A major OEM increased the weight of e-scrap it collected in 2020, according to its latest sustainability report.
Samsung on June 28 released the analysis, which includes a variety of details on the company’s e-scrap collection and its own recycled material use.
Globally, the company collected 1.12 billion pounds of e-scrap in 2020, up from 1.06 billion pounds in 2019 and 926 million pounds in 2018. Cumulatively, the company has collected 10 billion pounds of e-scrap since 2009, the report states.
The company runs e-scrap programs in 55 countries, according to the report. In the U.S., Samsung runs voluntary take-back systems in all 50 states.
Additionally, Samsung reported it used 55.1 million pounds of recycled plastic within its consumer electronics division in 2020. This is used in areas such as the back cover of monitors, in mobile chargers and more. Company-wide, Samsung reported using 68.3 million pounds of recycled plastic in 2020. Overall, it has a goal to use 551 million pounds of recycled plastic from 2021 through 2030.
Beyond collection and recycled material use, Samsung briefly touched on repairability of its products. The report commented on a new repairability index in France, where Samsung reported receiving “the highly coveted dark green badge” for its devices.
“Reparability is one of the basic factors that we consider when manufacturing products,” the company wrote. “We conduct research to develop products that are easy to disassemble, cost-effective for repair, and are comprised of easily recycled parts.”
The report added that Samsung plans “to provide more information, such as repair manuals, to all of our consumers in the future, and continue our efforts to provide reasonably priced materials and facilitate the seamless supply of parts.”
