The encyclopedia · Product & Design · Technical decision · 2025
Samsonite turned 2,000 trade-in suitcases into school noise walls by an airport.
Samsonite's trade-in waste became 'Scholar Panel' noise walls that cut aircraft noise for students near Jakarta's airport by up to 40 dB.
Samsonite
the move
Schools near Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta Airport sit under frequent aircraft noise. By WHO standards the exposure can cause hearing loss and long-term health damage, affecting more than 2,500 students.
Samsonite also had an annual trade-in program gathering over 2,000 discarded suitcases that would otherwise go to landfill. Rather than either problem being solved separately, Dentsu Creative Indonesia combined them.
The 'Scholar Panel' uses 2cm recycled-luggage panels, a glass-fibre-reinforced concrete board and a steel frame, angled at exactly 30° to deflect the noise from planes flying at 6–7.5°, sending sound upward and reducing classroom noise by up to 40 dB.
It was installed with architects and acoustic consultants for Kamal 09 Elementary School. The result is that Samsonite's own waste stream became the material that reduces a community's noise — a sustainability outcome rather than just a campaign.
why it works
- Two problems (waste and noise) are solved by one material flow
- It uses the brand's own by-product, so it is not a separate CSR budget
- It fixes a real annoyance at its source instead of raising awareness
- Precision (materials, angle) makes it work, not just look good
what transfers
Don't choose between disposing of your waste and funding social good: your waste can be a material, not a cost. Match the by-product to a public problem it fits and you fix two at once.
what came after
The program improved the learning environment for over 2,500 students, the Indonesian government pledged to expand it to more schools nationally, and it generated about 975 million Indonesian rupiah of PR value with 101 million impressions.
references
- Samsonite's Scholar Panel
- Dentsu Indonesia teams up with Samsonite to reduce aircraft noise for school children
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