Samsung

Samsung to replace plastic in product packaging with paper alternatives throughout 2019

Damien Wilde | Jan 28 2019 - 6:32 am PT

There is a great seismic shake in our raw material consumption levels in our favorite technology, brands like Samsung are helping take the lead by making product packaging more environmentally friendly throughout 2019 and beyond.

Under new company sustainability directives, Samsung will replace as many plastics in product packaging with paper or bio-plastic alternatives as possible. This change was announced in a Samsung blog post where the company explained that this decision will apply to almost their entire product line-up.

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.

Naturally, that will affect some of our most popular smartphones and Android-powered products but it also will apply to home appliances and many of the other Samsung-made electronics. Samsung will only use fiber materials certified by global environmental organizations like the Forest Stewardship Council, Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification Scheme and the Sustainable Forestry Initiative for packaging and manuals by 2020.

What this means is that we will see more paper pulp molds holding out tech products, plastic bags will either disappear entirely or we’ll see bio-plastic alternatives, as seen in the image above. Most likely, this change will take effect in time for the debut of Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy S10 family to debut, all packaged within more environmentally-friendly packaging.

For mobile phone, tablet and wearable products, Samsung will replace the plastic used for holder trays with pulp molds, and bags wrapping accessories with eco-friendly materials. Samsung will also alter the phone charger design, swapping the glossy exterior with a matte finish and eliminating plastic protection films, reducing the use of plastics.