Sustainability in the S21 Series

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You may have heard of the three Rs of the waste hierarchy: reduce, reuse, and recycle. This means reducing the amount of waste we produce, reusing the products we already have, and recycling the ones we can no longer use. This of course applies to rubbish in general, but also to e-waste.

Samsung has long been committed to sustainability and are on track to meet our own demanding targets to collect 7.5 million tonnes of e-waste in addition to making use of 500,000 tonnes of recycled plastic by 2030. Such targets will be met by continually seizing more opportunities within our growing global operations, more information can be found in our sustainability report. 

Now Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S21 Series is doing its part to help reduce the amount of e-waste in the world. The S21 Series will come with just a USB Type-C data cable, but without a charger plug or earphones. USB-C is the most common type of charger for smartphones and other mobile devices, allowing for high speed data transfer and power flow, and it charges your phone more quickly. Since 2017, we’ve included USB-C charging ports with all our smartphones, which means that older chargers are fully compatible with the latest Galaxy devices. We encourage users to keep using the charging ports that they already have. Of course, if you need to purchase one, they are also available at an affordable price.

As well as reducing the amount of e-waste in the world, this initiative helps to reduce the amount of plastic that has to be produced and helps to extend the life of the Galaxy products that you have at home.

So, will Samsung exclude the charger plug and earphones from Galaxy smartphone packages in the future? The S21 Series is the first step in Samsung’s plan to gradually start removing the earphones and charger plugs from all our flagship smartphones in the future to continue our efforts to combat the e-waste crisis and to ensure more sustainable practices. However, for many users, the Galaxy A series is their first Galaxy smartphone, so they might not have all the Galaxy accessories that they need. To make sure that users can enjoy their new devices to the full, we will still include a charger plus and cable with Galaxy A series smartphones.

Reducing the amount of waste in the world, reusing the products you already own, and recycling the ones you can no longer use, are the three pillars of sustainability, and are now more important than ever.

What steps are you taking to reduce your impact on the environment? Let us know in the comments!

The Community Team  🤝

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