and local governments should be in charge of publicizing such private services," Kuroda said. "If this public-private cooperation progresses, the collection of electronic waste should also progress." 
 
 Yuko Sakita, a representative of the nonprofit organization Genki Net for Creating a Sustainable Society, which organized the June 10 meeting, said: "In order for all Japanese people to participate in the Tokyo Olympics, we are asking companies to propose a concrete collection proposal and would like to work with the Olympic organizing committee to realize the proposal."
– 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.)