This is all a load of bollocks Rick, the world is going to hell and back FAST. Do you know they are developing biodegradable products with a seed inside them so when you're finished with it (or it packs in after 12 months and one day) you bury the f**ker and a plant grows. I mean, good god, this doesn't bode well for the future...... the planet will be full of crap electronics and bushes (bushes grown from biodegradable ipods) you won't be able to walk anywhere for all the bushes sprouting out of the ground. There's even talk of "edible" electronics.... oh god, pure madness..........
www.macsimumnews.com/index.php/archive/2733/"Motorola may be one of the first. They’re working on a cellphone cover that’s biodegradable and leaves in its place a sunflower seed. (Too bad Apple didn’t have such technology in place for the “sunflower” iMac G4)."
"As for the iPod line, will future devices be biodegradable? Possible. Heck, Apple could go step further and make its products edible. After all it sort of goes with the name of the company. And could lead to the return of various “fruit colored” electronics a la the original iMac."
Phone home on an enviro-mobileOne hundred million mobile phones are discarded annually in Europe. Each phone contains 25-50g of plastic, so that's up to 4,900 metric tonnes of plastic associated with mobile phones that is thrown away every year. Rapid changes in technology and consumer taste means that users constantly upgrade their phones, and mobiles are one of the most quickly discarded items of consumer electronics.
There is increasing pressure, however, on industry from environmentally-aware customers and policy-makers to find ways of recycling mobiles that are no longer wanted, and to have the option of an environmentally-sensitive purchase. Now research from Warwick University could provide the answer, with a biodegradable phone case with an encapsulated sunflower seed that breaks down on composting to release the seed and allow it to germinate in less than two weeks.
Working with plastics company, Pvaxx Research and Development Ltd, and mobile phone company, Motorola, the Warwick Manufacturing Group, led by Dr Kerry Kirwan, has made two key changes to the conventional case of a mobile phone. The first is to use a biodegradable polyvinyl alcohol-based polymer, specially developed to produce a high-quality and hard-wearing finish, and the second is to create a small transparent window in the case to embed a seed. 'The whole thing came about when I was having a meeting with Pvaxx. The topic got round to discussing mobile phones and asked 'how can we do something a bit different?' We came up with the idea of having a seed in a window. We looked after the processing side and the general testing, while [Pvaxx] developed the materials,' Kirwan explains.
Kirwan has long been an advocate of sustainable polymers, and in 2003 put forward the notion of the so-called helix of sustainability, in which biodegradable polymer products are used intelligently from the cradle to the grave, removing non-biodegradable polymers from the waste stream (Nature's Way, Materials World, October 2003, p32-35).
This work builds on that concept by providing a competitive solution to the mobile phone mountain that is piling up a heap of problems for industry due to impending legislation. 'This new technology has the potential to remove thousands of tonnes from the waste stream', says Kirwan. The exact composition of the biodegradable polymer is a closely-guarded secret, but it has a polyvinyl alcohol base, tweaked to give a smooth finish to the phone, and is resistant to moisture, scratching and impact. Once placed in a suitable environment, such as into soil in a flower-pot, the polymer starts to break down and completely biodegrades within six weeks.
The polymer can be injection moulded and has been developed using Motorola moulds, so could be used to create almost any phone on the market using existing technology and processing plant. Kirwan is hopeful that the product could be on the shelves within the next one to two years, and marketed at a comparable cost to conventional cases. 'We've produced and demonstrated prototypes,' says Kirwan. 'The flowers have germinated and grown.'
Sunflowers were selected as the seeds of choice because they are vibrant and attractive, but Kirwan envisages other seeds being used in the future. The phone cases are printed with a sunflower motif using biodegradable inks, to show-off the environmental aspect of the thinking behind the phone. Other flowers could be printed on the case depending on the type of seed embedded.
The Warwick team is working closely with the University's Horticultural Research Institute to assess the viability of different seeds, and they could be selected to be relevant to the region that the phone is sold in. 'One of the things we wanted was to ensure that we're not selling plants that grow in South America to someone who lives in the North Pole,' Kirwan explains. 'We think we will have to have regional sets of products, and which avoids introducing species of plants into non-indigenous areas.' There is also no intention of using genetically-modified seeds.For further information, visit
www.warwick.ac.uk.