Samsung Wins Environmental Protection Award for Recycling and Responsible Waste Disposal Initiatives

Two weeks ago, Samsung Electronics was recognized for its environmental leadership credentials in Russia with the Kommersant Initiative Golden Crane award. The award’s jury highly praised Samsung’s environmental initiatives in the field of disposition and recycling of electronics and presented Samsung with the first ever award in the Ecology category.

Kommersant Initiative recognizes the best corporate and individual projects across four categories: “Culture”, “Charity and social responsibility”, “Ecology” and “Individual contribution”. As part of the award, presented by the Kommersant Publishing House, two environmental projects by Samsung Electronics were honored. First is the installation of ecoboxes in the company’s service centers, and second is the “School of recycling: electronics” initiative created to raise awareness about protection of the environment and promote a responsible attitude towards waste disposal among students in Russian schools.

The “Eco Recycling” program was implemented in 2010 and includes the installation of special containers in Samsung service centers throughout Russia for the collection of recycled portable equipment such as smartphones, tablets and portable music players from the public and their subsequent disposal.

The large-scale federal environmental campaign “School of recycling: electronics” was initiated by Samsung Electronics at the beginning of 2018 in conjunction with the Foundation for Environmental Management, an NGO in Russia. The main goal of the program is raising ecological awareness, reduction of environmental harm caused by the disposal of e-waste, development of skills for environmentally responsible behavior, resource conservation, and separate collection of hazardous waste. As part of the campaign, over 400 participating schools installed ecoboxes where students can dispose of old batteries and accumulators. Ecology classes were also held for the pupils, where the children were taught about the importance of recycling electronics and the protection of the environment.

To date, over 500 tons of e-Waste have been collected by schools and municipalities as part of this project.

“Samsung Electronics is committed to protecting the environment at a global level,” said Rinat Nigmatullin, Head of Field Service Group, CIS Office, Samsung Electronics. “By paying attention to ecology at each design and production stage, we seek to minimize its negative impact on the environment in all areas of its activities.”