What's the deal with Apple's metallurgy team 'New Discovery'?

We all know that Apple's marketing branch is a major part of the company's success. But when I came across the announcement of their new MacBook Air and Mac Mini yesterday, I had to share/talk about it with someone.

So during the event they announced that their new MacBook Airs and Mac Minis will be made with 100% recycled aluminum. These were their words:

"Apple's metallurgy team has designed an aluminum alloy that uses access aluminum from the production process. Delivering the same great characteristics we expect in all of our products. And this is a huge breakthrough. So we are really proud to say today that every new MacBook Air is made from 100% recycled aluminum. This helps reduce the carbon footprint of the new Air by nearly 50% and makes it the greenest Mac ever."

"To accomplish this, we invented a new custom alloy. It's designed to use fine shavings of recaptured aluminum that are re-engineered down to the atomic level. This new alloy is as beautiful and robust as any we have used before."

_{Image shared under CC0 licence}

These words where of course followed by somewhat the biggest applause of the entire event but all I could think was, did they really understand what the marketeer was saying?

First of all, they used "recaptured fine shavings of aluminum that were re-engineered down to the atomic level". So if I understand it correctly, they used their waste aluminum, and melted it to use it again. That is re-engineering down to the atomic level. Pretty ground breaking I must say.

And why is there the need to call it a "new alloy" if simply remelting it also gives you a material as "beautiful and robust as any we have used before" because it is the same material?

Then secondly, the most misleading statement is that it "reduces the footprint of the new MacBook by nearly 50%" (47% according to their website). While it is true that for their specific factory, the footprint would decrease, there is no effect at all on the global aluminum consumption or footprint. What would have happened otherwise with those shavings? Before this "discovery" the shavings would have been sent to recycling and end up in your soda can, new car or even fidget spinner if you still decided to get one of those.

The actual announcement of the new products:

Apple surely discovered that appearing as a green company is the new best way to market their products, and the decision of recycling aluminum within the company indeed leads to preferable 'numbers' on its footprint. Also their announcement that they attempt to run on 100% renewable energy, aided their green image. All of this are great ways to 'greenify' your image and to set an example for the entire industry.

But if they really cared about their environmental impact, why don't they design their products to be upgraded as requirements keep increasing, or facilitate their products to be more easily repaired and recycled?

But that's just my take on the subject. I'd love to hear other opinions about this!