Saving the environment – the mobile way!
Eco-friendly technology is on the rise, as the urgency to do something for the environment becomes more pressing every day. Not only computer companies are trying to appeal to the environmentally conscious. Mobile phone companies also offer various devices that deserve the label eco-friendly, trying to find the favour of a target group that is well-funded but extremely hard to attract at the same time.
The new environmentalists called LOHAS (short for Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability) are not the usual type of eco-warriors. They make a point of marrying their environmental consciousness with modern day luxury and a demand for design. Current studies estimate that the market share of LOHAS amounts to 30% of the overall market. And nearly all mobile phone companies offer at least one handset that caters to their needs.
What becomes of a plastic bottle – if it is lucky? The Motorola W233 Renew! Manufactured out of old plastic bottles, the Motorola is not only eco-friendly on the outside; it also takes 20% less energy to produce. The phone comes with 100% recyclable packaging and with a 2GB memory and up to nine hours of talking time, still a decent technological tool to keep in your green pockets. Unfortunately, the Motorola W233 is currently available in the US only.
Samsung also follows the idea of using renewable resources for their mobiles – and produces their Samsung SCH-W510 with corn starch. With an anti-bacterial coating, Samsung also tries to reduce harmful effects of mobile phone technology for humans and nature. And there is even another handset, the Samsung SGH-F268, that is marketed by Samsung as an eco-friendly phone free of BFRs (Brominated flame retardants) and PVC. Both handsets seem to be available for the Asian market only, so we have to wait until Samsung makes his environmental move towards Europe.
Nokia also shows some love for the environment with the Nokia 3110 Evolve. From a design point of view, it may be the best looking handset so far. One thing that differentiates the Nokia 3110 is intelligent charging. Whether the phone is attached to a power socket or not, the phone only uses energy as long as it’s charging. The phone is fabricated with renewable materials and uses 60% less packaging than normal. With an enhanced Series 40 interface and lots of entertainment features, it also comes handy for environmentally conscious technology lovers – have a look here.
Sony Ericsson launched a full fledged eco strategy with its Green Heart concept, putting sustainability at the heart of its products. It combines bio-plastic housings, recycled plastic keypads, zero charger with 3.5mW standby power, HTML based e-manuals, a game style educational application ‘Ecomate’ and environmentally conscious packaging. This still seems to be in a concept phase, so let’s see when and how many handsets will be available, that are allowed to carry the Green Hearts label.
But eco-friendliness is not only subject to mobile technology. Mobile Marketing in general is jumping on the environmental bandwagon, with numerous applications and campaigns that try to save planet earth.
Mobile phone applications Carbon Diem (UK) and mobGas (Belgium) both track carbon footprints, so that everyone can reduce their environmental impact on the world, see here. Whereas these applications run on nearly all handsets, the applications iForest and iPollution are for iPhones only. Although the former is more of a fun, Tamagotchi-like application with which you can plant a tree, the latter is a useful guide that gives more information about how polluted your direct environment is – through integrated GPS that simplifies Geotargeting.
Mobile phone operator Orange made a nice move towards saving the environment throughout Britain’s best-selling festivals last summer. In cooperation with GotWind, they created an eco-friendly charge tent, where people could recharge their mobile phone batteries through solar and wind energy. And they developed a special dance charger which supposedly loads cell phones via kinetic energy from physical body movements.
Still, everybody can do something to save the environment – even without buying an eco-friendly handset. Recycling of old cell phones is a big issue, and Nokia was the first company to address this problem with its “We:recycle” project, giving consumers the chance to bring their old phone to one of their recycling points. In Germany, the Deutsche Umwelthilfe teamed up with T-Mobile to provide everybody with the possibility to send in their old handsets, regardless of phone brand via mail. Numerous other services can be found on the web that recycle old phones and might even give you cash for it, sending them on to third world countries and rural areas where communication technology is still in its infancy. So apart from doing something for the environment, you can also do something for your social consciousness. Nice deal to get out of an old cell phone!
Tags: Eco, green marketing, phones, recycling