Drastic reduction of plastic packaging of headphones.

Starting period

2020

Description of technology and business model

Existing headphone packaging used blister packaging to directly show the actual product, making it easier to convey the product nature. At the same time, plastic was used for the trays and other parts of the packaging, so the use of plastic materials in the packaging of headphones sold around the world was drastically reviewed and replaced with paper packaging materials. The WF-1000XM4 truly wireless headphones, released in 2021 used paper packaging material for the entire package.

Targets and achievements

For existing headphone products as well, we are in the process of renewing the plastic in the packaging to paper material, and for those that have been renewed, the amount of plastic used in the packaging has been reduced by more than 90%, respectively, compared to the amount used before the renewal. For example, for MDR-EX15AP, the percentage of plastic material in the packaging has been reduced from approximately 96% to 3%. In addition, for WF-1000XM4 fully wireless headphones released in 2021, we have eliminated plastic bags, plastic trays, and anti-scratch plastic sheets, and used sustainable paper material "Original Blended Material" for the entire individual packaging. This will reduce the environmental impact and also , allow consumers to put the packaging materials out for collection along with other paper items without having to separate them. The WH-1000XM5, released in 2022, also uses the original blended material for the product box. 

URLs that introduce the initiative

https://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/eco/headphones