Later this week, Wednesday to be more precise, Samsung will host its first Galaxy Unpacked event of the year, where the new Galaxy S22 series is expected to be unveiled.
While the full array of features and elements of the flagship phones are yet to be disclosed, Samsung has offered up some details in terms of the sustainability focused new materials that future devices will be incorporating in the form of recycled fishing nets.
“In a move that combines sustainability and innovation, Samsung Electronics developed a new material that gives ocean-bound plastics new life as they’re incorporated into various Galaxy devices. Made with repurposed ocean-bound discarded fishing nets, the use of this material marks another step in our Galaxy for the Planet journey that aims to minimize our environmental footprint and help foster more sustainable lifestyles for the Galaxy community,” explained the South Korean firm in a blog post.
“Now and into the future, Samsung will incorporate repurposed ocean-bound plastics throughout our entire product lineup, starting with our new Galaxy devices that will be revealed on February 9th at Unpacked. These devices will reflect our ongoing effort to eliminate single-use plastics and expand the use of other eco-conscious materials, such as recycled post-consumer material (PCM) and recycled paper. With this transformation, the future of Galaxy technology will bring leading product design and deliver better environmental impact,” it adds.
This isn’t the first time that we have seen ocean plastics recycled to make new products, with adidas famously doing it for its Parley range of shoes. The same goes for Apple, which uses recycled aluminium for some models of MacBook.
Whether more recycled materials will feature in Galaxy phones, outside of some plastic elements, remains to be seen.
Our more pressing question though, is whether the steps that Samsung is taking for sustainability’s sake, will result in chargers returning to packaging for flagship devices.
We should see come this Wednesday.
