Samsung Electronics announced on Tuesday January 29 that it will begin to take measures to replace the plastic used in its packaging for paper, paperboard and other recyclable materials and with low environmental impact.
Under the company's circular economy policy, Samsung has established a short-/medium-term implementation plan to use only recyclable materials with low environmental impact.
Samsung announced that from this 2019 onwards the plastic used for packaging Samsung products (from mobile phones and tablets to appliances) will be replaced by recyclable materials with low environmental impact.
This is not Samsung's first initiative in this regard. In 2009 the company launched in the USA. The Samsung Reclaim, which was the first terminal built with bioplastic, and recyclable to 80%. The terminal came with the Discovery Channel guides already loaded, with ecology tips, in addition, the box was made of recycled materials and the charger, Energy Star, consumed 12 times less energy than the common chargers of the time.
Samsung has formed a work team that includes design and development, shopping, marketing and quality control for innovative and sustainable ideas.
In the case of mobile phones, tablets and wearables, Samsung will replace the plastic used for support trays with pulp molds, and bags that wrap the accessories with ecological materials with low environmental impact. Samsung will also modify the phone charger design with bright exterior for a matte finish and remove plastic protective films in order to reduce their use.
Plastic bags used to protect the surface of household appliances, such as TV, refrigerators, air conditioning and washing machines, shall be replaced by bags containing recycled materials, made from plastic waste and non-fossil fuel materials.
As far as paper use is concerned, Samsung will only use fiber materials certified by global environmental organizations in its packaging and manuals until 2020.
By 2030, Samsung aims to use 500,000 tons of recycled plastics and collect 7.5 million tons of discarded products (accumulated since 2009).
