Environmental Leader

As one major cell phone carrier labors to recycle obsolete units, a manufacturer is bringing into play a phone that charges itself by the sun.

Earlier this year, Sprint set a goal to recycle 250,000 cell phones during April, coinciding with the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Cell Phone Recycling Week. The company collected 279,524 phones for recycling in April, according to a press release.

Sprint says it leads the wireless industry in recycling efforts, with more than 16 million units diverted from landfills for reuse or recycling since 2001.

Cell phone manufacturer Sharp, meanwhile, has introduced a solar cell phone.

The Solar Phone SH002 requires a 10-minute exposure to direct sunlight to deliver one minute of talktime or two hours of standby, according to CNET.

If left outdoors long enough, the cell phone should be able to charge up to 80 percent of capacity, according to the article. The cell phone also is waterproof.

Like most nifty electronics, the cell phone is only available in Japan for now.

Sprint offers a separate solar charging unit for cell phones.