At a glance 23 May 2023 2 min

Samsung Galaxy S23: sustainability at the heart of performance

Designed to be more environmentally friendly, all three versions of the new Samsung Galaxy S23 are made from 80% recycled plastic (20% from fishing nets) and 22% recycled glass.

In 2010, the first Galaxy phones from Korean giant Samsung were launched, and since then they have continued to evolve. With a more powerful processor, a better camera and new display technologies, the Samsung Galaxy symbolises the technological evolution of Android smartphones over the years.

Combining high performance, power and durability.

While the S23, the latest addition to the range, stands out for its sleek design and ever-improving functionality, it is above all a showcase for the Korean company’s environmental strategy, which aims to make technology more environmentally friendly at every stage of the product life cycle. This means making products that are designed to last longer and incorporating more recycled materials into a larger number of components.
This makes the S23 the Galaxy smartphone with the highest number of components made from recycled materials to date, with 12 internal and external components made from recycled materials, compared to the previous model with only 6 internal recycled components. The range of recycled materials used is also expanding, with pre-consumer recycled aluminium and glass and post-consumer recycled plastics from discarded fishing nets, used PET bottles and discarded water barrels. All of this comes in a redesigned package made from 100% recycled cardboard.

Sustainable solutions based on recycled materials

Pre-consumer recycled materials come from manufacturing sources, such as materials from industrial waste (manufacturing offcuts) or recalled products that have not been used by consumers. The most visible part of the device, the screen, as well as the back of the smartphone, are now made of 22% recycled glass. The exterior of the volume and power buttons and even the SIM card drawer is made of recycled aluminium. The inside of these same buttons is made from large recycled water barrels, while used PET bottles will be used to make the back glass and the protective film of the smartphone.
The discarded fishing nets were collected by Samsung’s partner and local fishermen within a radius of about 50 kilometres of the Indian Ocean coast, in communities or areas where waste management is non-existent or very inefficient. They were then processed into Akulon® RePurposed, a high-performance polyamide that is now used in the Galaxy S23 speakers.

Promoting the circular economy through the integration of recycled materials

The Korean giant is now committed to recycling these ghost nets for its entire product range: “By continuing to increase the amount of recycled material in Galaxy devices, we are helping to reduce our impact on the environment. Specifically, the use of recycled ocean plastics in the Galaxy S23 series could prevent more than 15 tonnes of used fishing nets from entering the world’s oceans by the end of 2023, helping to reduce ocean pollution.”
At the end of 2022, Samsung won the Sustainable Product Award for its innovation based on recycling plastic waste recovered from the oceans and incorporated into Samsung Galaxy products.
The company has set an initial series of targets to be achieved by 2025 to reduce its environmental footprint and optimise the use of resources from design to end-of-life for Galaxy products.
And by 2050, it aims to use 100% recycled plastic in its smartphones and plans to completely eliminate plastic from its packaging by 2025.

More information:
www.samsungmobilepress.com

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