PlayStation Now (Image: Sony)
Sony’s new PlayStation 5 is boxed in packaging that is 93%-99% plastic-free by weight, according to Kieren Mayers, Director of Environment & Technical Compliance at Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE). Mayers wrote a blog-post to the SIE blog detailing how the PS5’s box is one step in the company’s pledge “to eliminate plastic use in newly designed small product packaging by 2025, and reduce the quantity of plastic packaging by 10% for other products,” which are both part of the company’s overall Road to Zero commitment, a plan to have zero environmental footprint by 2050.
Mayers explains that as well as being fully recyclable, the PlayStation 5 box avoids using plastic trays or expanded polystyrene by using card inserts and paper pulp cushions instead. Plastic cable ties have been replaced with paper. Plastic protection bags have also been replaced where possible. Also, Sony products with display windows on cardboard boxes have been substituted. Instead of using glue, the PlayStation 5 and other Sony accessory boxes are folded instead of being adhered by glue.
“We will continue to review innovations and technical possibilities to address plastic use in our packaging and products,” said Mayers, “as well as consider alternatives to plastic under our new global resource-efficient packaging design guidelines (covering resource use, recyclability, plastics use, chemicals in inks and adhesives, and use of recycled materials) developed and implemented with active involvement of our design engineers, marketing, and operations teams.”
Mayers also noted that Sony will be testing the use of polypropylene recycled materials from post-industrial waste in physical game cases in Europe throughout 2021.
Corporations are a cancer due to shrugged environmental responsibilities. The Earth is not suffocating by pollution because of litter. The Earth is dying because corporate entities continue to produce unethical waste and create air pollution in order to maximize profits. While I would never be comfortable complimenting a for-profit corporation, I’ll say Sony’s move will hopefully guilt other single-use plastic addicts like bottled-beverage industry to clean up their act.
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