The company has recovered more than a ton of gold from recycled Apple devices in a single year.

Old and unwanted iPhones, iPads and Macs handed in to the Cupertino firm during 2015 yielded the precious metal - worth £28m.

Small amounts of gold are often used in high-end consumer electronics because it conducts well and does not corrode easily.

Apple's recycling program pays cash for unwanted devices, which are either stripped down or refurbished.

As well as the reclaimed gold, Apple recovered 10.4m kilos of steel, two million kilos of aluminium, 1.4 million kilos of copper and 3,000 kilos of silver.

In its annual recycling report, Apple wrote: "We work hard to keep electronic devices out of landfills so that the precious resources they contain can be reused.

"And we want to ensure that these devices are recycled properly so they don’t pose a threat to human health or the environment."

Apple says it is aiming to use 100% renewable energy to power its facilities around the world.

It also says that it is helping its suppliers in China and elsewhere to move towards using clean energy.

(Sky News)