Packaging for the planet
Sony audio, considering the environment
Under our Road to Zero and Green Management 2025, Sony is targeting a 10% reduction in the amount of virgin plastic used per product (excluding packaging) compared to FY2018. For over 10 years in audio, we have been improving the performance of recycled materials and using them in our designs.
Our continuing drive for superb sound and sustainability
Overcoming acoustic challenges with recycled materials
The sound quality of early recycled plastics was inferior to that of virgin plastics, and achieving performance that met our exacting standards with recycled plastics took years of effort and innovation.
Successful commercialisation of a soundbar using recycled materials
By testing various combinations of recycled materials and additives, and repeatedly evaluating prototypes, in 2016 we succeeded in developing a recycled plastic with acoustic performance as good as virgin plastic. This plastic was first used mainly in internal components of our soundbars, such as the HT-XT2 and the HT-NT5.
Building recycling into our product design
After many trials and prototypes, these recycled plastics have been used in a wide variety of products, including for internal parts in some of our TV products and high-power audio systems like the MHC-V13.
Creating new and advanced recycled plastics
We continue to develop new recycled plastics, to further increase their performance and expand the usability of recycled materials in our product designs.
Our latest development success is a new recycled plastic material which meets the requirements of flame retardance, colour stability, and acoustic performance, making it suitable for an even wider range of parts in our future audio products.
A new flame retardant recycled plastic
Flame retardance, required in electrical products, represents a significant challenge for recycled materials. Our new recycled plastic offers both high flame retardance and substantial use of recycled material.
Colour consistency and variation
Product designs should be visually appealing without compromising product quality and performance, but colour consistency is a significant challenge with recycled plastics. We are developing new recycled plastics made of homogeneous material, enabling easy colouring with a consistent colour tone, and making many types of colour variation possible in future products.
Pursuing high quality sound
Different materials “sound” different. The key to introducing newly-developed recycled plastics into products is how closely they can be made to approach the sound of existing materials. Through engineering the acoustics and structure while repeatedly evaluating the sound quality of various materials, we were able to achieve sound quality as good as that of existing materials.
Engineering the sub-woofer of the HT-S400
The new recycled plastic material was introduced in the sub-woofer rear panel of the HT-S400. This part is required to be flame-retardant, making it ideal for the deployment of the new material.
Engineering internal parts of the SRS-XE200 and the SRS-XE300
New wireless speakers, the SRS-XE200 and the SRS-XE300, also adopted the recycled plastic for internal parts.
Accelerating Sony’s sustainable audio
We will continue to develop recycled plastics that deliver high-quality sound, and to increase the use of recycled materials across a wide variety of our home and portable audio products. Our persistent innovation will bring you the highest-performing products, built with the environment in mind.
Interviews
Yuko Fujihira
Home Product Technology Department, Home Product Business Division, Home Entertainment & Sound Products Business Group, Sony Corporation
We have been working on the use of recycled plastics in home audio since around 2010. While improving their performance to a level that matches that of virgin plastics, we worked on design aspects, and made these recycled plastics usable in actual products. In 2016 we developed a recycled plastic, used for internal components in our products, which also takes sound quality into account.
However, further expansion of the use of recycled plastics required that we expand the scope of their application. The material that we have newly developed on this occasion is flame-retardant. During the development process, we pursued the idea of how closely we could approach the sound quality of the materials we used previously. By examining many configurations, repeatedly prototyping and testing strength, we were able to create a material that satisfied the sound quality and physical requirements of the product.
Tomoya Kato
Home Product Technology Department, Home Product Business Division, Home Entertainment & Sound Products Business Group, Sony Corporation
First, we developed a recycled plastic, focusing on the sound of the actual material itself. Aiming for a good-sounding material free of unpleasant or muddy tones, we repeatedly tested the sound of speakers made from recycled plastic while changing configurations.
The finished recycled plastic tends to be quieter than virgin plastic. Therefore, even after the recycled plastic was finished, a variety of design measures were necessary in order to use it in products. For example, to achieve an appropriate sound when it is moulded into components, we optimise the thickness of the moulded plate, rib structure and so on, to control resonance. In addition, the driver unit has been designed to give a light feeling. As a result of these measures, individual sounds that had been buried can now be heard, leading to increased sound resolution.
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