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What’s cool about the emerging world of sustainable products is that consumers finally have the opportunity to shop better. That means clothing made from recycled materials that help to minimize water pollution, zero waste packaging for toiletries and eco phone cases that are biodegradable instead of being made from plastics that can take hundreds of years to decompose.
These days, phones have a high turnover rate. While companies and phone service providers offer take-back programs for their out-dated electronics, little can be done with phone cases except for sending them to landfills. Unfortunately, these plastic-based items can take anywhere from 20 to 200 years to decompose depending on the types of plastic used. Add to that the toxins from the brightly colored dyes and effects and you have a recipe for plastics that can emit harmful chemicals into our water and land resources as they sit in landfills for decades.
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Thankfully, there are innovative brands offering alternatives to the standard plastic phone case. By turning to technology and plant-based bioplastics, these cases act like plastic, but decompose within a matter o months instead of years. So, as conscious consumers we now have more options to help us shop and say ‘no’ to plastic.
Pela Case: Compostable Biopolastic
Pela Case offers a rainbow of eco phone cases that are etched with designs that will remind you of nature. Think sea turtles and evergreen trees. Plus, they fit for androids and iPhones.
Environmental Impact: The base material of these cases is Flaxstic, made from a compostable bioplastic elastomer sourced from leftover flax straw. These materials allow each case to emit 30% less CO2 and use 34% less water than its conventional counterparts. Pela Case is part of the Clean Ocean Initiative and donates at least 1% of their sales to this environmental cause.
Panda Blossoms: Compostable Wheat Materials
This U.K brand offers cases for various iPhones in classic colors that can be customized with waterproof ink drawings. These no frill cases are compsotable and shipped without plastic materials.
Environmental Impact: Panda Blossoms Cases are certified biodegradable and made from wheat. It takes only 90 days to degrade in an industrial composter, making it a better option than its counterparts which sit in a landfills for years. Only paper, cardboard and kraft tape is used in the packaging – all of which can be recycled.
Casetify: Upcycled Plastics
Casetify phone cases are made from plastic, but instead of using virgin plastics, this brand focuses on upcycled plastic materials to make their phone cases. For those seeking a shock absorbing case that’s built to protect your phone from even the most stressful situations, this phone case could be ideal for you.
Environmental Impact: These cases are made from partially upyclced phone cases through the brand’s take-back program. To date 160,000 phone cases have been recycled and 28,00 kg of plastic have been diverted from landfills.
Studio Q: Wood
This brand makes all of their cases in the U.S from an array of beautiful wood designs.
Environmental Impact: These luxury cases ensure that they’re impact is minimal, by using wood from responsibly sourced forests and from wood that can be recycled. Each case is made to order and laser cut to avoid waste and be more sustainable.
The Eco Owl: Plant-Based Materials
Eco Owl makes several kinds of biodegradable phone cases, which are made from plants, not fossil fuels and plastic.
Environmental Impact: The list of ingredients for these eco phone cases include coffee beans, lavender, skeleton leaves, alpine hay, rose petals, and other plant-based ingredients that make them 100% compostable. Based in Australia, this brand is entirely committed to sustainability, and the phone cases do not lack design of color – just on the contrary – they are pretty extraordinary and unique.