Environment

Plastic water bottles are turned into world’s first recycled mobile phone
Motorola and Fido launched a new mobile phone which has a plastic housing made from recycled five-gallon water bottles. It is the world's first certified CarbonFree(R) mobile phone on the market. Through an alliance with Carbonfund.org, Motorola offsets the carbon dioxide required to manufacture, distribute and operate the phone through its lifecycle via investments in renewable energy sources and reforestation. The phone, called
Renew, earned Carbonfund.org's CarbonFree Product Certification after an extensive product life-cycle assessment.
Contact: Motorola
www.motorola.com

Packaging industry unites around carton recycling
Four leading packaging manufacturers have joined forces to help advance improvements in the carton recycling infrastructure across the US. The formation of the Carton Council by Tetra Pak, Elopak, Evergreen Packaging and SIG Combibloc signals an unusual move by companies who are strong industry competitors. However, a shared commitment sustainability has brought them together as they seek to improve the environmental
performance of their products. The Council aims to limit the number of cartons that become waste by promoting both recycling technology and local collection programmes. The Council will also encourage consumers to consider the environmental impact of product packaging before they make a purchase.
Contact: The Carton Council
www.aseptic.org

Mars and Terracycle partner on waste reduction
Mars Inc in the USA is to partner with TerraCycle to produce affordable, high-quality consumer goods using surplus and used packaging from more than 20 Mars brands. TerraCycle will recycle the waste packaging for use in products ranging from mobile phone holders and laptop sleeves to messenger bags, significantly reducing the amount of waste sent to landfill. TerraCycle distributes its products across the US and plans to expand into Mexico, Brazil, Canada and the UK over the coming year.
Contact: Mars
www.mars.com

UK recycles two-thirds of packaging in 2008
The UK recycled almost two-thirds of all packaging produced in 2008, according to figures released on 9 April from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Environmental Agency, exceeding EU recycling targets. The data shows that last year UK businesses contributed to the recovery of more than seven million tonnes of packaging waste of which 6.6 million tonnes were recycled, the equivalent of saving roughly 8.9 million tonnes of CO2.
Contact: Defra
www.defra.gov.uk

Going green online: Amazon and Universal News
Amazon and Universal News will run ongoing online promotions highlighting magazines that use recycled paper, under a major push by Green America's Better Paper Project and Next Steps Marketing, announced on 23 April. The "Better Paper for People and Planet" promotion will feature a diverse range of magazines that print on post-consumer recycled paper. Both Amazon and Universal News have extended premium placement and unique pages on their sites to highlight and promote these magazines.
Contact: Green America Today
www.greenamericatoday.org