It's a concept cell phone for now, but it demonstrates what can be done using nearly no new materials to build a mobile phone, the company said.

Elena Malykhina, Technology Journalist

February 13, 2008

2 Min Read




Nokia's "Remade" concept phone is built almost entirely out of recycled materials, including aluminum cans, plastics from drink bottles, and old car tires.

In line with its vision to create new mobile phones that are better for the environment, Nokia this week introduced a concept phone called "Remade," which would be built almost entirely out of recycled materials.

Nokia's CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo unveiled Remade at the Mobile World Congress conference in Barcelona. The idea is to create mobile phones that cause less of a strain on natural resources, while reducing landfill and increasing energy-efficient production, the company said.

Phones based on the Remade concept would be made out of metals from aluminum cans and plastics from drink bottles. Materials from old car tires would make up the phones' rubber key mats. The phones would also use environment-friendly technologies, including printed electronics and display graphics that save energy, according to Nokia.

Remade is simply a concept for now and not a commercial product, but it demonstrates what can be done using nearly no new materials to build a mobile phone, said Nokia's spokeswoman.

Nokia created a video that introduces Remade and shows potential phone designs. The video can be found on its Web site here.

The world's No. 1 phone maker is working on another "green" concept called Eco Sensor, which involves a wearable mobile phone and a sensing device that analyzes a person's health and surrounding environment. The Eco Sensor concept, which was introduced last year, follows the "reduce, reuse, and recycle" model, meaning that both the phone and the sensor unit would feature a compact design and contain materials that can be renewed or reclaimed.

For those that don't want to wait until the concepts come to fruition, Nokia will offer the 3110 Evolve, a mobile phone that's made from over 50% renewable materials, in the first half of this year. It's also packaged in 60% recycled content and comes with an efficient charger that uses 94% less energy.

The 3110 Evolve comes with a 1.3-megapixel camera, FM tuner, MP3 player, and expandable memory with a microSD card slot. But the phone will only be available in the U.K. and Germany.

About the Author(s)

Elena Malykhina

Technology Journalist

Elena Malykhina began her career at The Wall Street Journal, and her writing has appeared in various news media outlets, including Scientific American, Newsday, and the Associated Press. For several years, she was the online editor at Brandweek and later Adweek, where she followed the world of advertising. Having earned the nickname of "gadget girl," she is excited to be writing about technology again for InformationWeek, where she worked in the past as an associate editor covering the mobile and wireless space. She now writes about the federal government and NASA’s space missions on occasion.

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