The Speculist

It's a good-news, bad-news day for the salvage industry. This morning we learned that "Electronics recycling is a growing business."

But this afternoon we learned that "Scientists Make Phone That Turns Into a Sunflower."

Materials company Pvaxx Research & Development, at the request of U.S.-based mobile phone maker Motorola has come up with a polymer that looks like any other plastic, but which degrades into soil when discarded.

Researchers at the University of Warwick in Britain then helped to develop a phone cover that contains a sunflower seed, which will feed on the nitrates that are formed when the polyvinylalcohol polymer cover turns to waste.

"It's a totally biodegradable and non-toxic plastic," said Pvaxx spokesman Peter Morris...

The company's new plastic, which was created over the past five years but was in development for longer, can be rigid or flexible in shape.

Some 650 million mobile phones will be sold this year, and most of them will be thrown away within two years, burdening the environment with plastics, heavy metals and chemicals. A biodegradable cover can offer some relief for nature, Warwick University said.

Yes, but it's no help for a salvage empire.