Sony officially started the “Green Management 2025” (GM2025) in April 2021. It is a five-year plan to achieve Sony’s Road to Zero plan (to 2050). GM2025 has a goal to gradually reduce the amount of plastic in portable product packaging until the use of plastic reaches 0%. For every year, Sony has set mid-term environmental goals. So it’s quite interesting to take look at this year’s results.
Eliminate plastic from Xperia packaging
- The numbers above are the proportion of plastic used in a single package of global product models (in percentage by weight).
- Changes from 2018 to 2019: Sony replaced plastic molded pallets with pulp pallets and plastic molded gaskets with cards.
- Changes from 2019 to 2020: modify the structure of the packaging box; reduce the use of materials, including plastic (mainly PP1 film).
- Changes from 2020 to 2021: Sony replaced the film layer on the surface of the box with varnish, the plastic cover of the attached USB cable with a paper cover, and the film layer on the surface of the sticker with varnish.
Also Read: iPhone 13 Packaging Has Changed For The Sake Of Environmental Concerns
Eliminate single-use plastic
As part of the sustainability drive, Sony said it is reducing the use of plastic in packaging by eliminating plastic accessories or replacing them with paper materials. For example, replacing the plastic film layer of Xperia 1 III with a wear-resistant varnish, and replacing the plastic sleeve of the USB cable with a paper sleeve.
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- Film layer → wear-resistant varnish
- Plastic film → paper
- Plastic → cardboard or pulp
- Stickers
- USB cable plastic sleeve
Choose materials carefully and avoid bleaching
The trays in the smartphone packaging boxes use discarded pulp from the factory through a specially created custom mold. In order to achieve the desired white color, Sony has carefully selected the pulp. It also does not require bleaching.
Keep product protection and packaging functions
- Plastic → Paper
- Plastic pallets are eliminated
In this regard, let’s see what Tomoyuki Nishizaki, Sony’s Packaging Design Engineer says:
“Environmental consciousness is on the rise. Marine pollution caused by the inappropriate disposal of single-use plastics has recently been receiving media attention, and Sony’s medium-term environmental targets (Green Management 2025) include the reduction of plastic packaging materials as a priority. Environmental awareness has long been one of our Xperia packaging design themes. We are working to eliminate or replace plastic packaging materials for Xperia, while maintaining the required performance. For example, with the 2019 model, we switched from moulded plastic to moulded pulp packaging trays, and removed plastic from the packaging while maintaining the unboxing experience. We are the Mobile Communications Business Group are working on achieving the total elimination of the remaining plastic packaging materials within the next few years.”
