Mobiles say it with flowers

Talking to flowers will take on a whole new meaning with the launch a special new mobile phone.

Scientists at Warwick University, led by Dr Kerry Kirwan, have created a mobile phone that if planted in soil, will bloom into a flower.

A team from the university’s Warwick Manufacturing Group, PVAXX Research and Development and Motorola came up with the idea for recycling old mobiles.

The concept was in answer to increasing pressure on manufacturers to find ways to recycle discarded goods and mobile phones are one of the most quickly discarded items of consumer electronics.

The boffins created a special biodegradable shell and, working with Warwick Horticulture Research International, embedded a seed in a small transparent window, visible to environmentally aware mobile phone users. For the first few prototypes the group used dwarf sunflower seeds.

Whether we’ll start to see the Motorola Begonia80 or the Nokia Ornamental Cabbage200 on shelves remains to be seen.