00:00 Man
walking with mobile phone
Woman
in street with phone
Woman
walking and talking on phone
Exterior
of Carphone Warehouse
Phone
advertisement in shop window
Accessories
advertisement in window
c.u.
3 different mobiles on a table
Man
talking on phone
c.u.
phone at mouth
Man
talking on phone
Mid
shot – Warwick HRI sign
Dr
Kirwan and Peter Morris entering greenhouse
c.u.
3 phone cases
Guide Voice: The mobile phone has become part
of everyday life for many people around the world – it's hard
to imagine how we ever got along without them.
And they're not just about communication. They've become fashion
items too – your phone says a lot about you, so you want one
that suits both your communication needs and your way of life,
which means you want the latest looks, gadgets and ring tones and
that means you probably change or upgrade your phone every 18
months or so – and the old phone goes on the scrapheap.
In fact, some estimates suggest that, in Europe alone, we
discard in excess of 100 million mobile phones a year.
Now researchers at the University of Warwick, working alongside
a plastics manufacturer, have devised a novel way to recycle
discarded mobile phone cases.
00:48 SOT: Peter Morris, Project Manager,
PVAXX Research & Development Ltd., - "This
project came about with the Warwick University contacting PVAXX
because they had a novel idea that they wanted to use our
bio-degradable plastic for the use of mobile phone covers, mainly
because there are so many phone covers that are discarded each year
and ending up in landfill."
01:06 SOT: Dr Kerry Kirwan, Warwick
Manufacturing Group, University of Warwick –
"Legislation is now coming out that requires the mobile
phone manufacturers to take back their products to dispose of at
the end of their lives, so our idea was that it would cost a lot of
money to collect separate, segregate and dispose of the plastic
parts of these mobile phones; by incorporating a seed and giving
the consumer a reason to actually take the phone apart and dispose
of it then they're able to save a lot of money and time and
effort."
01:30 Dr
Kirwan and Peter Morris interacting with researcher
c.u.
hand placing case in compost
Exterior
of greenhouse
c.u
and pan across cases
c.u.
cases in flowerpot
c.u.
case in flowerpot, seed clearly seen
c.u.
sunflower head
Guide Voice: A special formulation of PVAXX
Research & Development Ltd's biodegradable polymer range was
developed, in conjunction with the Warwick scientists, to create a
mobile phone case that can simply be placed in compost in order to
start the decomposition process. The University's horticultural
research arm, Warwick HRI, then identified a range of seeds that
can be embedded in the phone case and will germinate when the case
bio-degrades – for the prototypes these are dwarf
sunflowers.
02:00 SOT: Dr Kirwan –
"The great thing about the plastic in this project is that
it doesn't bio-degrade in a normal working environment, so it has
to have very special conditions in which to start activating the
degradation process, which means that you can use it in everyday
life but the minute you pop it into the ground it then bio-degrades
down and goes back to the earth."
02:19 Researcher
seen through plants in greenhouse
Hand
picking up phone case
Wide,
researcher planting pot
c.u.
planting pot
Mid
shot – researcher
c.u.
cases in flowerpot
Tilt
up flower stalk to sunflower head
Guide Voice: One of a number of programmes in
environmentally friendly and sustainable technologies under
development at the University of Warwick, these recyclable phone
cases are proving particularly successful and the research team
believe that, with the materials, technology and processes all in
place, the cases could be available within the year. Very soon we
could all be saying it with flowers!
02:43
End
