Why it matters: It's always satisfying to find another use for an item you thought was meant straight for the bin. Making stationery holders out of empty jars or bird feeders out of plastic bottles not only helps with recycling but makes for a productive afternoon of fiddling around with household items and fashioning something useful, decorative, or both. Samsung wants buyers of its Lifestyle TVs to do the same, with eco-packaging that can be reused to make small tables or pet houses, instead of consigning it to the waste bin or adding it to that dusty pile of boxes in storage.
Unpacking goods, especially electronics, is an exciting experience for techies where the activity usually ends with discarding the cardboard box after their pet has had its fun with it. Some companies, however, ship their products in interesting eco-friendly designs to reduce their environmental footprint and raise consumer awareness about wastage.
In the case of Samsung, the company's new 'Eco-Packaging' for its Lifestyle TVs comes with a corrugated cardboard design that lets buyers shape the packaging into small end tables, magazine racks, shelves, or houses for pets.
Samsung notes that a dot matrix design is applied to the boxes of its Sero, Serif, and Frame models for easy cutting, along with a QR code inside that customers can scan to open a getting started guide. The company has also partnered with Dezeen, a British lifestyle magazine, for a global competition aimed at awarding the most unique and practical designs, which will also be featured in its eco-packaging manual.
The idea is also a good reminder of tidying things up at home, where we are (and should be) spending almost all of our time these days. Household recycling can get the creative juices flowing, doesn't exactly require buying a Samsung TV, and can also help with passing the boredom after spending too much time gaming.