Sony debuts original sustainable packaging as part of its initiative to achieve a zero environmental footprint by 2050!

Brands across the globe have taken green initiatives to communicate to consumers their commitment to sustainability. While some companies are rolling out products with longer life cycles that reduce waste and overall consumption, other brands are seeking out sustainable building materials for their products and their packaging. Multinational conglomerate Sony has commenced its own sustainability effort by sourcing recycled paper goods and building material from locally grown annuals to replace their previous packaging, which came from mature perennial trees.

Sony’s Original Blended Material, the brand’s new sustainable packaging, consists of 100% paper material derived from bamboo, sugarcane, and post-consumer recycled paper. Whereas most paper packaging comes from mature perennial trees, Sony’s new Original Blended Material is responsibly harvested from annuals like bamboo and sugarcane, generating less CO2 in the process. Annuals, like bamboo, carry CO2 absorption and emission cycles that last only for one year, decreasing the perennials’ emission cycles that can last several decades by more than half. Similarly, the release of CO2 gas emissions given off from sugarcane fiber production for power generation is halted by using the fiber as one of Sony’s Blended Materials. While the bamboo and sugarcane fiber is both sustainably grown and harvested in local farms, Sony also cuts back on shipping and handling by incorporating post-consumer recycled paper goods into the Blended Material, giving packages a crisp, organic look.

Currently, Sony has developed the Blended Material specifically for their new WF-1000XM4 headphones, but future variations of the organic packaging accommodate differently shaped products by adjusting the construction formula. In addition to acquiring sustainably sourced building materials and cutting back on the effects of shipping and handling, Sony’s Original Blended Material ditches ink for embossed signatures and supplemental package coloring for a more organic look.

Designer: Sony

By adjusting the construction formula, Sony’s new Original Blended Material can be made to fit differently shaped and sized products.

Sony ditches ink for embossing their signature.

Without coloring, Sony’s Original Blended Material achieves an organic look.

Constructed for their new WF-1000XM4 headphones, Sony’s Original Blended Material echoes Sony’s initiative to eliminate plastic packaging from newly designed small products, an initiative set for their medium-term environmental target for ‘green management’ by 2025.