Samsung has announced a Galaxy Sanitizing Services for 19 countries, so if you come in with a device needing repair, the team at the service center will sanitize it with UV light.

The service is free and uses UV-C light to keep your device clean without using any harsh chemicals. And it won't damage your device either, Samsung has done careful testing to make sure of that.

You can even bring non-Samsung phones in, the service center will still sanitize it for free. It takes just 30 seconds to kill 99.9% of germs on the device.

There are some restrictions for tablets and smartwatches, though, only certain service centers can handle them - check your local Samsung site for more info. We guess these devices require a different process as it takes 3 full minutes to complete.

Here are the countries where Samsung offers the Galaxy Sanitizing Service: Argentina, Chile, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Peru, Poland, Russia, Spain, Sweden, United States, Ukraine and Vietnam.

That's just the first wave, the service will be available soon in: Australia, Austria, Canada, Czechia, France, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Mexico, the Netherlands, Panama, the Philippines, Romania, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.

Samsung is also committed to reducing pollution and environmental damage, so it has partnered with Dutch textile firm Kvadrat to manufacture cases for the Galaxy S20+ and the Galaxy Watch Active2. Here's how it works: Kvadrat takes used plastic bottles (PET) and spins them into yarn. This yarn is then used to make cases for the Galaxy gadgets.

A single 500ml bottle has enough material for two Galaxy S20+ cases. The process is eco-friendly and results in less CO2 emissions than a traditional process (it also requires less energy and preserves non-renewable resources). Kvadrat has earned the EU's Ecolabel certification. More details on the process in the infographic below.

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