Samsung will start recycling Note 7 phones this month

Korea – Samsung will recover an estimated 157 tons of gold, silver, cobalt and copper for recycling from the Galaxy Note 7 devices it took out of circulation due to safety concerns. The electronics company has announced it will collaborate with industry players in Korea as well as abroad to optimise the recycling of both metals and individual parts.

Samsung Electronics has declared its upcoming Galaxy Note FE device is designed to minimises waste of resources – especially rare earth metals – by incorporating parts from unopened Galaxy Note 7 phones. This includes components such as OLED display modules, memory semiconductors, and camera modules.

Meanwhile, the substantial share of recovered metals and parts sourced from used handhelds will be recycled starting this month.

A total of 4.3 million handhelds of the Note 7 smartphone have been manufactured, which are said to contain 730 000 kilograms (1.6 million pounds) of high-end materials.

According to Samsung, a primary objective is to find new ways to recycle materials from its products so it may ‘actively lead’ the tech industry in terms of recycling and environmental protection.