Cell Phones, Green Tech, Mobile Phones
Samsung's Eco-Friendly 'Reclaim' Phone Is Made of Corn
Made from 40-percent corn-derived bio-plastic and 80-percent biodegradable material in general, Samsung, along with service partner Sprint, just announced the 'Reclaim,' touted as the world's first green phone (an iffy claim, considering that earlier this year Motorola came out with its W233 Renew phone, made out of recycled plastic water bottles). The two corporations jointly debuted the QWERTY-capable sliding phone this morning at Cooper Hewitt, where Sprint's CEO Dan Hesse promised that $2 of every Reclaim's sale will go to the Nature Conservancy's Adopt an Acre program.
The Reclaim, which is a fairly high-design gadget, aims to do everything a typical messaging phone can do, but with less environmental impact. According to Omar Kahn, senior vice president of Strategy and Product Management for Samsung Mobile, this entails 12 times less power than the Energy Star standard, direct access to "green content" (like guides and glossaries), and recycled, biodegradable packaging and product manuals. Of course, the device comes in hug-the-world colors Earth Green and Ocean Blue. (To us, Earth Green is immeasurably cooler, in a deep jade.) The kicker: the phone beeps when it's charged, reminding users to unplug it to save energy.
With the convenience that Internet-equipped phones give to Americans, it's important to remember that every Blackberry and iPhone is made from plastic, comes with an absurd amount of packaging and material, and is often left on the charging cradle, draining power endlessly. While this is an excellent initiative (Sprint needs to do this, as it admits it's currently #17 on the EPA's Green Power list.), the Reclaim is unfortunately a pretty simple cell. Retailing for a meager $50 (with a two-year Sprint contract, obviously), the price is a great step towards making eco-products available to everyone. Yet, the phone lacks Wi-Fi, one-touch navigation is frustrating, and with just 2.0 megapixels, the camera is pretty scrappy (not to mention video-playback is grainy and unimpressive). What the Reclaim does do well is take all of the small hints and tips we've known about staying green (unplug your phone post-charge, recycle old batteries, avoid PVC and BFRs, etc.) and puts them in an attractive little device that looks part Greenpeace Rally, part Fifth Avenue.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
DOLLY said 1:53PM on 8-06-2009
Why is making something out of food good? People are starving to death all over the world. People would kill for corn in Africa.
Reply
coyo t said 3:31PM on 8-06-2009
so you prefer to keep using fossil fuels to make your plastic things?
note: about 4% of the world's annual oil production (roughly 84.5 million barrels per day) is used as the core ingredient in plastic, and another 4% is used for the energy to transform the oil into plastic.
Erika said 3:20PM on 9-24-2009
You need to think before you talk, clearly from your comment. How old are you? I apologize if you are too young to understand what is really going on in the world. You should do a little more research before you judge one effort to go green based on other countries poverty. It has to start somewhere, and everything counts. Corn-derived bio-plastic is just one of many different bioplastics used, and believe it or not, bioplastics are all around you. In fact, I guarentee you own a few things made up of organic plastics. Bioplastics have shown to reduce carbon footprint by 42%. Our enviroment is in trouble if we don't make changes. I'm not a spokes-person for tree-huggers, but being a marine wife, I am aware of the many different problems in our world, and that happens to be one you should be aware of as well.
Dan Paris said 2:24PM on 8-06-2009
Is it 'eco-friendly' or is it made from corn? Mutually exclusive. Subsidized corn production, heavily dependent on fossil fuels, is far from 'eco-friendly'. It also drains our economy when we send corn (either as grain or made into phones) to other countries at less than the cost of production. That is what subsidies do.
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Leila Brillson said 2:27PM on 8-06-2009
Good question Dan. I think it IS made from plastic DERIVED from corn, but not exclusively a corn product (a bit of a joke in the post's title). Other choices, like biodegradable materials and recyclable casing is what makes this phone eco friendly.
Kris said 3:28PM on 9-24-2009
You need to think before you talk, clearly from your comment. How old
are you? I apologize if you are too young to understand what is really
going on in the world. You should do a little more research before you
judge one effort to go green based on other countries poverties that countless amounts of efforts have been made to help as it is. It has
to start somewhere, and everything counts. Corn-derived bio-plastic
is just one of many different bioplastics used, and believe it or
not, bioplastics are all around you. In fact, I guarentee you own a
few things made up of organic plastics. Bioplastics have shown to
reduce carbon footprint by 42%. Our enviroment is in trouble if we
don't make changes. I'm not a spokes-person for tree-huggers, but
being a marine wife, I am aware of the many different problems in our
world, and that happens to be one you should be aware of as well.
Reply
Kris said 3:31PM on 9-24-2009
Previous commented directed to Dolly
Reply