Green Smartphones: Are They Possible?

Making green devices is becoming kind of trendy lately – Nokia claims to make eco-friendly phones, Samsung released the Replenish – one of the greenest Samsung phones ever, Apple says its devices are really green, too… I guess we are all really glad to know that so many green phones are being produced. But many of us don’t really know what an eco-friendly device actually is. So let’s now try to find it out.

If you want to understand if a device is green or not, you should take into account how and from what materials it was manufactured and what packaging and accessories it has. Some experts even say the lifecycle of the phone and the way it’s disposed of also play an important role. Let’s now focus on all of these criteria.

1- Materials

Smartphones are usually made from plastic, metals, different chips, PCB and other components. In a green phone all these components can be from eco-friendly materials like recycled or recyclable plastic, metal and glass. Ideally even paints can be made from renewable materials. There are also materials like bio plastic, which is already green and doesn’t even need to be recycled – it would be great if more smartphones were made from biodegradable materials like this bio plastic.

Maybe making one phone from such materials will cost much more than from “ordinary” plastic, but if smartphone manufacturers change the whole production and start using these materials for all of their phones, the costs will be considerably cut. Besides, I’m sure many people will agree to pay more for an eco-friendly device.

A green smartphone shouldn’t contain any dangerous or toxic materials, too – but I guess this goes without saying. In 2003 RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive) was adopted by EU, restricting the use of some dangerous substances in electronic devices: Lead (Pb), Mercury (Hg), Cadmium (Cd), Hexavalent chromium (Cr⁶⁺), Polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) and Polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE). So a green smartphone should contain none of these.

2- Manufacturing process

A green smartphone should not only be made from eco-friendly materials, but its manufacturing process has to be green, too. It means the manufacturing process of the phone must be energy efficient – the manufacturer must try to save as much energy as it’s possible (it will be good for the manufacturer, too – the less energy they use on the production, the less costs they have and the less the price of the phone will be).

3- Accessories

All of the accessories of a green smartphone should be made from eco-friendly materials, just like the smartphone itself. The charger should be energy efficient so that less power is consumed to charge the phone. There are also alternative chargers (for example, solar chargers) that are totally eco-friendly, and it would be great if green smartphones came with such accessories.

4- Packaging

Most smartphone manufacturers pay attention only to the design and sturdiness of the packaging they make for their product, since they think packaging has only two purposed – to attract the potential buyers and to protect the device from any damages while it’s shipped. But even the packaging of a green phone can be green – made from recycled materials (like recycled paper boards or plastic). Ideally the box shouldn’t contain any paper user manuals, since all that info can be found in the Internet, so why waste paper?

So these were the main criteria of a green smartphone. Is there a smartphone in the current market that meets all these requirements? I guess there isn’t, but at least some manufacturers (namely Nokia, Samsung and Apple) are doing their best to produce eco-friendly devices, and I believe very soon their new phones will become even greener. It would be great if other smartphone manufacturers could also follow their example and help make our planet less polluted.

Guest post by Amelia Hunter who is a blogger who enjoys reading and writing about technology news, sports, PC games and the latest Android phones. She’s also a big fan of HTC, Nokia and Samsung phones especially the newest models released at the end of 2011.