Samsung’s Noble Quest For E-Waste Reduction
April 23, 2021Like most tech companies out there, Samsung seems committed to reducing its own impact on the environment. The company estimates that over 50 million tons of electronic waste is thrown away each year but only 17% of that is actually recycled. This means that a great amount of our e-waste ends up in landfills.
It is thought that that e-waste figure will increase to 74 million tons by 2030. It’s a real problem that can have serious repercussions on our daily lives. Samsung is aware of this and as such, regularly engages in eco-conscious efforts. It also constantly tries to keep reducing its products’ impact on the environment.
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That’s why Samsung tries to expand their lifespan and spearhead efforts to recycle or reclaim said resources. As of May 2019, the company has managed to collect roughly 38,000 used phones since 2015. Then there’s also the upcycling campaign. Initiated in 2017, its purpose is to breathe new life into disused smartphones by utrning them into IoT devices.
Through the use of the SmartThings app, older hardware can be put to use as baby monitors, wireless cameras, aid eye health diagnosis and several other electronic sensory functions. It’s a way to deter users from disposing of their obsolete devices once they’ve upgraded to a new one.
Improvements are also being made to the processes involved in manufacturing new devices. The latest S21 Series devices are shipped without a power brick. Samsung says that the decision will help reduce e-waste. That’s not all, the omission of the charging brick allows for smaller and more compact packaging, so more of them can be shipped at any given time.
Related Article: Make Your Old Phone Useful Again With Samsung SmartThings App
Like Apple, Samsung is also involved in various initiatives to reduce its environmental impact on our planet. Both companies pump in millions of dollars to hasten efforts to reduce carbon emissions as they work to be zero-carbon companies in the near future.
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