Details are slim, but NTT DoCoMo, Japan's largest mobile phone company, is about to release a version of their popular FOMA N701i phone made of biodegradable plastic made from a plant called Kenaf. (NTT DoCoMo press release in Japanese here.) (See Below)
As transformative as mobile phone technology may be, the rapid churn of phone technology and ownership means that millions of usable but obsolete units get chucked away every year. Efforts to recycle the usable components and reuse the phones in the developing world are useful and important, but it's good to see work on making the objects less harmful to the planet to begin with.
(Jeremy Faludi adds, in the comments:
Actually, the plastic itself is not made from kenaf, the plastic is PLA, a corn-derived plastic we've mentioned before:
The kenaf is used as fiber-reinforcement of the plastic so it can be a decent structural material. PLA by itself isn't stiff enough for anything but packaging.
Oh, and by the way, if this stuff is reasonably cost-competitive, this wil be a HUGE deal. Lots of consumer products are made with "ABS" plastic, and NEC's press release says this PLA-kenaf composite can be stiffer than ABS. That's great news! It means tons of ordinary consumer products could go green.)
