our commitment. let's make it easy to recycle old sony products. for every pound of electronics we produce, we want to collect a pound.

a zero footprint by 2050

We measure the green credentials of our product throughout their life cycle — that means product design, procurement, manufacturing, transportation, use, and end of life product management. We set clear targets to protect our planet. We call it "Road to Zero."

* Road to Zero
* Learn more about ecotrade
* See the Sony 2010 report card on recycling

Recycling since 2007, we've recycled over 265 million pounds of electronic wastes in the US.

the billion pound challenge

We support the Consumer Electronics Association's "Billion Pound Challenge." It's the first ever industry-wide electronics recycling initiative to recycle one billion pounds of electronics annually by 2016. Sony Electronics has collected and recycled more than 53 million pounds in calendar year 2012.That's a 160% increase from 2007 efforts.

Visit our Trade-in and Recycling site at www.sony.com/ecotrade.

electronics stewardship

The National Strategy for Electronic Stewardship is an EPA led plan for responsible design, purchasing, management, and recycling of electronics in order to promote both the burgeoning electronics recycling market and future jobs in the US. Sony Electronics had proudly joined this collaborative effort in July 2011, committing to only using third-party certified recyclers in the processing of e-waste by July 1, 2012. Furthering this commitment, Sony signed up to the EPA’s Sustainable Material Management Electronics Challenge launched in September 2012. 2010 report shows 60,280,000 pounds collected for responsible recycling and an 11.6% increase in 2011 to 67,275,600 pounds. Click here for report.

green from the ground up we're committed to reducing the amount of energy we consume in the office, on the road, and in between.

Sony HQ

In 2010, the Sony Electronics headquarters in San Diego earned the prestigious LEED Gold certification – the foremost system for the design, construction, and operation of high-performance green buildings.

learn more

green power

For 2012, Sony Corporation of America is purchasing more than 88 million kilowatt-hour of green power – enough to meet an estimated 36% of these entitie's electricity use. Specifically for Sony Electronics operation in the U.S., renewable energy purchase is estimated to account for 74% of its electricity use in the U.S. While we continue to support the renewable energy through our purchase, we're working to lower carbon emissions at the same time by decreasing our energy usage and the greenhouse gases we emit, improving how we transport products and recycle wastes.

we love hybrid vehicles

We're converting our entire fleet over to hybrid, and eventually electric, vehicles. Out of the 676 vehicles used primarily by our field sales and service personnel, 522 of them are hybrids as of April 1, 2011. When all is said and done, we expect to have reduced CO2 emissions
by an estimated 38.1 metric tons per year.

reduce packaging

In an effort to reduce packaging, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (SPHE) launched a new environmentally conscious light weight DVD case. Designed to use approximately 20% less plastic than a standard-weight packaging, the new DVD case is estimated to reduce the carbon footprint by 20%.

In addition to the single disc light weight case, SPHE has launched additional light weight cases including the double disc DVD, single disc Blu Ray and double disc Blu Ray. All of the cases use approximately 20% less plastic than the cases previously used.

the product cycle from the packaging we design to the suppliers we work with, we optimize efficiency throughout the product life cycle.

shipping smart

We're reducing CO2 emissions by decreasing shipping weight. How? With lighter products and environmentally conscious modes of transport like modal shift and joint transportation. We're also working to optimize logistics supply chain efficiency, and simplifying parts packaging.

Smaller products get smaller packaging too. By cutting the amount of resources needed to create and recycle both products and packaging, we can increase the number of products we load into trucks, trains, or boat containers. Focusing on TVs and other large items, Sony's package design and product design teams are working on further improving transport efficiency.

suppliers & vendors

We've led the industry by establishing our own uniform, global standards for the management of substances used in products. Sony suppliers must fulfill the material requirements of our Green Partner Environmental Quality Approval Program by passing an audit to become certified Sony Green Partners. This ensures we maintain a uniform standard for our products around the world based on the most stringent laws and regulations.

We've also formed guidelines for internal consumption and purchasing and inquire with vendors about their own sustainability programs. Vendors that sell to Sony are requested to provide products bearing the "eco" mark as well as green options for office supplies, janitorial services, cafeteria services, technology, and more.

sustainable initiatives we have high standards for who we are, what we do, and how every action helps us realize a sustainable society.

corporate responsibility

We publish an annual CSR Report to communicate our work and key accomplishments from the previous year. It covers goals and sustainable practices in relation to our efforts in innovation, products and services, employee diversity, and the environment.

read the report

safety is a Sony standard

All Sony products are designed based on the Sony standard SS-00259, which defines restrictions of certain substances to ensure compliance with global regulatory requirements including the European Union RoHS Directive (the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment 2002/95/EC). The RoHS directive restricts the amount of certain hazardous substances such as lead and mercury in electronic products. By limiting these, Sony aims to not only help prevent harmful materials from leaching into our ecosystems, but also to help minimize potential exposure to these substances and promote easier recycling at the end of a product's lifecycle.

Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC), while not currently regulated by any laws that apply to its use in electronics products, may pose a risk to the environment if disposed of improperly. Similarly, some brominated flame retardants (BFRs) are harmful to our health and tend to remain in the environment and accumulate in living organisms. That's why Sony continues to promote the use of alternative PVC and BFRs and has successfully eliminated them from various applications including all product packaging and the following products (excluding accessories) as of April 1, 2011:

  • VAIO Laptops
  • WALKMAN MP3 & portable CD/DVD/Blu-ray™ players
  • nav-u GPS
  • Reader™Digital Books
  • PSP®
  • Handycam Video Camera
  • Cybershot Digital Camera
  • IO Recorders/Portable Radio REcorders/Linear PCM Recorders
  • Bloggie™ HD Snap Camera
  • S-Frame Digital Photo Frame
  • Interchangeable lens digital camera "α"

sustainable and certified

Since the early 1990s, Sony Electronics has focused on a variety of environmental activities. In 2001, all sites obtained the third party certification of a Green Management system under ISO14001 standard. In 2006, Sony transferred these certificates to a group-wide certificate, in order to streamline and better reflect its goals and plans for the site environmental management system.

supply chain CSR management

In addition to the quality of the products it delivers to consumers, Sony also ensures appropriate standards for the environmental, human rights and labor conditions throughout its production processes. Sony has established Sony Supplier Code of Conduct based on the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC) Code of Conduct. With Sony Green Partner program and the code implementation process, Sony works with its suppliers to ensure Sony's expectations on proper CSR standards are adhered to.

In addition, there has been increasing stakeholders' concern on environmental degradation, human rights violation and labors issue related to the extraction of metals essential in the manufacture of electronics products. Also, there has been raising concern of those metals relating to financing armed group and which is potentially seen as relating to conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and its adjoining countries.

Sony is taking steps in response to the issue of conflict minerals, first to identify certain minerals used in Sony products, as well as the respective supply chains thereof. Utilizing this information, Sony will review a framework and measures to be included in its fundamental policy to establish systems and implement measures necessary to eliminate such conflict minerals - the greatest possible - from its supply chain. Recognizing that such issues are common across the electronics industry, Sony is participating in the development of an industry-wide framework, spearheaded by the EICC/GeSI, and utilizing such framework in the process.