Samsung will mine scrapped Note 7s for parts and rare metals
It will use some of its components on devices sent in for repair.
Samsung will kick off its Galaxy Note 7 recycling efforts this month and expects to recover 157 tons of rare metals from the controversial device. The phone's fiery history is pretty hard to forget, but to refresh your memory, Samsung had to pull it from shelves and discontinue its production after numerous reports of the model catching fire came out. Samsung has recently released refurbished Note 7s in Korea, but it still has to deal with a mountain of phones it won't be able to sell anymore.
It will now collect those devices' camera modules, chips and displays for use as replacement parts on phones sent in for repair. The company will also recover cobalt, copper, silver and gold from the phones that it can either sell or use in the production of its other phones. It plans to team up with both domestic and foreign companies for the recycling initiative, though it didn't name any of them in its announcement. Samsung won't recover the $5.4 billion in profit it lost due to the Note 7's failure by salvaging parts and metals. But by doing this, it's staying true to the promise it made back in March to recycle the devices in an environmentally-friendly manner.
