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Samsung Is Ditching Plastic Packaging In Favor of More Sustainable Materials (theverge.com)
In a press release, Samsung said that it will be replacing plastic packaging with "environmentally sustainable elements" beginning this year. The Verge reports: The company announced today that it will replace the plastic used in phones, tablets and wearables for molds and accessory bags made with "eco-friendly materials." The company also says that it will also change the design for its phone chargers to reduce the use of plastics, "swapping the glossy exterior with a matte finish." The company will also replace plastic bags used to protect its air conditioners, refrigerators, TVs, and washing machines with recycled materials and bioplastics that come from non-fossil fuel sources. Finally, the company will begin using paper that's been certified by "global environmental organizations" in its manuals by next year.
Gyeong-bin Jeon the head of Samsung's Global Customer Satisfaction Center, says that the company is working to address "society's environmental issues such as resource depletion and plastic wastes," and that it wants to minimize the waste that it produces. In making the shift, Samsung pledges to use 500 thousand tons of recycled plastics and to collect 7.5 tons of discarded products by 2030.
Gyeong-bin Jeon the head of Samsung's Global Customer Satisfaction Center, says that the company is working to address "society's environmental issues such as resource depletion and plastic wastes," and that it wants to minimize the waste that it produces. In making the shift, Samsung pledges to use 500 thousand tons of recycled plastics and to collect 7.5 tons of discarded products by 2030.
How eco-friendly is the production of integrated circuits and circuit boards? Wouldn't it be better to make products that last longer? Phones, tablets and televisions with software that can be updated? "The year of Linux on the desktop" is kind of here, but not in the form that I would have wanted. They just turned free software into proprietary building blocks.
That stuff lasts a long time.
I mean, I might be willing to pay "Greater than iDevice prices" if they used the right packaging.
Take for example, if they made the packaging out of the tanned hides of plutocratic executives. I would pay top dollar for a phone wallet sewn from Mark Zuckerburg's pasty white skin. If I cant get it in that fashion, I would settle for Larry Ellison, or Brian Roberts, but that last one is pushing it. If you can somehow swing regulators, I would be willing to pay double for an Ajit Pai packaging.
Now, to be sure they arent pulling a fast one, I need some DNA evidence to validate the packaging's origins. We can't have them using some 3rd world country as a resource to defraud the public, after all.
In what sense are they sustainable?
This assumes that the energy to run the AC unit comes from fossil fuels, which might not be the case.
There's an increase in talk about new nuclear deployments, and renewable power generation is a booming industry.
Plastic is getting expensive.
I once received a waterproof watch which was shipped in a container of water.
If Samsung could create packaging that contained canvas shopping bags, it would be good. Organic stuff like paper is just one more carbon dump I'll recycle or burn in the backyard.
Cut down all the trees for paper bags...
We found something even cheaper than plastic to house our crap, but it's also even more crappy. So we have to spin something to sell it.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
and to collect 7.5 tons of discarded products by 2030.
Posted by BeauHD 3 hours ago
Bet that 7.5 is going to make all the difference
I mean, I might be willing to pay "Greater than iDevice prices" if they used the right packaging.
Take for example, if they made the packaging out of the tanned hides of plutocratic executives. I would pay top dollar for a phone wallet sewn from Mark Zuckerburg's pasty white skin. If I cant get it in that fashion, I would settle for Larry Ellison, or Brian Roberts, but that last one is pushing it. If you can somehow swing regulators, I would be willing to pay double for an Ajit Pai packaging.
Now, to be sure they arent pulling a fast one, I need some DNA evidence to validate the packaging's origins. We can't have them using some 3rd world country as a resource to defraud the public, after all.
Oh, my. Did you forget to take your medicine again Mr. Lecter?
"There's an increase in talk about new nuclear deployments,"
Get ready to watch hundreds of millions of taxpayer money burned in feasibility studies which enrich the usual suspects but produce no reactors. Nuclear is economically a non-starter. Like coal, it is being killed by cost.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
How eco-friendly is the production of integrated circuits and circuit boards?
Not very but also not relevant. They are going to sell products and those products need packaging. It's a sunk cost in a sense. It makes sense to make the packaging as eco-friendly as they can given they are going to be packaging something. Cleaning up the board manufacturing is an important but separate discussion. It's always irritated me how much unnecessary packaging products have these days so efforts to reduce the impact (and cost) of packaging should be applauded.
Wouldn't it be better to make products that last longer?
From Samsung's perspective the answer is not unless it equates to greater profits. There is unfortunately scant evidence that the buyers of these products (read you and I) care much about how long they last. People vote with their money and the money says people are ok with the quasi-disposable products.
Phones, tablets and televisions with software that can be updated?
They already have this.
I used to buy loose-leaf tea online fairly regularly from a place that would use styrofoam peanuts to pack their orders. They didn't need to as it was unbreakable and they used boxes that were just about full for the order. I would write in the comments not to use the styrofoam peanuts but they continued to do so.
So I wrote to the company and asked them to stop. They replied that it was okay to use them because they were made from a "bio" source and not fossil fuels. In response I said it didn't matter what they were made from if all I could do is throw them into the garbage as I couldn't recycle them or put them into the compost. I suggested that a simple piece of paper would fill the box just as well with the added benefit of the customer being able to put it into the recycling. If they were worried about breakage when shipping glassware they could still continue to use the "bio" styrofoam peanuts. When I never heard back from them I went and found another supplier to deal with my tea addiction.
EU actually regulated some of the materials involved in production of electronics some time ago in terms of heavy metals and some other things iirc. It resulted in quite a few changes, some of which were good (less of certain toxic materials) and some of which were bad (less durable hardware).
The regulations you are referring to are ROHS and they are a good thing. It required changing some product designs but when engineered properly (which most things have been) the evidence seems to show it does not result in less durable hardware. Tin whiskers were a concern but there appears to have been no significant increase in problems since the regulations went into effect 12 years ago. Most electronic components these days are ROHS compliant because it's easier to just go all ROHS than to try to juggle mixed parts. (Disclosure, my day job is managing a company that makes wire harnesses so I get to deal with this stuff daily) The EU regulations have effectively resulted in most of the industry going to lead-free solder for most products even outside the EU.
Most of the issue with ROHS in electronics manufacturing is using lead-free solder. This does introduce certain challenges but they are all manageable. And leaded solder is still available for the (not many) products that absolutely need it.
No lead in solder still means that within 3 years electronics will become less reliable due to temporary shorts (they burn out quickly) from something called tin-whiskers.
No it definitely does not provided the electronics are properly engineered. ROHS has been in effect since 2006 and most components and assemblies these days are ROHS compliant. There were fears of tin whiskers being a big problem and they have been in select products from time to time. But in actual fact they have proven to not be a particularly significant issue for most products. Leaded solder is not the only way to control them. Coatings and plating as well as product design all can mitigate the problem. ROHS did not result in any sort of widespread change in the reliability of products and claims to the contrary are unsupported by the evidence.
Tin whiskers aren't the only metal whiskers that cause problems. Silver, gold, zinc, cadmium and even lead all can have them.
Otherwise, they would not be Samsung devices.
I don't know about the rest of you but my Samsung phone came in a recyclable paper box with no plastic components to it. So, I am confused as to why this is news?
Please. Samsung TVs and other devices have an impressively evil privacy policy.