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Much-anticipated 'biodegradable' phone by Samsung hits stores next week.
Thu, Aug 06 2009 at 10:21 PM
 13
The field of bioplastics (plastics made from feed stocks other than petroleum) has been growing every year, but for the most part the use of biodegradable or "organic" plastic has been limited to low-cost items like plastic forks and food packaging.
 
That is changing. Samsung's much anticipated "green" phone called 'Reclaim' will be hitting Sprint stores the week of Aug. 10 and the casing is made largely from corn-based plastic.
 
Is the phone really biodegradable? Well, no ... the battery (like all batteries) contains heavy metals and should be recycled per MNN's electronics recycling guide. And the case is not 100 percent corn plastic. It is 40 percent corn-based biodegradable plastic and 60 percent standard plastic.
 
But still this is a big leap forward in the greening of the consumer electronics industry. Electronics manufacturers have been wary of bioplastics due to lack of testing in durability, color fastness, and other qualities to which we have grown accustomed.
 
So the Samsung phone, while not totally green, will hopefully help encourage the industry to wean itself off its dependence on petroleum products.
 
The web-enabled phone (which includes GPS and a slide-out keyboard) also has a nifty feature that lets you know when its time to unplug your charger by lighting up bright green.
 
via: MSNBC
 
Addendum: Samsung seems to be rockin' the green mobile space. They just announced another green phone.. this one is solar-powered. Now they just need to combine them!

 

The opinions expressed by MNN Bloggers and those providing comments are theirs alone, and do not reflect the opinions of MNN.com. While we have reviewed their content to make sure it complies with our Terms and Conditions, MNN is not responsible for the accuracy of any of their information.

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Comments: 13
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anonymous
David Sep 26 2009 at 12:13 PM

Why doesn't Samsung just make products that last for 20 years instead of 2 and a half. This would solve a lot of the problem, but their shareholders wouldn't like it!

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anonymous
Goliath Oct 06 2009 at 4:12 AM

Because it'd get outdated and people will scrap them anyways I suppose.

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anonymous
bad boy in the ... Sep 05 2009 at 8:12 AM

There are people actually buying this shit! That Samsung who makes so much of stupid shit in this world, is going green. Oh celebrate.. mankind!!! Maybe we can get that corporate whores Peta or Greenpeace arrange a song and dance competition on the eve of this...
Retards!!!

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anonymous
Guest Aug 28 2009 at 5:22 PM

If you really want to go green, turn of your power and take a bath in the creek.

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anonymous
Andy Weissman Aug 14 2009 at 2:10 PM

Sprint and Samsung are thinking green and investing in nature by dedicating a portion of each sale to support The Nature Conservancy and its efforts on the land and in our oceans, lakes and rivers.

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anonymous
Guest Aug 14 2009 at 12:41 AM
Soy and hemp would be better than corn. The only reason corn is used for anything "green" is because it's more expensive. Harvesting corn is actually bad for the environment because the "Nitrogen and phosphorus from agricultural fertilizer have been found to promote excess growth of algae in water bodies..." which deprives the water from oxygen creating dead zones in the Gulf of Mexico making it uninhabitable. I thought it was wonderful that a phone like that was made, but I also had a feeling the
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corn used to make the plastic isgmo. Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure it is. Even though people think being green is some fad, a lot of people, like me, are serious about it. A phone like this is a milestone. You can say all you want, bash it all you want, but that does nothing to ameliorate our situation. Let's do something about it! No I don't mean buy the damn phone, just making a point.
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anonymous
Lancastrian Aug 12 2009 at 11:57 AM
Corn is not an environmentally friendly crop due to the amount of fertilizer and other chemicals used to grow it. It is heavily subsidized by the government, which is why we lack agricultural diversity. There are other crops, such as hemp, that are much greener, easier to grow and useful for thousands of applications. So while this phone is an experiment, a truly green phone will have to make use of some other material. Personally, I think that people could make standard phones a whole lot greener
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by using the same phone for years instead of constantly throwing them away and buying new ones.
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anonymous
Guest Aug 08 2009 at 3:36 PM
So what do you suppose to TOTAL volume of "bio" plastic in the entire run of these phones will be? Won't be much when you add it up. Mixed with a majority of regular plastic means that it's not biodegradable after all. I gave up on Samsung anyway. I'd consider the Saga if they would get with the rest of the industry and ditch proprietary connectors for everything. That alone accounts for more waste in peripherals and adapters than anything they could hope to accomplish with this "green" effort. The
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life of a phone these days is 1-2 years, not because they break but because of fashion. People like to upgrade, which means new adapters across the board with Samsung. Green? Hardly... just the opposite. And you are sheep for believing that they give a rat's furry keester about the environment. They just know you will applaud and buy because going green is the latest fad. Way to encourage this worthless effort...
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anonymous
kevin Aug 08 2009 at 7:48 AM

according to michael pollner (fresh air interview with terry gross, oct 2008) it takes a gallon of gasoline to produce 1.2 gallons of biodiesel. i don't know how much fossil fuel it takes to produce "bio-plastic" but i'm guessing it's a lot. we do need to try to manufacture products that are as biodegradable as possible, but in a sustainable way!

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anonymous
Guest Aug 08 2009 at 11:06 AM

Making it bio, uses less of the original material, as you should have noticed, 1 gallon of gas makes 1.2 gallons of bio-diesel.

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anonymous
Muwasalat.com Aug 08 2009 at 5:12 AM

It is always to see A GIANT in mobile technology to give it a go for a green product.

Really looking forward to biodegradable batteries.

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anonymous
Guest Aug 07 2009 at 10:55 AM
Any corn biobased product uses more fossil fuels than plastic. That is a fact. And corn items are disposable only in commercial and municipal composts. BUT you have added poly to it, so it won't break down there or in a landfill. So it is bad on both ends. Nice going. The World Bank stated that 75% of the food shortages in the world today are due to the diversion of corn from food and feedstock to plastics and ethanol. (Both of which are not sustainable and use more fossil fuels than regular poly
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or normal gas.) Do your homework- if you want to go bio, use sugar cane, saw grasses, soy beans, but NOT CORN! There is a dead zone the size of New Jersey in the Gulf of Mexico due to nitrogen runoff from fertilizing corn. Do your homework guys.
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anonymous
Guest Aug 08 2009 at 11:10 AM

You don't have your facts straight, try posting after you read up on what these phones are made of, what fuels are needed to produce certain items compared to these, and what happens when a phone is made from sugar, soy, or out of many types of grasses.

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