Biodegradable Cell Phones Sprout Into Flowers

Neurowiz writes "Tired of your cell phone and lusting after the new model with all the geek-gadgets? Worried about the effect that throwing away your cell phones may have on the environment? Worry not! 'Researchers at the University of Warwick's Warwick Manufacturing Group, in conjunction with PVAXX Research & Development Ltd, have devised a novel way to recycle discarded mobile telephones - bury them and watch them transform into the flower of your choice.' What's next? Plant your PC/Mac and watch a house grow?"

Comments

It's *not* a biodegradible cell phone.

[Skyshadow]

It's not a biodegradible cell phone. It's a biodegradible cell phone case. As in the thin plastic shell that covers the guts of the phone. As in maybe 5% of the total bulk of the phone.

Don't get me wrong, it's better than nothing, but nobody who buys one of these disposible cell phones are should think they're making an environmentally sound purchase because it might sprout a pretty flower someday. There's a lot more to the phone than just the case, and a lot of it isn't anything you'd want to see buried in your backyard -- batteries, plastic circuit boards, etc. In practice, it seems more likely that this will actually *harm* the environment as morons bury the whole thing once their minutes are used up, the whole time thinking they're being a responsible friend of the earth. Even if you're smarter than the average bear and read the directions about only burying the case, it's still *far* better to get yourself an cell phone on contract and use it for a few years before trading up than it is to go through a few of these things a year.

Of course, given the profession that tends to be the biggest customer for disposable phones, if you're concerned about the environment I'd also suggest that you should encourage your customers to recycle those glass vials you're selling them their crack in.

Re:It's *not* a biodegradible cell phone.

[RangerRick98]

it's still *far* better to get yourself an cell phone on contract and use it for a few years before trading up than it is to go through a few of these things a year.

Agreed. And even better than burying the case and throwing the rest away would be to donate the old phone to a women's shelter or something similar, since they can be used to dial 911 even when no service is attached to it.

That's not all...

[Sensible Clod]

a novel way to recycle discarded mobile telephones - bury them and watch them transform into the flower of your choice

WRONG! The summary would lead one to believe you can do this with present cell phones, but this is barely in the prototype stage, much less actually in use for years. If just the article submitters would RTA. Think you could do that next time?

Holy Junk Math!

[ivan256]

Watts over time gives you watt hours, not more watts. Time is already included in the watt unit.

If you take 100 watts for 3 hours, you don't get 300 watts as this totally bogus article says.

I certainly hope your post was a joke.

What a great idea!!

[yetanothermike]

Now, instead of donating my old phones to one of the many charities that reprogram them and give them to those in need of ways to make emergency calls I can instead bury it in dirt! Where do I sign up?!?

Bugger, screwed up the tags

[kfg]

The emphasis was on the word feel.

KFG

eventually all products will be biodegradable...

[sasquatch zeke]

Sooner or later all mass-produced, consumer-level products will be biodegradable, or, more accurately, "key-enabled" biodegradable - products which become biodegradable when exposed to a particular chemical key. It's really the only thing that makes sense in a world of 6+ billion consumers and industrialized mass production. We live in an ecosystem evolved to readily break down particular organic compounds. We can either create our own, separate artificial ecosystem designed to recycle our inorganic waste, or we can engineer our products to fit into the natural decomposition/recycling process going on all around us. Much effort is being put into the first plan, but ultimately I believe that the 2nd one is the only long-term solution to our waste/pollution problem.

In step with our population explosion, we have moved away from use of natural materials (wood, plant fibers, bone), and increased the amount of decomposition-resistent (i.e. - dead) materials in our environment exponentially. These artificial materials have enabled us to make great advances in the construction of strong, durable items. But we have been limited by our extremely crude - relative to what goes on inside our bodies - ability to generate and manipulate complicated organic molecules. As this ability improves and decreases in cost, it will become increasingly expedient to shift to producing manufactured items out of materials that break down easily and harmlessly when no longer needed. Otherwise our waste stream will eventually smother us and our supply of essential raw materials will end up completely locked awy in crushed cars and dirty diapers.

sz

Re:Sprout Flowers

[Moofie]

Why on EARTH would the manufacturers, who profit from proprietary battery designs, ever make standard cell sizes? I think you misunderstand whose interests they're looking out for.

Hint: Not yours.