Apple has been working on increasing the number of recyclable devices for a long time. While Apple strives to handle most of the electronics recycling processes internally, Apple continues to work with a number of businesses in this area.

Since 2014, one such partner has become electronics recycler Geep Canada, which Apple recently sued for the theft and subsequent resale of more than 100,000 recyclable iPhones, iPads, and Apple Watches. It is noteworthy that Geep Canada does not deny the theft of the devices, but claims that it was committed by three unscrupulous employees. At the same time, Apple is confident that the leaders of the processing company were involved in the case.

Although information about this case has become publicly available only now, Apple’s lawsuit was filed back in January this year. It appears that the thefts, as reported by Apple, were committed in late 2017 or early 2018, after which the partnership with Geep Canada was terminated. Apple’s lawsuit says that between January 2015 and December 2017, the company shipped 531,966 iPhones, 25,673 iPads, and 19,277 Apple Watches to Geep Canada for recycling.

One of the audits found that some of Apple’s products were being kept separate from third-party devices, after which they began checking the serial numbers of all devices sent to Geep Canada. Ultimately, about 18% of the total number of devices (103,845 units) were found in an active state in the networks of telecom operators. Many more devices were stolen, according to Apple, as non-LTE models could not be traced.

As part of the legal proceedings, Apple expects to recover from the defendant an amount equal to the profit that was received as a result of the resale of the devices, as well as $ 22.7 million in compensation.