Samsung to ditch plastic packaging for eco-friendly materials

Contributing towards sustainability and eco-friendly environment, Samsung has announced that it will replace its plastic packaging with paper and other elements.

Samsung said that from the first half of 2019, the packaging currently used for Samsung’s products, ranging from mobile phones and tablets to home appliances, will be replaced with environmentally sustainable materials like paper and the re-cycled/bio-based plastics.

“To revamp product packaging, Samsung Electronics has formed a task force involving design and development, purchasing, marketing and quality control for innovative packaging ideas,” wrote the tech giant in a recently published blog post.

For its mobile phones, tablets and wearable products, Samsung will substitute plastic used for holder trays with pulp molds, and bags wrapping accessories with eco-friendly materials. It will also change the phone charger design, replacing the glossy exterior with a matte finish and eliminating plastic protection films, cutting down the plastic usage.

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Meanwhile, the plastic bags used for safeguarding the home appliances like TVs, ACs, refrigerators, and washing machines, along with other kitchen appliances will also be replaced with bags containing recycled materials and bioplastics, which are respectively ‘made from plastic wastes and non-fossil fuel materials like starch or sugar cane’.

Furthermore, under the company’s circular economy policy, Samsung has set a mid-term implementation plan to use only paper packaging materials certified by global environmental organization by 2020. By 2030, Samsung aims to use 500,000 tons of recycled plastics and gather 7.5 million tons of discarded products.

“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.”