CES: Motorola Turns Plastic Bottles Into Phones

Motorola's device, the Moto W233 Renew, will make its official debut this week at CES 2009 in Las Vegas.

According to Motorola, the Renew delivers most of the functionality of a typical Motorola device while reducing a user's carbon footprint. The phone's plastic housing is made from plastics comprising recycled water bottles and is 100 percent recyclable, Motorola said, adding that the Renew also marks the world's first carbon-neutral phone.

Through an alliance with Carbonfund.org, Motorola offset the carbon dioxide required to make, distribute and operate the Renew through investments in renewable energy sources and reforestation. The W233 Renew has earned Carbonfund.org's CarbonFree Product Certification.

"Today, natural resources, energy and time are more precious than ever before," Jeremy Dale, corporate vice president, global marketing, Motorola Mobile Devices, said in a statement. "From the product's design, to the packaging to our partnership with Carbonfund.org, we wanted to ensure that this device makes the right impact with consumers and the environment."

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Motorola also reduced the packaging size of the device by 22 percent, and the box and all of the materials inside are printed on 100 percent post-consumer recycled paper. In addition, Motorola will include a postage-paid recycling envelope in the box to make it easy for users to return their previous phone for recycling at no cost.

The Renew is expected to be available early this year through T-Mobile.

Along with doing its part for the environment, Motorola at CES will also debut the MOTOSURF A3100, a Wi-Fi- and 3G-enabled touch tablet with a customizable home screen. The tablet, based on Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.1, enables applications to be accessed with the tap of a finger, stylus or multidirectional trackball. According to Motorola, home screen icons can be personalized to give live feeds on weather, news, personal and work e-mail, messaging and calendar events.

Motorola is calling the MOTOSURF A3100 a "true social smartphone" that lets users toggle back and forth between documents, music, video conferencing and other functions, including a GPS. The tablet will be available in some regions starting in early 2009.

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