One billion handsets produced globally each year and only 10% recycled.
Average mobile phone user replaces their handset every 18 months. This has a big
impact on the environment; 36kg of CO2 is used to make one 90g phone. To reduce
the impact of the mobile phone it's time to rethink the materials mobile phone
are made of and the manner we recharge them.
The bamboo degradable mobile phone The bamboo is a degradable mobile
phone. When the battery, antenna and print board are removed the case can be
placed in compos and a few weeks later the case will begin to disintegrate.
Inside the case are bamboo seeds, these will start to grow and feet on the case.
After a few months the will turn in to bamboo plant which compensates the impact
manufacturing process the bamboo phone has on the environment.
Materials The case of the bamboo phone is made out two materials. Number
one is a bio-plastic which is derived from renewable raw materials such as corn.
Number two is bamboo which is a grass and can grow two feet or more a day. When
it's harvested, it need not be replanted, because it will grow a new shoot from
its extensive root system. So bamboo renews itself readily, unlike hardwood
trees, which, once cut, are gone forever. Bamboo is an endlessly renewable
resource.
Energy The inefficient recharging of the mobile phones has also an impact
the environment. We could save enough energy in one year to power 60,000
European when 10% of the mobile phone users turn off the electricity supply to
the chargers after use. The bamboo mobile phone can be recharged with muscle
power. The phone is equipped whit a cranking charger; a 3-minute cranking
session gives the phone enough power to make one call. This means the bamboo
phone never runs out of energy. The phone is also equipped with a monochrome
display to ensure maximum energy efficiency.
Green gadget The use of materials and the possibility to recharge the
phone whit muscle power give the phone a very low carbon footprint and reduce
the impact on the environment. This makes the phone "a green gadget"
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