From Samsung to Google, CES unveils circular tech strategies

CES 2024 saw the announcement of responsible technology initiatives by top companies such as Google, Panasonic, and Samsung, demonstrating a significant shift towards environmentally friendly solutions. It was all about showing that you support the circular economy by using recycled materials in various electronic products, such as screens and gadgets.
Google, Panasonic, and Samsung are leading the way
Electronic behemoths including Panasonic, Samsung, Sony, Lenovo, and LG made a commitment to enhance their e-scrap processing and include more recycled content into their products as part of the Consumer Technology Circularity Initiative (CTCI), an initiative encouraging tech businesses to reduce their waste.
In 2024, Google and Samsung reiterated their support for the circular economy during CES. Google took a stance in favor of the Right to Repair movement, enabling users to mend devices themselves and cutting down on waste. Similar to Google, Samsung emphasized the need to “reduce, recycle, and reuse” throughout the event, devoting a sizable section of its keynote address to environmental initiatives, particularly its advancement of resource circularity.
This also includes Palm Shaver, which substitutes plastic with Nagori, a sustainable substance made from marine minerals. Mitsubishi Electric Group introduced a recycling disco at CES to showcase the recycling technology it uses to reuse and recirculate plastic waste. As the first company in Japan to reset plastic materials on a mass scale using static electricity separation technology, this innovation has helped to mass recycle a wide variety of plastic products.
LG’s announcement in its CES:
The international electronics business LG Electronics stated in its own CES announcement of the program that it will be collecting 53 million pounds of e-scrap in the US by 2023. As a part of its e-waste recycling plan, those gadgets will be handled by e-stewards and R2-certified recycling organizations. With a goal of using 600,000 metric tons of recycled plastics in goods over all by 2013 and a 95% trash recycling rate at manufacturing facilities by the same year, LG said that it is increasing the usage of recycled plastics in 19 product categories. Samsung demonstrated how it is providing refurbished phones through initiatives like 35 renewed and Galaxy Upcycling, which encourages users to reuse or repurpose old phones.
A recent release of its new Group-wide Circular Economy Policy, which focuses on several important circularity principles like maximizing the product lifeline, minimizing the use of materials, and extending the use of recycled and renewable materials, places Panasonic among the signatories to the new CTCI pledge.
Computers produced by Lenovo and Acer also lead to a recycling process
Transitioning from tactics to goods, two of the largest PC manufacturers globally, Lenovo and Acer, appear to be exceedingly advanced in circular economy concepts, particularly with regard to the utilization of plastics. Lenovo is embracing a circular economy by implementing innovations in its supply chain, product design, and services, with the goal of attaining net zero machines by 2050. By 2022, almost 300 goods made by the Chinese business will incorporate closed-loop recycled plastic.
The business showcased a new line of yoga laptops at CES 2024 that have at least 90% PCC plastic in the power adaptor casings. recycled aluminum in the chassis, and 50% recycled aluminum in the base cover. This furthers the company’s commitment to minimizing, reusing, and recycling waste materials.
Since 2021, Acer has led the way in sustainability with its Vero laptop brand. The company’s most powerful carbon-neutral AI PC to date, the Aspire Vero 16, was presented at CES. A substantial reduction in carbon dioxide emissions during manufacture is achieved by the design chassis, which is composed of 60% PCR components. The Acer Aspire Vero 16’s inside has an OceanGlass trackpad composed of recycled plastic that was meant for shipping across the ocean, and the device is packaged entirely of recycled materials.