Sony has developed a proprietary, sustainable, wood-pulp-free paper material for their packaging. The stuff is made using recycled paper as an ingredient, which you'd expect any company with a sustainability initiative to do, but additional fibrous material was required to develop the requisite stiffness. Rather than use virgin wood pulp, which is typically harvested from perennials (trees that take many years to grow and replace), the company incorporated fiber from bamboo and sugarcane, which are annuals. Annuals are, obviously, fast-growing and easy to replace.
Additionally, "Production from annuals generates less CO2, growing and pruning as needed, compared to the logging and life-cycle care for perennials," the company writes.
They're calling the stuff Sony Original Blended Material, and have designed it to be flexible in application; it can be formed "into a variety of shapes by repeatedly adjusting the formula."
"Sleeves, outer box, inner box, cushions...everything is 100% Sony Original Blended Material. It is a versatile material that can be molded and used for a variety of purposes."
The material takes embossing well, allowing for no-ink branding. Additionally, the material is left uncolored "to retain an appealing organic look, in addition to offering safer handling and lower resource use."
Lastly, it can be recycled in the same manner as regular paper, so there's no additional sorting nor special facilities required to reprocess it.
The material will be used for the packaging in Sony's forthcoming WF-1000XM4 noise-canceling wireless earbuds, which roll out next week.
I’m a lapsed industrial designer. I was born in NYC and figured I’d die there, but a few years ago I abandoned New York to live on a farm in the countryside with my wife. We have six dogs.
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Sony Develops Sustainable Paper That Isn't Made from Virgin Wood Fibers
The title seems misleading. The "blended" material is a combination of recycled paper AND virgin bamboo fiber.... this material is not made from 100% recycled content.