Manila, 30 March 2017 – After nearly five months of campaigning and
global protests, Samsung officially published its plan to deal with the 4.3
million Galaxy Note 7 devices produced and recalled worldwide following battery faults.
“People
around the world signed petitions, emailed Samsung’s CEO, demonstrated in
cities around the world, and finally Samsung has listened. This is major win
for everyone that took action, and a step towards shifting the way we produce
and dispose of electronics,” said Jude Lee, Global Senior Campaigner at
Greenpeace East Asia.
“While we welcome
this news, Samsung must share as soon as possible more detailed timelines on
when it will implement its promises, as well as how it intends to change its
production system to make sure this never happens again,” added Lee.
This company’s
commitment came within days from the launch of Galaxy S8, the first Samsung
phone to be released since the Note 7 incident. The phone will be the first
test to see how the company will apply these commitments to proceeding models.
In a public statement released on its website, Samsung committed to:
- refurbishing and selling the recalled phones or
use them as rental phones,
- detach salvageable components, such as
semiconductors and camera modules, for reuse or sale; and,
- extract metals using “environmentally friendly
methods”.
The IT giant also
claimed it will be joining a new research
conducted by the European Union aimed at developing a new environmentally
friendly technology to recycle smartphones.
“This is a very welcome
move from Samsung, being one of the world’s leading smartphone companies.
For them to accept every single Greenpeace demand to reuse the almost new
components and those that have the highest environmental costs, push for efficient disassembly and more effective recovery
systems, among others is a step in the right direction and is truly what
we call true innovation,” said Abigail Aguilar, Detox Campaigner for Greenpeace
Philippines.
Electronics production,
including smartphones, is incredibly energy and resource intensive, according
to a Greenpeace USA report published in February 2017 on the impacts of
smartphone production since 2007. According to a United Nations report in 2014,
e-waste volumes from small IT products, such as mobile phones and personal
computers are predicted to rise globally to 50 million metric tons or more
every year in 2017. This represents a massive waste of resources, and a source
of contamination from hazardous chemicals.
In the Southeast Asian region, the International
Data Corporation (IDC) Asia/Pacific Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker estimates
the total smartphone shipments to nearly 28 million units in the second quarter
of 2016. Countries in the SEA region tracked by IDC’s local and regional
analysts are Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and
Vietnam.
In 2014, Samsung accounted for 13.3%
of smartphones shipments in the Philippines, second only to local brand Cherry
Mobile’s 21.9% market share. The growing smartphone adoption among Filipinos
drives the Philippines smartphone market to a high 20% year-over-year (YoY)
growth. This puts the Philippines as the fastest-growing smartphone market in
Southeast Asia to date.
A survey conducted by Greenpeace
revealed that the Philippines has the highest number of phones possessed by an
individual, with 6.76 mobile phones per capita. The countries surveyed include
USA, China, Indonesia, and South Korea, among others.
“Filipinos
being tech lovers have the power in their hands to influence Samsung to
transition from the current business model of producing tons of electronic
waste to closing the loop, tackling overconsumption and transitioning from
programmed obsolescence to repairability,” said Aguilar.
Greenpeace
will further push the tech sector in the coming month to rethink its impact on
the planet. The Galaxy S8 and best-selling models from 14 top IT companies’ will be scored to inform customers
on how repairable the phones are.
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