BBC reports Design Works is exploring cell phones whose casings are composites of grass clippings and resin:
The phone's casing - which is integrated into the phone - is made from recycled resin and specially treated grass clippings.
"This creates a composite material, like carbon fibre", says Mr Miles, which can be used as an alternative to plastic injection moulding.Mr Miles was originally commissioned to make the phone as a one-off by O2 Recycle, a division of the mobile phone giant, to highlight the value of recycling.
But the team at Design Works was surprised at the success of the proof-of-concept, and are now investigating whether the technique can be used on a mass scale.
It is reckoned that fewer than 25% of unused phones are recycled in the UK.
What's the best second-life for used cell phones other Soylentils have heard of? Do you have a particular 'worthy-cause' for your old phones?
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Sunday March 29 2015, @04:03PM
So you'll be forced to buy a new phone because the old one rots away?
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 29 2015, @04:18PM
Do you have a particular 'worthy-cause' for your old phones?
What old phone? I've never owned a cell phone you insensitive clod!
[actually, not quite true--I bought one many years ago and it didn't work correctly--returned for full credit, minus some minutes that I used]
(Score: 4, Informative) by TLA on Sunday March 29 2015, @05:05PM
I had to read this twice...
The short answer: no.
The long answer: no.
Cellulose is pretty inert and a very strong long chain molecule - which is why plants use it as a structural element. Grass is a particularly great example as to how plants use it with other compounds (in the given case, silicon dioxide) to create very tough structures - like really tall, thin leaves. This is also why some species of bamboo can grow to ridiculous heights at obscene rates - I've seen 3 feet (0.9m) a day quoted. At that rate, bamboo can hit its maximum height (130 feet/40m) in a month and a half. Some species of onion can sprout leaves at the rate of a few inches a day (I grow potato onions and use the leaves as a bulking agent as well as for their amazing flavour - not enough, it seems, as if I don't keep the plants trimmed, they bolt flower heads which renders the plant useless for grazing. Which often happens)
Excuse me, I think I need to reboot my horse. - NCommander
(Score: 3, Funny) by LoRdTAW on Sunday March 29 2015, @09:24PM
Yes. But at least you can smoke the old one.
(Score: 2) by Subsentient on Sunday March 29 2015, @04:19PM
So now I can have an allergic reaction whenever I pick up a call. Yay.
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." -Jiddu Krishnamurti
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 29 2015, @04:26PM
I see a lot of stuff that's made of recycled material, and stuff that's recyclable. But some times people seem to forget that recycling requires both.
Like a PET bottle can be recycled into a PET bottle, and another bottle, and another bottle.. and finaly some cheap polyester shirt.
So this is made of grass that's doesn't need to be 'recycled' in the first place and recycled resin.
It is possible to recycle this grass/resin composite?
(Score: 5, Informative) by TLA on Sunday March 29 2015, @05:36PM
most resins are chemosets (ie two part epoxies) or thermosets (polyimides) - which means they can't be recycled into some other form once cured. It's not like unfrying an egg (which can be done), you're actually changing the chemical composition of the resin. Also due to the nature of composites, it's very difficult if not impossible to separate fibres from resin. That's where composites differ from reinforced concrete (which can be separated and the hardcore (rubble) fully recycled).
Excuse me, I think I need to reboot my horse. - NCommander
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Sunday March 29 2015, @06:27PM
Which means chemosets are useless for recycling?
(Score: 2) by TLA on Sunday March 29 2015, @07:28PM
unless you can figure out a way of not only reversing the chemical reaction but then separating the reactants... yes.
Excuse me, I think I need to reboot my horse. - NCommander
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Sunday March 29 2015, @07:44PM
Without causing more waste. Entropy is a pain.. ;)
(Score: 2) by Non Sequor on Sunday March 29 2015, @08:03PM
A lot of ecological processes depend on the existence of a cycle that allows used materials to be processed back into predecessor materials for the original process. Organisms along the cycle each derive some benefit from the material moving through the cycle.
