MWC 2008: Nokia's First Handset 100% Made From Recycled Materials

Nokia, the largest handset manufacturer in the world, unveiled at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, a new concept phone made entirely out of recycled materials.

The Finnish company seems to be more sensitive towards environmental problems than any other cell phone producer, as it was the first manufacturer to include alerts into its handsets to encourage users to unplug their chargers when no longer needed, saving energy this way. Nokia also came with a new compact packaging that reduced used materials by more than 50%, hence reducing distribution costs, fuel consumption and carbon emissions. Moreover, Nokia presented last year a fully functional mobile phone, Nokia 3110 Evolve, that has bio-covers made from 50% renewable material, uses 94% less energy than a normal handset and comes in a package made from 60% recycled materials.

Now Nokia presented a new handset, made exclusively out of recycled materials, a concept that opens a new path for the future of mobile phones. The concept is called "Remade" and its main idea was to see if a new handset can be created only from used materials, avoiding the need for natural resources and high energy consumption.

The "Remade" phone is made from upcycled aluminum cans, recycled plastic from drink bottles and rubber from old car tyres. The interior of the phones hides different environmentally friendly technologies, like printed electronics, while the phone's display is an energy-saving one. A short presentation video with the "Remade" phone can be viewed on Nokia's Ovi Share website, at this address.

Although the phone is not functional at the moment, this concept explores new ideas that might lead to a much greener mobile future. Imagine that all the phones shipped world-wide by Nokia in 2007 (more than 437 million) had been made from recycled materials – resources and energy savings would have been remarkable. Let's hope that somewhere in the future this will be possible.



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