New Samsung phones built with recycled fishing nets

Samsung has announced its latest range of Galaxy smartphones – and there is an impressive move towards eco-friendly sustainability. Galaxy For The Planet is the branding given to the tech giant’s five-year plan to eliminate plastics in its packaging and to stop manufacturing waste going to landfill. The new Samsung phones have been manufactured using some recycled materials – including fishing nets, plastic water bottles and CD cases. The water bottles and CD cases are reprocessed and used in components. The fishing nets, made from nylon, are turned into polyamide resin pellets which are used in the manufacture of the brackets which hold the power key and the volume keys of the phone in place. The company expects this move to mean over 50 tons of fishing nets will be prevented from entering the ocean. Nearly 50% of ocean plastic is fishing nets. The catastrophic impact of these nylon nets on oceanic wildlife and the environment is increasingly documented. Nylon is a man-made polyamide (naturally occurring polyamides include wool and silk) and is a non-biodegradable microplastic. The nets deteriorate through use, and are eventually dumped (as they cannot be recycled, past a certain point of degrading). They trap fish, dolphins, turtles and other marine life, affecting the ecosystem. Later on they decompose into microplastics small enough to enter the marine life food chain – and therefore, eventually, the food chain of humankind. Environmental sustainability, and climate change, are massive topics which have been increasingly high profile, as people wake up to the fact that the activities of mankind are having a detrimental effect.