The Eco-design Process considers a product’s environmental impact on the environment starting with the product design phase

The Eco-design Process is an environmentally-friendly evaluation method used during the product planning phase. We look thoroughly into a product’s environmental impact at each step -- from product design to logistics, distribution and take-back. Through this process, we identify a product’s particular features aligning with Environmentally Conscious practices like using a minimum of resources in manufacturing, eliminating unnecessary packaging, distributing efficiently, and recycling products effectively at end-of-life.
In the case of refrigerators, the Eco-design Process led us to replace ozone-depleting substance with Environmentally Conscious refrigerant. We also made technological progress through the use of a compressor that minimizes energy loss by quickly supplying only enough cooled air to keep food fresh. In these ways, the Eco-design Process enables Samsung Electronics to offer products that consider the environment while making life more convenient.

Samsung Electronics’ latest smartphone model Galaxy S10 boasts environmental features as well as excellent performance. Reflecting Samsung Electronics’ circular economy and environmentally conscious packaging policies, the Galaxy S10 not only has an excellent charging efficiency but also uses bio plastic, renewed plastic, and renewed paper. Also, we stopped using plastic packaging materials that were used for our chargers, headsets, and ear tips to join the plastic reduction effort, which has recently attracted the world’s attention. Acknowledged for their features, our products have obtained environmental certifications including the United Kingdom’s Carbon Trust Certification and the United States’ EPEAT (Electronics Products Environmental Assessment Tool) Certification. The large-capacity Grande Dryer boasts reduced drying time, power consumption, and standby power thanks to a hybrid method that uses both heaters and heat pumps. Furthermore, the product was designed in a way that enables disassembly with ordinary, easily obtainable tools, and its plastic components comply with the 100% material labeling rule to make recycling easy.

Environmentally sensitive substances in all products
are strictly managed To make them safe to use

Under the principle of “no compromise on environmental issues" Samsung Electronics closely manages environmentally sensitive substances. In line with tighter international environmental regulations, we have established the ‘Standards for Control of Substances Used in Products’ and have been conducting thorough preliminary inspections and follow-up management on all components and raw materials that are used. We have voluntarily formulated reduction plans for the use of not only restricted substances, but also potentially environmentally sensitive ones such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC), brominated flame retardants (BFRs), beryllium and antimony. All the while, we have been continuously reducing the use of environmentally sensitive materials in products.
Samsung Electronics has been proactively managing environmentally sensitive substances since 2004, two years in advance of the EU’s Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive. The impetus for establishing a stringent management system internally before the EU issued its Directive was Samsung Electronics’ management philosophy emphasizing the environment. Starting in 2005, we built a lab for analyzing environmentally sensitive substances and volatile organic compounds and we set up a self-monitoring system. Moreover, we were certified as an authorized testing lab by the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM) of Germany, achieving recognition for our credibility and expertise in chemical substance analysis.
Samsung Electronics acknowledges the environment as an important value for the future, and we have adopted our own standards that are stricter than international requirements in terms of hazardous substance verification and management. Our Hazardous Substance Management Standards are categorized into 4 classes and, accordingly, we examine and improve our products to make them safer and more environmentally conscious .