Sonos has announced plans to make its speakers and other products use less energy and last longer. The move is part of the company’s long-term strategy towards sustainability with an emphasis on mitigating e-waste as well as climate-change driving pollution.
A big part of Sonos’ new strategy is to increase product lifespans by making its devices easier to recycle and repair. This year, for instance, Sonos introduced a program coined as ‘Design for Disassembly’, that will involve swapping adhesives with fasteners and will make it easier for consumers to repair the products.
However, there is not much information on this program yet. The company is yet to disclose the availability of the repair manuals and replacement parts as well as the details on the practicality of the product repairs.
According to Deji Olukotun, the Director of Policy and Corporate Social Responsibility at Sonos, the program will make it easier to refurbish, repair, and ultimately recycle the company's products.
Meanwhile, Sonos is also planning to start utilizing post-consumer recycled plastic for all of its products by the end of 2023. This could help in avoiding some plastics from ending in oceans, landfills, or the bellies of animals.
The company claimed that all of its products will comprise of ‘sleep mode’ by 2023, a feature that will minimize power consumption when the device is in an idle state. While some of its rivals have already adopted the sleep mode feature on their products, Sonos recently introduced this feature on its Roam speaker, with an additional aim to use less than 2 watts in the idle state across all its products.
It appears that Sonos is addressing its biggest source of climate-changing CO2 emissions by making its speakers more energy-efficient. According to the company, around 75% of its carbon footprint comes from its products over its lifetime.
Sonos is also setting some long-term goals for tackling climate change. The consumer electronics giant aims to curb emissions across its product suite by at least 45% in two decades.
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https://www.theverge.com/2021/12/8/22822858/sonos-speakers-repair-recycle-energy-emissions