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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.
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.
My note four came fully packaged in paper and cardboard, with a plastic bag containing the headphones and a plastic sheet covering the each of phone and battery.
I remember being impressed at how eco friendly that was, in early 2015.
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.
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.
They break down faster to sustain Samsung's business model of selling you another phone next year.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
It's going to make a difference of 7.5 tons, which is 7.5 more tons than zero.
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The whiskers on tin are naturally occurring I think that is why manufacturers didn't fight it any. It helped their planned obsolescence and gave them the backing they needed to say there was nothing they could do about it. Just my thoughts on it.
https://www.maximintegrated.co...
^^ Included article on tin whiskers. was going to load the one directly from nasa.. but the page wont respond.
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.
Orange juice is a corrosive liquid. Soda is a corrosive liquid. Coffee is a corrosive liquid.