Samsung announced Sunday that it will replace plastic packaging on a wide-range of its products, from home appliances to mobile phones and wearables, with eco-friendly, sustainable materials. According to a statement, the company said that that it will initiate the switch during the first half of the year, and aims to only use paper packaging certified by forestry initiatives by next year.
From the first half of 2019, the packaging used currently for Samsung’s products and accessories – ranging from mobile phones and tablets to home appliances – will be substituted with environmentally sustainable materials like recycled/bio-based plastics and paper.
Under the company’s circular economy policy, Samsung Electronics has set a mid-term implementation plan to only use paper packaging materials certified by forestry initiatives by next year. By 2030, Samsung aims to use 500 thousand tons of recycled plastics and collect 7.5 million tons of discarded products (both cumulative from 2009).
“Samsung Electronics is stepping up in addressing society’s environmental issues such as resource depletion and plastic wastes,” said Gyeong-bin Jeon, head of Samsung’s Global Customer Satisfaction Center. “We are committed to recycling resources and minimizing pollution coming from our products. We will adopt more environmentally sustainable materials even if it means an increase in cost.”
Samsung isn’t the only tech giant that has made efforts to lower its impact on the environment. In 2017, Apple released its “Paper and Packaging Strategy,” which outlined the company’s strategy in limiting its effect upon current and future forest resources.
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