Google wants to make sure that its impact on the environment is a little less damaging. The company has announced that all Made by Google products will use recycled materials by 2022. In other words, Pixel phones, Google Home speakers, Nest devices, and more will all be built with recycled materials, according to a new report from Fast Company.
According to the company, it has already begun using recycled plastic in Chromecast devices, as well as in the fabric covering on Google Home devices, which is made from recycled plastic bottles. It’s important to note that while Google will be using recycled materials in 100 percent of its Made by Google products by 2022, it will not be building any entire product out of recycled materials — though, over time, the company will be able to use more and more recycled materials to build its products.
The move isn’t totally new in the tech industry. Apple now builds the aluminum cases for its MacBook Air and Mac Mini computers out of 100 percent recycled aluminum, and the company has even built a robot called Daisy that disassembles iPhones and separates recyclable materials for use in future iPhone parts. Samsung has made pledges to be more environmentally conscious too — the company promised to use sustainable materials in its product packaging earlier this year.
Using recyclable materials isn’t the only pledge Google made. The company also said that it would make all of its shipments carbon neutral by 2020. The work on that has already begun — in the Fast Company report, Anna Meegan, Google’s head of sustainability for hardware, said that the team reduced emissions by a hefty 40 percent simply by switching from air shipments to cargo shipments.
Google has a recycling program for customers — so if you have a Google device that you no longer need, the company will send a shipping label for you to send back those products. Currently, the program is only available in the U.S.
Tech companies have a long way to go before they’re truly eco-friendly, but companies like Google, Apple, and Samsung are continuing to make steps toward having less of a negative impact on the planet.
