NEC Releases Phone Made With Bioplastic and Kenaf
by Justin Thomas, Virginia on 03.22.06
A new mobile phone has gone on sale in Japan that uses bioplastic for its casing. The Foma N701iECO phone uses polylactic acid (PLA) resin reinforced with kenaf fibres to replace oil-based plastics for the case. The casing was jointly developed by electronics firm NEC and textiles and plastics group Unitika. NEC said that adding kenaf fibres improved the strength and heat resistance of Unitika’s PLA, which has the brand name Terramac. “By adding kenaf fibre, the temperature at which the PLA changes form can be improved by over 20°C,” it said.
Fall impact durability was increased by adding a biomass-based plasticiser and filler. Overall, approximately 90% of the casing is derived from biological sources, the companies said. NEC plans on substituting more than 10% of the oil-based plastics in its electronic products with bioplastics by 2010. Via tipster Kimiko Hong and PRW - thanks. :: NEC (Japanese only)
Does this one have a sunflower seed inside of it as well?
The last version of this phone did, so that when it dies all you'd have to do is plant it in your garden, the casing would break down, and the flower would (should) sprout.
This phone can be used for a special or exotic plants , if you give it some salt or nitros, it will sprout out exotic plants
This phone is biodegradable and can be used as fuel in your vehicle. only with hybrid and electric cars but some gasoline cars such as toyota Camry runs off of this plastic.( dont ask me how). But about an extra hour of electricity can be put in off this phone. DO NOT USE THIS PHONE IN THE BATHTUB YOU MAY DIE!!!!!
For many years we have been exporting Jute/Kenaf+PP blend Technical Fibers, a raw material for manufacturing this type of product. The most significant strength of such product is that, it is more heat resistance than other available raw materials. Among other good features are: break resistance, semi-biodegradable & recyclable, soundproofed, etc. Thank you Justin for the article and thanks to NEC for thinking like us (i.e. Treehuggers). Asif Anwar.
to know more about kenaf, please attend the 2007 international symposium on kenaf and allied fibers--www.chinaconsultinginc.com
Is there a way I could get one of these phones in the USA? Doesn't matter if it works, I just want to see how this material is used in a product and what it looks/feels like.
tel aviv university has developed a transgenic variety of kenaf which may be interesting to treehuggers:
http://tauac.typepad.com/ac/2007/03/tau_has_made_go.html