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.

Comments

Re:In other words

[tlhIngan]

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.

Or more like plastic is not as recyclable. It's stupidly cheap to produce (and oil prices are quite low at the moment, as well). In fact, it's so cheap that recycling plastic is uneconomical, and it lasts basically forever. And unfortunately, most tossed plastic unless landfilled tend to end up in the ocean.

Paper can be composted, recycled, or disposed of in many ways. Even if you threw it in the garbage, it'll be broken down within a year or so. And if it reaches the ocean, it'll decompose even faster.

But beside the box, would the the plastic bags inside, which is unrecyclable in most recycling programs because it jams the machines. It's so bad that many recycling centers will simply landfill plastic bags and their contents when encountered in the recycling stream.

Re:What about the package contents?

[Luckyo]

Fun part is, the current massive uptick in fairly high end cardboard production is in large part due to this trend spinning up. You can't deliver the product packaging in old school brown cardboard, it has to be shiny, with specific texture and that can survive rigours of weeks of oceanic travel without plastic packaging over the cardboard protecting it.

I've even seen a recent news story on paper cups now starting to be made from cardboard only. For those who don't know, current paper cups have thin plastic lining inside because otherwise, seams leak when faced with hot or corrosive liquids. Apparently latest technology allows to make paper cups that can make seams that can take the temperature and even things like mild alcohol for a few hours before starting to leak.

Environmentally friendly technology is popping up in fairly surprising places nowadays, and that's a great thing.