How Your Phone Materials Can Help Protect Our Oceans

We’re evolving the materials in Samsung Galaxy devices for a more sustainable future.

Plastic pollution is a threat to our oceans and marine life. You may think of single-use water bottles or grocery bags drifting on the ocean surface, but most of the plastic in the ocean are discarded fishing nets and gear. According to FAO, a staggering 640,000 tons of fishing equipment are abandoned in the ocean each year.

A staggering 640,000 tons of fishing nets are abandoned in the ocean each year

-FAO

Known as "ghost nets", plastic fishing nets pose a serious threat to our planet

If we don't take action on the discarded fishing nets, they will cause irreversible damage to marine life and our natural ecosystem. They would entangle marine life and damage coral reefs. Microscopic plastic fragments even make their way into our food and water.

Giving new life to old fishing nets

As part of our sustainability vision, Galaxy for the Planet, Samsung is preventing discarded fishing nets from entering our oceans, by recycling and using them in our products. According to the results of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) conducted by Underwriters Laboratories (UL), a global safety certification body, recycling ocean-bound plastics into Samsung Galaxy devices reduce carbon dioxide (C0₂) emission by approximately 25%, compared to regular plastics.¹ We plan to prevent more than 50 tons of discarded fishing nets from entering our oceans in 2022. In collaboration with industry experts, we’ve developed a way to repurpose the nets into reliable material for Samsung Galaxy smartphones.

Recycled as parts of the Galaxy S22 series

The Galaxy S22 Series is our first smartphone to incorporate recycled ocean-bound plastic. It incorporates a material made with 20% repurposed fishing nets in its key bracket and inner cover of S Pen.

Building a greener future together

Whether you’ve just started making sustainable everyday changes or are already championing a sustainable lifestyle, you can be sure that we are working toward that collective mission together. Integrating recycled fishing nets into Samsung Galaxy devices is another important step we’re taking to reduce our environmental impact. We're the first in the industry to repurpose discarded fishing nets and into the future, we will be incorporating repurposed ocean-bound plastics into all our Samsung Galaxy devices.

Everyday changes.
Meaningful impact.

It’s important to make sustainable choices in our everyday lives, including the products we purchase. By using a phone that includes plastic made from recovered fishing nets, you reduce the production of virgin plastic to lower the environmental impact of you high-tech lifestyle. When we all make everyday changes, we can have a worldwide meaningful impact and conserve our planet’s natural resources.

¹This evaluation was conducted by Hanwha Compound, a partner company of Samsung Electronics, which produces and supplies recycled plastic used in Samsung Galaxy devices.