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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?"
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.
Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
Plant your PC/Mac and watch a house grow?"
Wouldn't planting your Mac produce an apple tree?
While this is a cute idea, it is hardly a biodegradable cellular telephone. Based on what I could glean from the press release, all that is biodegradable is the plastic case. Biodegradable plastics have been around for a while now and this seems to be more of a marketing gimmick than anything else. Cell phone manufacturers, like Nokia, have had recycling programs for old cell phones in place for a few years now. These recycling programs deal with almost the entire cell phone and not just the plastic case (which could always be recycled anyways by taking apart the phone and pitching it into the recycle bin (if your municipality supports this)).
"When Nature Calls We All Shall Drown" Johan Edlund
What's next? Plant your PC/Mac and watch a house grow?"
I could only wish, I'd own more property than Ted Turner.
--Nuintari
slashdot : where an opinion can be wrong.
Remember when there was a standard phone design in the old days ? Well At&t had a hard plastic version that was biodegradable in the early 80's as I recall.
I can't here you.
My phone is breaking up.
No, not the signal.
Yes, the actual phone. It's biodegradable.
I don't know. It seemed like a good idea at the time.
I need to bury now it so the flower will grow. Bye.
Plant your PC/Mac and watch a house grow?
Plant your mac, grow an apple tree, of course.
Plant your windows PC, grow some blue flowers... of DEATH!
... They turn into fishtanks. Duh.
Just don't get caught with a marijuana-themed phone. ^_^
Right is wrong when left is right.
I buried my Windows PC and it 'sprouted' a pile of shit. I've had been turning that into fertilizer for years. Unfortunately I was sued for copyright infringment -- something about a derivative work.
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?
The difference between spam and poop is that you don't have to dig through septic tanks looking for real food. -- Me
I didn't RTFA, but for some reason, I'm pretty sure this doesn't apply to the battery. Which is probably one of the more toxic parts of the phone.
How about building a phone that lasts more than 1 year. Or supplying a battery for the phone that costs little enough so that buying a whole new phone isn't an attractive option. If you told someone in 1950 that not only most people have portable phones in 50 years, but that they'd spend over $200 on this phone, and replace it ever year, they'd probably laugh in your face.
Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
you can get inside easily enough, but have to ask the house for permission so it will open the door to let you back outside.
If its a PC that ran Windows, you don't get any doors or windows - just the holes where they should have been.
If its a PC that ran *nix, you have to unhang/rehang the doors every time you want in or out.
--- Asking inconvenient questions for over 30 years...
Now we know why the flower in the Movie ET was a great significance. It was actually his cell phone.
Have you ever been to a turkish prison?
Where have all the cellphones gone?
Long time text messaging
Where have all the cellphones gone?
Long time to roam
Where have all the cellphones gone?
Gone to flowers every one
When can they hear me now?
When can they hear me now?
Mod Karma -1: I sed bad wurds. If I cep my mouf shut, I wud be at riyses.
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.
... Beings that a flower is so much like a cel phone. It usually works better outside, and only within certain regions of the country.
Are we going to be billed every time the thing blooms? Is there a service charge if we want to transplant it to another pot? These are things we need to know.
But God demonstrates his love for us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us - (Romans 5:8)
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?!?
[insert sig file here]
The emphasis was on the word feel.
KFG
That Global Ethics press release is dated 2002. I'm not sure when exactly many of the mobile phone operators started their collection programs, but I can remember them occuring when I replaced my first mobile phone and that was more than 2 years ago. You see, all mobile phones have the capability (well, some Samsung models of a few years ago were unable and Samsung paid the price through a lawsuit) to place emergency calls whether they are activated or not. Manufacturers periodically collect old phones to donate to such places as women's shelters who then distribute them to battered women in need of an emergency phone. I'm sure the manufacturers receive a huge tax deduction for this act of charity.
m l
Anyway, if you do not want to wait for a local collection event, you can go to Motorola's web site and print out a postage-paid sticker and you can mail them your old phone. If it is in good shape it may end up helping someone in need and if not, they make sure it is disposed of in an environmentally-friendly way. And as far as I can tell, Motorola collects any mobile phone, not just Motorola phones.
http://promo.motorola.com/recycle/phones/index.ht
I'd rather support a foodbank. I think this process utilizes the entire phone instead of just the case.
I'm going to throw away my phone right now into the garbage and buy this one.
If one of these falls into that miniscule percentage that have exploded in people's ears then there might be the additional side-effect of having a big ass daisy growing out of the side of your head...
News Reporters Make Tasty Polar Bear Treats!
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
So it looks like Grim Fandango was right.
Si tacuisses philosophus mansisses. If you had kept quiet, you would have remained a philosopher.
GSM phones cannot be used to dial anything, not even 911, without a SIM card which is/was valid for the home service area of the phone.
Sure they can, most of them. All of them manufactured since mid-2000. Over the summer I worked at a place that made cellphone games, and hence I was surrounded by dozens of phones without SIM cards. The GSM ones we used would all bitch at you if you tried to dial something other than 911 without a SIM card, but 911 dials fine. In fact, a lot of phones change their default menu to have a single option, to call the emergency line. I did that by mistake more than once.
Of course, analog and CDMA will also dial 911 without a problem.
The opinions stated herein do not necessarily represent those of anybody at all. Deal with it.