Dead ringers?

A total of 1,712 mobile phones are upgraded every hour in the UK alone, reveals Dead Ringers?, a new free exhibition at the Science Museum.

* The exhibition, opening in Antenna - the science and technology news gallery of the Science Museum - will showcase pioneering phone technology, including the first UK display of NEC's phone with a biodegradeable cover, currently only available in Japan.

* Also on display is a prototype phone cover with an implanted sunflower seed. As the sunflower grows, it gets additional nutrients from the biodegrading phone cover. This unique design, yet to hit the shelves, should give you the option to simply bury your used phone cover in your garden, thanks to researchers from Warwick University and materials company PVAXX.

* Other prototypes on show are the only lasagne-based circuit board in the world, and an exploded phone showing how new smart metals will help phones take themselves apart for recycling.

* Further inventive design ideas covered in the exhibition include new and biodegradeable battery designs and design innovations from Nokia which may reduce the need for toxic flame retardants, aiding easier recycling of mobile-derived plastics.

There are around 50 million mobiles in the UK - a figure that is fast catching up to the current UK population at just under 60.5 million. But with global usage of mobile phones expected to reach 2 billion this year, this love of electronic gadgets is creating a worldwide waste problem. Mobiles are designed to last around 10 years, but we change them around every 18 months, adding to current disposal issues.

Dead Ringers? will investigate how the coming European-wide WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) legislation will affect industry and consumers, and the methods scientists and industry are using to tackle the waste problem. A simple solution could be to upgrade less often, creating less waste. Chucking phones in landfill will no longer be a legal option once the new government regulations are in place.

Local Environmental Quality Minister Ben Bradshaw MP said "We tend to upgrade our phones without thinking about what happens to our old one when we no longer need it. So what should we do with our old phones when we do?
And what can manufacturers do to make it easier for people to make the right choices for the environment? These are some of the core questions we are raising in our current review of England's waste strategy so the Science Museum's exhibition is especially timely."

Visitors to this new exhibition, funded by SITA Trust through the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme, with additional funding from Defra, will be able to:

* Find out what scientists and manufacturers are doing to design phones that are better for the environment, including circuit boards made from chicken feathers!

* See why phones are so hard to recycle and how we can improve this in the future

* Discover the valuable contents inside a mobile phone - did you know that you have gold, silver and liquid crystal inside your phone, the latter being valued somewhere between gold and platinum?

Dead Ringers? will provide some surprising insights into the current issues and eco-friendly future of the gadget so many of us couldn't live without - the mobile phone.

Notes:
1. This exhibition is the first part of Wasted Opportunity?, a 3-year project at the Science Museum funded by the SITA Trust and Defra consisting of exhibitions, a series of adult debating events and a programme of educational activities, which will all be supported by an online presence. Wasted Opportunity? is part of the nationwide Wasted Science? project in collaboration with At-Bristol, Thinktank, The Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester and International Centre for Life, funded by the SITA Trust and designed to improve understanding of waste issues and sustainable waste management.

2. The Science Museum's Wellcome Wing has been made possible by two major benefactions. In the first major lottery award to the sciences, the Heritage Lottery Fund has contributed £23m and, in one of the largest grants ever made to a museum in this country, the Wellcome Trust, the independent medical research charity, has donated £17.75m.

3. Further generous support for the Antenna gallery is provided by Nature.

About the SITA Trust and Defra:
The SITA Trust was set up in 1997 to provide funding through the Government's Landfill Tax Credit Scheme. The Trust receives Landfill Tax Credit donations from the waste management company, SITA UK. For more information on the SITA Trust and the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme, please go to SITA Trust

Defra, or the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, works for the essentials of life - food, air, land, water, people, animals and plants. Their remit is the pursuit of sustainable development - weaving together economic, social and environmental concerns. More information on Defra. Deadline for comments is 9 May 2006.