One man's e-waste is another man's multi-billion-dollar enterprise.

Amidst Monday's iDevice fanfare, Apple introduced Liam, a robotic cutting tool that disassembles old iPhones to recover valuable materials.

With new smartphones, tablets, and wearables arriving on a seemingly daily basis, consumers are quick to replace older electronics with the latest versions.

And it's happening right in Apple's backyard: The US and China account for nearly one-third of discarded electronics, according to Research and Markets.

Cupertino previously used independent recyclers to handle returned iPhones. But as the global e-waste market grows—expected to reach $5.04 billion by 2020, Research and Markets said—the tech titan is taking matters into its own mechanical hands.

Under development for nearly three years, the machine will initially focus on the iPhone 6, salvaging recyclable components to be repurposed. Liam rescues cobalt and lithium from the battery, separates gold and copper in the camera, and extracts silver and platinum from the main logic board.

Liam consists of 29 robotic modules that can deconstruct an iPhone every 11 seconds. Sounds impressive, right? Before you start swooning, keep in mind that the system can handle only a few million handsets a year—far from the 231 million Cupertino sold in 2015.

A second Liam is reportedly being installed in Europe, doubling the capacity for annual recycling.

The robot, however, is just one part of Apple's strategy to go green. The company on Monday revealed that 93 percent of its facilities run on renewable energy. And while that's still a few years short of its 2014 goal for 100 percent sustainability, Cupertino has taken other steps: Since 2013, all of its data centers have operated entirely on renewable sources—solar, wind, biogas fuel cells, micro-hydro power, and geothermal power.

Early last year, CEO Tim Cook announced a plan to buy $848 million worth of energy—enough to power nearly 60,000 homes—for a massive solar farm near Monterey, Calif.