Samsung Announces New Sustainability Policy, Phasing Out Plastic Packaging Materials

[Raevenlord]

This piece of news is slightly off the beaten path for our usual coverage of solely PC hardware or gaming, but I think that Samsung's overall size in the worldwide market merits a headline. Sustainability efforts have been increasing for a number of years now (albeit slower than many of us would like), and Samsung, being the giant corporation that it is with threads in all sorts of product lines, has taken a bold step in achieving environmental sustainability. Plastic used for product packaging is being phased out with recyclable, environmentally-friendly products. Some plastic usages will be kept, though even those will see a revised, recycled-plastic or bioplastic materials.





Samsung has set-up a task force with the sole mission of overseeing design, development, purchase, marketing and quality control for innovative and environment-friendly packaging ideas. The plan has been devised by implementation tiers, with Samsung moving to paper packaging materials certified by forestry initiatives as soon as 2020. By 2030 and counting from 2009, Samsung aims to have used 500 thousand tons of recycled plastics and collected 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."

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[dorsetknob]

Samsung could help especially in the area of right to Repair
To much electronics these days is built to be thrown out if the product fails.
skematic's and a greater availability of replacement Parts at a Reasonable Price would go a long way to reduce waste

 

[FordGT90Concept]

Good, plastic clamshells are about the worst invention man ever came up with.

 

[eidairaman1]

Cost saving measure?

 

[Tardian]

Another success for the War on Waste. Good move Samsung. Now LG, Sony ...

 

[sam_86314]

I think rather than outright ditching plastic, companies should adopt plastics like PLA. It’s made from corn, is safe to burn, is biodegradable and compostable, and is easy to recycle.

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

Have to give Samsung kudos for even considering an effort to be environmentally friendlier. I expect to see more companies follow suit.

 

[remixedcat]

less plastic and less protection from the elements? nothxbai. they do that with too much and you wonder why shipping damage is bad.

also like sam_86314 said just use that kinda plastic.

the worst thing is certain feminine hygyne products have very thin plastic on the actual pad. very annoying. .. and the rest is tmi. lol.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Samsung could help especially in the area of right to Repair
To much electronics these days is built to be thrown out if the product fails.
skematic's and a greater availability of replacement Parts at a Reasonable Price would go a long way to reduce waste

Apple is in a bigger position as far as right to repair goes. AFAIK samsung dont actively go out of their way to stop you taking your samsung handset to a random phone repair shop to have them fix it.

Then you have Apple who have gone a little anti-consumer where it bricks your phone if it detects that one of the parts in your phone doesnt match their part numbers etc etc they have even gone as far as installing a chip in their macbooks that does the same thing which forces you to go directly to them for repairs regardless of how old the device is.

Its been well documented that these 'genius bars' actually know very little about the products and in a lot of cases will exaggerate whatever damage your device has received and been booked into repairs for, for their financial gain.

I watched a video where an apple customer took a macbook to the genius bar after the backlight or screen on her macbook died and nothing could be displayed. Apple charged her over $600 (I think it was closer $700 or maybe even $1000) stating some other damage like water damage had been discovered and thats what it would cost for all the repairs. So she took it to a guy called Louis Rossmann who fixed it for almost nothing. There was no water damage, there was no shorts or fried components, All it was, was the ribbon cable to the screen had come loose.

He has a channel on youtube He has reported on things like that more than once so im guessing its what the apple staff are taught to do.


Then there was that business with Linus Tech Tips. They kept flip flopping on if they would fix it or not, Apple staff would say yes but their supervisor would say no. When Linus tried to chase it up with head office they said they said it would be too costly to repair. Linus offered to pay for the entire cost of repairs which probably would of come to $8000 but they still said no and he couldnt order the part he needed from anywhere else because Apple would stop anyone on their partner programme from ordering parts which they werent qualified to fix.

Its a long story full of bullshittery from Apple but he finally managed to get a replacement part off someone, though the risk is that, if that person who is a legit apple partner and owns a repair shop gets discovered then he will be struck off the list and they wont allow him to repair Apple devices any more....

Its a long long story, but basically, Apple are the Mafia.

 

[bonehead123]

This should have been implemented a LONG time ago.....

but perhaps thats why the 3 phones I bought in Sept could have all fit in 1 box, but instead came in 3 separate, gargantuan giant boxes full of foam, plastic linings, covers, and wraps.... didnt seem very "sustainable" to me

 

[AsRock]

Samsung could help especially in the area of right to Repair
To much electronics these days is built to be thrown out if the product fails.
skematic's and a greater availability of replacement Parts at a Reasonable Price would go a long way to reduce waste

I thought they did help with needed parts, well for the most part

We do have a dedicated team to assist you with the information on the parts or accessories. You could contact them on 800.627.4368 ( Mon - Fri 9:00 AM ~ 8:30 PM EST )

And lets face it even if they didn't their be much higher than some others

 

[eidairaman1]

I think rather than outright ditching plastic, companies should adopt plastics like PLA. It’s made from corn, is safe to burn, is biodegradable and compostable, and is easy to recycle.

Hemp

 

[AsRock]

Hemp

Well if they used the hemp i am thinking of many more people be buying their products. but hey ii would class that as recyclable.

 

[eidairaman1]

Well if they used the hemp i am thinking of many more people be buying their products. but hey ii would class that as recyclable.

Containers could be made from that, and no, I'm no hemp/weed/pot user.

 

[sam_86314]

Containers could be made from that, and no, I'm no hemp/weed/pot user.

I think the BMW i3's door panels were made from some hemp-based material.

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

Well if they used the hemp i am thinking of many more people be buying their products. but hey ii would class that as recyclable.

Hemp is used in ropes and for many things, you will find examples of the unsmokable kind at your local shipping pier. Cannabis used as a packing material would suit me just fine.

 

[hat]

LOL, if they used hemp it doesn't mean you would be able to buy a phone and smoke the packing material

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

LOL, if they used hemp it doesn't mean you would be able to buy a phone and smoke the packing material

Sure it "COULD"!

 

[Vayra86]

Good, plastic clamshells are about the worst invention man ever came up with.

This. I am a very patient man, but plastic clamshells instantly send me into super saiyan rage mode. Mostly because I'm always too lazy to get scissors.

Hemp

Yep. It isn't rocket science... or maybe it was I suspect you know what I'm getting at.

LOL, if they used hemp it doesn't mean you would be able to buy a phone and smoke the packing material

It gets even better, there is also hemp you can eat or use as butter but it still won't have the desired 'effect' anyway

 

[AsRock]

Containers could be made from that, and no, I'm no hemp/weed/pot user.

Well no point in smokingg your profits .

Containers could be made from that, and no, I'm no hemp/weed/pot user.

Lighten up bubba , but yes i have seen the stuff used fairly often on the past but never with heavy items.

Hemp is used in ropes and for many things, you will find examples of the unsmokable kind at your local shipping pier. Cannabis used as a packing material would suit me just fine.

, my humor kinda failed huh, but like i was thinking in the other quote heavyier items would be were the real challenge is.

Peooplle need too stop buying soda and water, people care until they find out out what they need to do.