PlayStationhas announced that it will begin testing recycled cases for its physical games in Europe later this year.Sony’s announcement came with a lot of detailed information on its plan and the reasoning behind it.
The move follows other steps taken by PlayStation in recent years to improve its plastic usage, including using around 70% recycled PET plastic in the packaging of DUALSHOCK 4 controllers. Sony alsobrought some improvements with the PlayStation 5m which included replacing plastic cable ties with paper ones as well as substituting plastic display windows for closed cardboard boxes for PlayStation 5 accessories packaging sold in stores.
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In an official blog post, Sony announced that it will start using polypropylene plastic recycled from post-industrial waste for physical game cases in Europe. The move will help cut down the company’s plastic use even further, after it managed to get the packaging for the PlayStation 5 to be 93-99% plastic-free by weight. The move to less waste from physical game cases could have a large impact, as thePlayStation 5 is the top-selling console in the UK, meaning there are plenty of PlayStation gamers buying games in Europe. The move comes as part of Sony’s “Green Management 2025” plan that aims to eliminate plastic use in its packaging for smaller products by the year 2025.
The end of the blog post also reaffirms Sony’s commitment to improving its material sourcing and states that the company is not done making changes. The company says that under its new “global resource-efficient packaging design” guidelines it will work to innovate and review new possibilities to address plastic use in packaging. Other areas the company is looking to improve its sustainability efforts are recyclability, resource use, chemicals used in inks and adhesives, as well as increasing the company’s use of recycled materials on future products, likethe new PlayStation VR.
The changes that Sony is making here seem great, and hopefully, the test run of the new packaging will be successful so that it can be implemented in other regions worldwide. The company’s apparent dedication to commit to its sustainability efforts is a great example that should be copied across the games industry, and it will be worth keeping an eye out to see what other innovations and changes the company makes in the future. While many fans are stillunable to purchase a PlayStation 5, the current and future changes will have a large impact thanks to the console’s success and massive presence in the industry.
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