Say it with flowers

The mobile phone has become part of everyday life for many people around the world - it's hard to imagine how we ever got along without them.

But they're not just about communication. They've become fashion items too and, as a result, many of us change or upgrade our mobile phone every 18 months or so. In fact, some estimates suggest that, in Europe alone, we discard in excess of 100 million mobile phones each year!

Now researchers at the University of Warwick's Warwick Manufacturing Group, working with PVAXX Research & Development Ltd, have come up with a novel way to recycle discarded mobile phones: simply bury them and watch them turn into flowers.

Using a biodegradable polymer they've created a mobile phone case with a seed embedded in a small transparent window. The polymer is perfectly stable in a normal working environment - but when placed in compost completely biodegrades, releasing its seed for germination.