Samsung Galaxy S24 sustainability reach new heights with use of recycled cobalt and rare earth elements in manufacture

Samsung has been striving in making the world a better place and their newly launched Galaxy 24 series smartphones are one of their most impressive efforts yet in championing a greener, better world. At the recent Galaxy Unpacked 2024, the brand’s Galaxy S24 sustainability efforts in its manufacture and design were shared on stage by Inhee Chung, VP of Corporate Sustainability Center at Samsung Electronics.

Inhee Chung, VP of Corporate Sustainability Center at Samsung Electronics

Samsung Galaxy S24 sustainability efforts 

According to Samsung, the Galaxy S24 series which consists of the Galaxy S24, Galaxy S24+ and Galaxy S24 Ultra incorporate the use of recycled steel, pre-consumer recycled TPU and, for the first time ever in a Galaxy flagship device, the use of recycled cobalt and rare earth elements. 

Of note is the top of the line Galaxy S24 Ultra and the Galaxy S24+ that use a minimum of 50% recycled cobalt with the magnets in the stereo speaker systems made from 100% recycled rare earth elements. These materials were recovered from lithium-ion batteries or magnets that were discarded during manufacturing or from products that have reached the end of their lives. 

Galaxy 24 sustainability efforts even extend to the Corning Gorilla Armor glass protecting the Galaxy S24 Ultra that uses an average of 25% of pre-consumer recycled content in its manufacture while currently being the toughest glass protecting a smartphone display in the market.

The Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 used to protect the display and backplate of the Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S24+ displays have an average of 22% of pre-consumer recycled content sourced from discarded PET bottles in their manufacture.

This is also in addition to the use of 10% pre-consumer recycled TPU used in power button and volume rocker along with the use of plastic from recycled fishing nets which was also implemented in the prior Galaxy S23 series.

In addition to an increased percentage of recyclable material in the manufacture of the new Galaxy S24 series, Samsung is also using 100% recycled paper material for its packaging which is a continuation of their prior efforts in making their product packaging more sustainable since the Galaxy S21 series while also eliminating e-waste by removing redundant chargers from the box as many users already owned one anyway.

These efforts haven’t occurred overnight and were already underway two years ago with the Galaxy S22 “Two years ago, we introduced our first ever smartphone that applied recycled plastics sourced from discarded fishing nets. Since then we have used a wider variety of recycled materials in Galaxy devices like aluminium and glass in addition to recycled plastics. The Galaxy S24 series incorporates recycled steel, pre-consumer recycled TPU which is a rubber-like plastic, recycled cobalt and rare earth elements for the first time in a Galaxy device.” said Chung at Galaxy Unpacked 2024.

Samsung isn’t resting on their laurels though and they’re looking to incorporate at least one recycled material in all new mobile products spanning Galaxy smartphones, tablets, PCs and wearables in every module of their mobile products by 2030.

At present, Samsung is on track with achieving their 2025 goals that include eliminating all single-use plastics from mobile packaging, reducing standby power consumption of all smartphone chargers to zero, achieveing zero waste to landfill across global operations and the aforementioned incorporation of recycled materials in all new mobile products.

For prospective owners of Samsung’s new phone, arguably the biggest Galaxy S24 sustainability effort is their pledge to offer 7 years of security and OS updates which means that the phone remains in service longer than its predecessors which maxed out at 4 years of OS and 5 years of security updates. To wit, the Galaxy S24 sustainability efforts have been recognised with a UL ECOLOGO certification and a verified carbon footprint by The Carbon Trust.

If you’re considering Samsung’s latest flagship phones, you can check out our Galaxy S24 first look feature here, our Galaxy S24+ first look feature here and our Galaxy S24 Ultra first look feature here. You can also preorder the latest Galaxy 24 series on the official Samsung online store here which is ongoing until 6th February 2024 after which it will be available on store shelves nationwide..

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