Due to its versatility, plastic is used in many of the products we use every day, enriching and becoming an indispensable part of our lives. At the same time, the waste amount of plastic is increasing in proportion to the growing production amount, posing threats, such as global warming and marine pollution, to our precious natural ecosystems.
Amidst the urgent task of accelerating the circulation of plastic resources, Sony is working to overcome these issues and accelerate realization of a circular economy both through collaboration within Sony Group and with other companies.

Addressing plastic resource circulation
through intra-Group collaboration

In the cycle of plastic resources, recycled plastics are essential. To give an example with Sony's products, the "Earth Blue" color of the LinkBuds S truly wireless earbuds uses recycled water bottle materials, while the soundbar utilizes a unique recycled plastic that is conducive to creating high-quality audio products.
As part of these efforts, Sony is increasingly using SORPLAS™, a flame-retardant recycled plastic with high durability, in products.

By incorporating Sony's original additive that exhibits high flame retardancy even in small quantities, SORPLAS achieves a higher utilization rate of materials recovered from the market than conventional flame-retardant recycled plastics. Despite this high utilization rate of recovered materials, SORPLAS can also retain the excellent gloss applicable to exterior parts of products which are usually difficult to be made with recycled plastics because of its certain quality control. Moreover, adjusting the mixing ratio of various additives allows for tailoring to specific capabilities such as high strength, impact resistance as well as high flame retardancy, enabling use in a diverse array of products.

"Aiming to expand the use of SORPLAS to reduce environmental impact while introducing it into large scale products as a means of helping us to achieve this goal, has truly been a continuous process of trial and error." said Akito Kuriyama, who oversees SORPLAS development as a technical leader at SORPLAS Business Office, Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation.

"Becoming able to introduce SORPLAS into large scale products like televisions could further reduce the use of virgin plastic. An important capability for large scale products is maintaining 'fluidity' so that it can easily fill molds with large surface area. On the other hand, formulating compounds that combine this with the equally necessary strength and flame retardancy is very difficult. We had to try many times to find the right balance between strength and fluidity, which are in a trade-off relationship."

Through these efforts, SORPLAS was first introduced in 2021 to a selection of 4K OLED TV for the rear cover, the largest TV part. In addition, all 4K HDR Professional BRAVIA Displays released in 2023 adopts SORPLAS for a part of internal materials.

SORPLAS utilizes waste from optical disc production in Sony's own factories as part of source materials. "By recycling within Sony Group, costly waste is transformed into high added value, and we thought this would enable an approach toward reducing the environmental impact by the entire Group," adds Kuriyama.
Accurately classifying waste is the most important step to convert it into high-added-value recycled plastic. According to Kuriyama, since the waste provided by Sony Group factories was well-sorted, contained no mixed different resins, and was of very high quality, it was easily incorporated into SORPLAS production.

Looking at the back of BRAVIA® using SORPLAS, you can find an engraving beginning with "SPL". This is a marker to instantly determine whether a product is manufactured with SORPLAS, which contributes an important role in product recycling.

"We decided to make this special engraving after consulting with the TV design team," explains Kuriyama. "The goal is to reliably identify products containing SORPLAS when discarded televisions are collected."
Planning the collection system since initial development phase is something Kuriyama had in mind, and he remains passionate. "With the aim of realizing the resource circulation of 'product-to-product' which is still rare in the world, we will steadily keep challenging step by step."

Achieving resource circulation systems with speed and accuracy
through collaboration with other companies

Sony's efforts regarding plastic resource circulation have entered our daily lives in another form - the automatic bottle collection machines ("reverse vending machines") installed in supermarkets, convenience stores, and other locations.
Developed and provided by TOMRA, a Norway-based company engaged in resource collection and recycling, the reverse vending machines boast excellent performance in identifying and reading data such as the shape, material, and barcodes of inserted a large number of beverage containers at high speed and with high accuracy, taking about 1 second for each bottle.

This high performance is made possible in large part by image sensors loaded with Sony's originally developed global shutter technology Pregius™, which are equipped in the cameras used within the reverse vending machines to scan and identify beverage containers. While conventional CMOS image sensors produce distortion when capturing objects moving at a high speed, making it difficult to discern information such as shapes and text, the global shutter technology can output the electronic signals of the subject at all pixels simultaneously, enabling the capturing high-speed moving objects without distortion and with high accuracy.

Pascal Flament, who oversees semiconductor sales & marketing in Europe at Sony Semiconductor Solutions Europe, emphasizes the value of the image sensor by saying, "Thanks to our technology, PET bottles can be reliably sorted to avoid foreign object contamination from other waste. This smooths the recycling experience for TOMRA users and enables securing recycled resources of high quality suitable for recycling."

Sony's image sensors support the performance of the reverse vending machines with high-level speed and accuracy technology, and this contribution extends to the logistics system of collection vehicles.
With conventional collection methods, plastic bottles discarded by consumers are collected by municipalities and then accumulated at intermediate processing facilities to separate them from other waste, which tends to make the transportation efficiency of resource collection vehicles rather low. However, with TOMRA's reverse vending machines, sorting can be done immediately upon collection thanks to the image sensors, eliminating the need to go through intermediate processing facilities. Furthermore, the ability to reduce the volume of collected items by two thirds allows for an increase in the amount of product that can be transported at one time. In addition to improving the operation efficiency of collection vehicles and lowering transportation costs, this also reduces CO2 production of vehicles involved in the process.

While aiming to reduce environmental impact through resource recycling systems, TOMRA is addressing the dilemma of CO2 emissions due to current system inefficiency. Introducing Sony's image sensors significantly contributed to the optimization of the logistics system, in addition to reusing resource value, supporting TOMRA's ongoing efforts to construct systems that are sustainable, both economically and environmentally.
Flament remarks, "There are so many environmental challenges in our society. We are looking forward to working with partners like TOMRA, who are highly committed to solving these issues, so that our technology can make as much of a contribution as possible."

Beyond Sony's relationship with plastics, a steady stream of efforts to build an optimal resource recycling system is emerging, both within Sony Group and through cooperation with other companies. Sony will continue to take on numerous challenges in its efforts to realize a circular economy and ensure a sustainable society.