The Green Village recently attended a roundtable discussion about Sony Ericsson’s new GreenHeart mobile phones. The company wants to position themselves as the greenest electronics company in the world and to lead other companies to follow in their footsteps.
Accompanying Sony Ericsson at the meeting were, Forum for the Future and ChemSec, two NGO’s that the company has been working with over the years to develop an environmentally responsible business.
The spokesperson for Sony Ericsson stated that:
“We are not trying making normal phones green, but making green phones normal.”
The company are not interested in making gimmicky ‘green’ phones, but instead are focused on a holistic approach to building all their future phones to be as environmentally friendly as possible. Sony Ericsson sold over 100 million phones last year alone, and recognise their responsibility to the environment. Although no timescales have been set out for the company’s entire portfolio of electronics to come under the GreenHeart label, two new phones have been announced today.
C901 GreenHeart
- substantially reduced packaging (90%)
- e-manual, embedded in the phone software to reduce paper waste
- recycled plastic casing dyed with water based colours
- reduction in amount of plastic used in the casing
- lower power charger which wastes almost zero watts of energy when the phone is not attached
- expected to retail at the same price as original C902
- available at the end of June in white only.
The C902 will be replaced entirely by this new model by the end of the year. The carbon saving of this phone is around 5kg of CO2 per phone manufactured compared to the model it will be replacing.
Ling (name unconfirmed) GreenHeart
- as above but this phone is targeted at business users with more features.
- high volume product ensures that this phone will compete with popular phones from other manufacturers
- prepay model will be available
A GreenHeart smart phone is also likely to be announced towards the end of the year.
The e-manuals incorporated into the GreenHeart phones are expected to be found in all new Sony Ericsson phones in the near future. The phones also come with two ‘green applications’, one called Eco-mate which is a green tips guide and the second is a pedometer style application which takes advantage of a built in accelerometer. This allows the user to measure the amount of CO2 saved by walking instead of taking the car.
Sony Ericsson are also doing more than just building greener phones. They have introduced a takeback scheme which aims to stop e-waste going to developing countries. Essentially, Sony Ericsson have set up collection points for recycling of your old phone.
Sony Ericsson will be celebrating the launch of these new GreenHeart mobiles by putting on a webcast which you can join in with here
Other items you might find of interest:
- Coca Cola To Introduce Molasses Based Drinks Bottles
- Energy Efficiency on the Agenda for Dell and Intel
- New Zealand Supermarkets Introduce Tax to Curb Carrier Bag Use
Tags: corporate responsibility, greenheart, mobile phones, sony ericsson, telecoms