On September 12, 2023, Apple launched the iPhone 15 series. One of the most significant updates to the phones is the removal of the Lightning port. New iPhones will instead have a USB-C port, at least for the time being, the same one nearly all Android phones have used for the better part of the last decade. MacBooks, most iPads, and many other Apple products have been using USB-C for years and will not use Lightning again, so a significant portion of iPhone 15 buyers will have no more devices with Lightning ports. This presents a new problem: Lightning cable recycling.
If you’ve been an iPhone user for years, you probably have multiple Lightning cables in your life. Now that you don’t need them, your first instinct might be to throw them away. However, please don’t do this. If the millions of people we expect to buy an iPhone 15 do that, landfills around the world will get a sudden surge of trash. Considering the landfill crisis we face here in the United States and worldwide, it’s our responsibility to do whatever we can to extend the lives of those cables as long as possible.