Sony has developed a flame-retardant recycled plastic material by optimally blending leftover plastic from manufacturing sites with a proprietary sulfur-based flame-retardant also developed by Sony. Known as “SoRPlas” (“Sony Recycled Plastic”), what's special about this new plastic is that it contains a high concentration of recycled material. For some time, Sony has focused on developing new recycled plastics as material for use in digital still cameras and other products. By using SoRPlas in the bezel face of a series of BRAVIA LCD TVs launched in March 2011, Sony became the first manufacturer in the world to increase the concentration of recycled material in its manufactured products to 99%(*). Sony anticipates that it will be able to reduce CO2 emissions during the plastic manufacturing process (including transportation) by around 80% compared with earlier products made using virgin plastic and conventional flame-retardants (as of February 2011).

*While averages vary, recycled plastics in the market tend to contain between 10-30% recycled content, with the remaining portion made up of virgin materials.