CES 2022: Samsung to use 30x more recycled plastic, what did Google and Apple do in 2021?

Apart from introducing new technologies at Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2022, Samsung has announced its visual display business plans to use about 30 times more recycled plastics than it did in 2021, as part of a broader range of sustainability goals.   

Talking at the CES 2022 technology event underway at Las Vegas, Samsung also revealed that it plans to expand its use of recycled materials to include all of its home appliances and mobile products over the next three years.   

The company also said that its cardboard boxes can be transformed into cat houses, side tables and other furniture items in the future. These boxes are to be used for packaging home appliances and other gadgets.   

A remote control that runs on solar energy is also in the works. Called the SolarCell Remote, the device runs on electricity generated from radio frequencies from devices such as Wi-Fi routers.

“It will be included in more Samsung products – like new Samsung TVs and home appliances – with the goal of eliminating more than 200 million batteries from landfills,” said Jong-Hee (JH) Han, Vice Chairman, CEO and Head of Device Experience Division at Samsung, who gave the keynote at CES. 

Samsung also plans to make all of its TVs and phone chargers operate on near-zero standby power, so that products consume less energy when not in use.   

Companies play big on the S word  

Not only Samsung, Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, said during a recent earnings call on late October said that the company plans to remove all plastic from its packaging by 2025, thereby going carbon neutral by 2030.

Also read: CES 2022: Intel unveils new lineup of Alder Lake processors, new discrete graphics

“We’ve redesigned the packaging to eliminate the outer plastic wrap, which will allow us to avoid using 600 metric tons of plastic,” Cook said, referring to the packaging for iPhone 13, which has done away with plastics. 

An April 2021 study by Mastercard showed that about 54% believe it is important to reduce their carbon footprint since Covid-19, while 62% said companies need to behave in a more sustainable way now, more than ever.   

Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, had said in an October blog that carbon emission information will be brought to Google Flights, which will allow users to see associated carbon emissions per seat for every flight, and find lower-carbon options. Google maps has also been enabled with a fuel-efficient route feature, which it says could help save over a million tons of carbon emissions in a year.