Earth-friendly and eco-minded design needs to reach all corners of the consumer market to ensure it makes as big an impact as possible. With that in mind, we’re having a look at LG’s new soundbars for 2022.

Electronics are intrinsically tricky to design with the planet in mind. For starters, they’re nearly always manufactured with plastic components. Then there’s the impact of their global supply chains, not to mention the vast quantities of phones, laptops and other electrical devices that end up in landfill each year as we upgrade to new models.

With its new selection of soundbars, LG is addressing some of these issues. Starting with those internal components, the South Korean company has found new use for post-consumer waste. These parts use a minimum of 9.5% to 13% recycled content, depending on the model.

The exterior of some models features a polyester jersey covering which is made from recycled PET bottles. LG estimates that it uses 1.5 million plastic bottles every year to create this jersey fabric, which seems like an astonishing amount.

Once the soundbars leave the factory, LG has found other innovative ways to reduce its impact on the planet. The products are packaged with molded pulp made with recycled paper and cardboard, replacing the standard Styrofoam. This switch reduces LG’s use of Styrofoam by 250 tons annually. The soundbars are then put into L-shaped boxes which reduces space used in transportation, reducing the number of trucks needed and therefore reducing CO2 emissions too.

When the soundbars are out of the box in your living room, they’ll continue being Earth-friendly. The energy efficient products are ENERGY STAR® certified and keep power usage to a minimum.

The resulting products are sleek and minimal, finished in monochromatic white or black and designed to fit into any home entertainment setup. Some models even feature AI processing to make the audio sound as good as possible, adapting to the devices you’re connected to and space you’re in.

Of course, with all consumer electronics, they don’t last forever, whether that’s due to malfunction and its given lifecycle or new technologies phasing them out. With this in mind, LG has a wide-ranging recycling program to keep their products from ending up in landfills.

LG quotes some very big numbers here. Huge amounts of plastic are recycled and huge amounts are taken out of the supply chain. But this is what we should expect when a large company like LG makes even the smallest change. The impact can be dramatic.

Take a look at some of the models on the LG website.