Turn your cell phone into a... sunflower?

Scientists have just come out with a new product for your cellphone, one that grows a sunflower when you throw it out. a seed is contained in the cover, which will then feed on nitrates formed when the cover degrades.

from cnn.comMaterials company Pvaxx Research & Development, at the request of U.S.-based mobile phone maker Motorola (MOT.N), has come up with a polymer that looks like any other plastic, but which degrades into soil when discarded.

Researchers at the University of Warwick in Britain then helped to develop a phone cover that contains a sunflower seed, which will feed on the nitrates that are formed when the polyvinylalcohol polymer cover turns to waste.

this is what the future is about. taking current scientific abilities and moving them into other areas. according to the article, 650 million phones will be bought this year, and most of which are to be thrown out in under two years. imagine if all those cases, instead of hanging around, become a flower. what a fantastic idea. this is up there with the plastic wrap that you can eat.

you still have the rest of the phone to deal with, though.

There's a couple of threads on this topic from yesterday.....maybe the day before. I'll try to find em for ya.

Yeah this was posted before, and its not all that great news anyway because its just the faceplate thats biodegradable. The circuitry is still highly toxic to the environment and has to be disposed of properly. This could give the wrong impression to people and it might make some bury thier whole cell-phone with toxic lead and acid too boot.

Originally posted by LadyV
There's a couple of threads on this topic from yesterday.....maybe the day before. I'll try to find em for ya.

whoops. i thought there might be, cuz its two days old, but, i did boolean and google a few times each, nothing even close.

sardion, half a loaf of bread is better than none. especially if by none we mean half a billion loaves of bread that are being thrown out. im worried people will misuse it, but i figure that most of the people who are using this feature will take proper care of it and dispose of just the cover in a responsible manner.

Originally posted by Amorymeltzer

Originally posted by LadyV
There's a couple of threads on this topic from yesterday.....maybe the day before. I'll try to find em for ya.

whoops. i thought there might be, cuz its two days old, but, i did boolean and google a few times each, nothing even close.

sardion, half a loaf of bread is better than none. especially if by none we mean half a billion loaves of bread that are being thrown out. im worried people will misuse it, but i figure that most of the people who are using this feature will take proper care of it and dispose of just the cover in a responsible manner.

Well consider that the faceplate makes up roughly oh and I'm just guessing here 1 % of the mass of a celly. It is a start but in order to bring it up to 100% alot of R&D has to be done on reducing or eliminating the Lead and Silicon in the curcuitry. I am all for green products that don't need to be recycled, I just don't want this little PR piece to give people the wrong idea and think thier whole cell phone can be used a fertilizer. There are whole villages in China whose economy is dedicated to ripping apart used electronics(with thier bare hands) for the copper inside. It has contaminated whole regions in China and Lead poisioning is epidemic in these areas, so in my mind the real culprit still needs addressing. Sorry for being a wet blanket on this but I feel my points are very valid.

There is one at ID

www.ignorancedenied.com...

---pineapple

Originally posted by sardion2000
Well consider that the faceplate makes up roughly oh and I'm just guessing here 1 % of the mass of a celly. It is a start but in order to bring it up to 100% alot of R&D has to be done on reducing or eliminating the Lead and Silicon in the curcuitry. I am all for green products that don't need to be recycled, I just don't want this little PR piece to give people the wrong idea and think thier whole cell phone can be used a fertilizer. There are whole villages in China whose economy is dedicated to ripping apart used electronics(with thier bare hands) for the copper inside. It has contaminated whole regions in China and Lead poisioning is epidemic in these areas, so in my mind the real culprit still needs addressing. Sorry for being a wet blanket on this but I feel my points are very valid.

no, absolutely, your points are very valid, and i agree with them. im not flapping this out for something its not. it is, undeniably, a good start, and thats what i favor, thats what i look to. at any rate, i believe 1% is a gross understatement. even as a weight measurement, its undershot. as mass, though, very far under.