Well it's easy enough to say something like that, but I guess it's hard to design It. I guess you would need to think in terms of designing a sequence of materials and use case pairs so that each use case reduces the cost of processing into the next material in the sequence.
Write your congressman. Tell him he sucks.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 29 2015, @04:29PM
Can you smoke it after it's broken?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 29 2015, @04:38PM
Something hash-ish maybe?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 29 2015, @09:36PM
Only in Colorado.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Sunday March 29 2015, @04:39PM
If you had to make a choice to make phone shell of grass clippings or resin. Which do you think would work ..
Then there's the issue how to recycle the material or even worse a composite in a cost efficient manner.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 29 2015, @04:55PM
No one should use cell phones. Its not about staying connected. Its a huge security issue. And definitely not use any of those so-called 'smart phones'.
Cell phones were designed to spy on you and those around you, and all the people you ever called or received calls from, and everywhere you have ever been while carrying that spying device. Desk phones could not be turned into microphones remotely very easily, so they could not listen to you, and they also could not know where you were at any time.
Cell phones store a lot of data that cannot be accessed from its interface. If you ever owned a phone, then destroy it. Do not give it away.
If you think you cannot live without your cell phone, try powering it off for a week. You will not miss it.
I suggest a new business for Cell phone companies:
Sell wireless phones that sit on a desktop powered by an adapter plugged into the wall, with a large antenna. Make another one for use in Vehicles, like Car-phones of previous years. Make it properly secure. Use secret keys that users can share with each other, so no one can listen to their conversation, not even the phone company. And they won't have to setup so many cell-phone towers because of the power of the wireless device and the large antenna. And fake tower operators will have to find something else to keep themselves occupied with, like murdering a few teenagers and assassination of some important people.
Using this device, it will be difficult to track where I have been, where I am going, where I fuel my car, when I go to the toilet etc.
(Score: 3, Informative) by kaszz on Sunday March 29 2015, @06:24PM
They were designed to enable computing resources and networking on the go with an easy interface. That corporation corrupted it with signed code and walled garden is another issue.
There are already options for those wishing to stay secure. But they comes at a cost and perhaps won't enable you to use the app-markets.
(Score: 2) by mtrycz on Sunday March 29 2015, @09:38PM
I don't think GP was even talking about smartphones, tho. The "smart" part is not needed for anything described by GP.
In capitalist America, ads view YOU!
(Score: 2) by zocalo on Sunday March 29 2015, @05:29PM
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 29 2015, @10:17PM
fewer than 25% of unused phones are recycled
Are people in the habit of buying phones and never using them?
(Score: 2) by arslan on Sunday March 29 2015, @11:22PM
No, but people have a habit of manufacturing ones that no one buys...
<sarcasm>Microsoft comes to mind.. I'm gonna get flamed for this.</sarcasm>
(Score: 2, Interesting) by MostCynical on Sunday March 29 2015, @11:57PM
To compare, the Toyota Prius involves $3.25 per mile in energy costs over its lifetime, according to CNW, while several full-size SUVs scored lower. A Dodge Viper involves only $2.18 in energy per mile over its lifetime. The Range Rover Sport costs $2.42, and the Cadillac Escalade costs $2.75.
http://www.thecarconnection.com/tips-article/1010861_prius-versus-hummer-exploding-the-myth [thecarconnection.com]
Also see: http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324128504578346913994914472 [wsj.com]
So long as you feel good, and appear to care about the planet, right?
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by Magic Oddball on Monday March 30 2015, @02:00AM
So long as you feel good, and appear to care about the planet, right?
It's not without reason that Jethro Tull rock flute player Ian Anderson has been known to refer to his car as a "Toyota Pious." :o) (He's the one non-science-inclined person I've been aware of that has been concerned by anthropogenic climate change since way back in the early 70s, so his comment certainly wasn't intended to make fun of people trying to mitigate it.)