Samsung, the electronics giant known for its big TVs and small cell phones, has upped the ante in the Green Game by introducing an eco-friendly mobile phone called the Reclaim.
As we noted in the Whole Green Catalog (page 226), Samsung was already marketing three green phones, two with cases fabricated of bioplastic, which is based on such common plants as corn. The advantages of bioplastics are that about 80% of it is recyclable; it contains none of those alarming pollutants like PVCs and flame retardant chemicals; in the manufacturing process, it also reduces the company’s carbon footprint. The major drawback of those three phones, the E200, the W510, and the F268 is that they are sold only in Europe, Korea, and China, respectively. No more. Now with the mid-August sale date of the Reclaim, Samsung joins the Green Game in the United States.
This is a step up for the cell-phone industry, which—although most major companies operate and promote recycling programs (returned phones usually get donated to charitable organizations here and abroad)—still struggles with consumers who reportedly toss something on the order of 100 million discard phones a year into landfills.
The Reclaim’s other eco-appropriate features include the fact that the packaging is made from recycled materials and printed with soy inks. Its charger is efficient, with a top Energy Star rating. No paper manual comes with the phone; a manual is only available online. It does come with industry-standard features: a full QWERTY slide-out keyboard, a 2 megapixel camera with zoom, stereo Bluetooth 2.0, expandable storage, and numerous green apps.
The phone is available now for use on the Sprint network, at such major retailers as Radio Shack, Best Buy, and Walmart. And speaking of green good news: List price of the Reclaim is $49.99, and of that, when bought from Sprint, two dollars will be donated to the Nature Conservancy’s Adopt an Acre program to support conservation of natural habitats in America.
Tags: Eco-Technology
