Going green is a trend and a choice of lifestyle that millions are now adopting. Recognising eco-conscious consumer drive for sustainable products and in conjunction with World Environment Day, Samsung continues to focus on sustainability and prioritise its environmental efforts across the business.
In Samsung’s effort to reduce greenhouse emissions and ever since announcing the Samsung Environmental Declaration in 1992, Samsung has been committed to reducing its plastic footprint. It has since implemented various environmentally responsible policies to raise awareness of the impact of packaging and electronic waste on our environment. They have long used recycled materials in the rear covers of monitors and signage and now plans to expand their usage to even more components across its product portfolio.
In its bid towards eliminating plastic waste, Samsung has embarked on a sustainability journey that puts the environment first in all business operations with several long-term sustainability programs that include sustainable packaging design, solar cell-powered remote controls, and reducing carbon footprints through the use of recycled materials.
Samsung’s Innovative Eco-Friendly Packaging
Last April, Samsung introduced its new ‘Eco-Packaging’ – a new kind of product packaging that facilitates the upcycling of the boxes that come with the company’s global lifestyle TV models, which include ‘The Frame,’ ‘The Serif’ and ‘The Sero’. This packaging is also available for the majority of the 2021 NEO QLED line.
The special cardboard boxes are designed to allow consumers to upcycle the packaging. Consumers can use their imagination and creativity to use the carton to build the items they need; for example, they can be built into a small coffee table or a pet hut. To facilitate the transformation, Samsung also included a manual in the product packaging. By scanning the QR code, users can unlock more transformation cardboard skills and make a magazine shelf or a storage box with ease.
With this initiative, if each 2021 TV Eco-Packaging Design box is repurposed as an interior prop, we can expect to reduce up to 10,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually.
Striving for Sustainability Through the Smallest Details
With its 2021 line-up of 4K and 8K QLED TVs, Samsung has introduced a new Eco Remote Control to reduce its environmental impact. When exploring ways to make remote controls more eco-conscious, the focus was given to the disposable batteries, whereby they can be recharged through indoor lighting or even a USB if needed.
From the front, it does not seem to be any different from a normal remote control. But if you turn to the back, you will see a long and narrow photovoltaic panel, which means that the remote control supports charging the built-in battery when it is not in use.
To further bolster power consumption reduction, some 2021 Crystal UHD TVs also come equipped with a power-saving remote control that can reduce power consumption by 80%. Together, these innovative remote controls are set to prevent the wastage of approximately 99 million AA batteries over seven years of TV usage, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 14,000 tons in the same duration.
Raising the Range of Recycled Materials in Product-Making
Samsung has long practised eco-conscious business management and has been developing eco-conscious products and technologies for several years. The company can produce high-quality products using recycled materials while still keeping unit prices at manageable levels. With its Lifestyle TV line-up, eco-conscious materials are used in the company’s monitors, signage stands, and back covers. Samsung aims to incorporate even more recycled materials across the company’s visual display product portfolio.
In doing so, it is anticipated that over 500 tons of greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced over the estimated 7 years of the TV’s usage. Samsung’s safety- and environmentally conscious eco-packaging and design has gone beyond lifestyle TVs and is now being applied across the company’s entire 2021 TV line-up. The long-term goal for the company is to encourage consumers to contribute to environmental conservation in any way they can. At the same time, Samsung TV was awarded the title of "Most Environmentally Friendly Product" by the world-renowned consumer magazine "Reader's Digest" in Russia. The "Most Environmentally Friendly Product" annual selection result was voted by nearly 27,000 consumers from 15 European countries. The award is mainly due to consumers' dual recognition of product technological innovation and environmental performance.
Placing the Planet First – Acting Now for a Sustainable Future
Through its efforts, Samsung’s 2021 Visual Display products, equipped with eco-friendly features, are expected to reduce 25,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions – a figure equivalent to the absorption of greenhouse gases by 3.8 million 30-year-old pine trees over a year. By removing plastic packaging from its products and incorporating more recycled materials, Samsung is placing the planet first, working towards creating a sustainable future for all with eco-friendly designs that ultimately still have the consumer at their core.
