INTELLIGENT MOBILE TECHNOLOGY
Why telecom companies are looking at recycling their SIM card plastic holders
A longside the exponential growth in mobile phone use over the last decade , has been a growing awareness of the vast impact the industry was having on the environment , through plastic production . With this in mind , telcos began looking for creative and sustainable ways to cut waste and reduce their collective carbon footprint . They started with the SIM card .
These slivers of plastic might be small , but every year almost 4.5 billion of them are produced worldwide . That adds up to 20,000 metric tonnes of PVC and other
Sherry Zameer , SVP Mobile Connectivity Solutions , MCS Sales for Thales Africa and Middle East polymers – equivalent to the weight of two Burj Al Arabs .
However , making SIM cards from recycled plastic is complicated . It requires a specific kind of polymer . Pioneering telco engineers found this valuable resource in a surprising place : inside your fridge . They developed a process to reclaim the polymer from discarded fridge doors , turning the waste into pellets that can be used to manufacture the SIM card body .
The result was the ecoSIM , first launched by Orange Belgium in 2020 and now deployed in more than 20 countries across Europe , the Middle East and Africa . Appropriately , it made its made its debut in the UAE last year , being distributed to delegates during COP 28 in Dubai .
This 100 % recycled plastic card body from fridges , has local and low-carbon manufacturing , eco-friendly packaging and packing , and has a neutral carbon footprint through a carbon offset program for the SIM card ’ s remaining lifetime carbon emissions . Putting this into perspective , the SIM market represents 20,000 tons per year .
Even if only Thales ’ s customers , which is 25 % of the market , switched to EcoSIM , 5,000 tons per year of virgin plastic will be eliminated .
The recycled SIM card body was a successful and important step in the drive towards making the mobile industry more sustainable , but companies are exploring other ways to reduce their ongoing environmental impact .
This drive for more sustainability is especially urgent when it comes to plastic cards , which are typically made from a virgin plastic , polyvinyl chloride acetate , which is dense , water-resistant and non-biodegradable .
A number of companies have already started to manufacture cards using a plastic substitute called polylactic acid which biodegrades into its organic state within a three-month period . Another option is to repurpose wood and paper into cards .
It is important to note that the term biodegradable is highly relative . The rate of decomposition depends on temperature , moisture , UV exposure and the presence of microorganisms . The method of disposal also makes a huge difference to the process of biodegrading . For this reason , the industry has created standards such as ASTM D6400 that help companies to assess the relative compostability of their products .
In summary , companies across all industrial sectors are now reassessing their environmental impact and telcos are no exception . Consumers and regulators are demanding action . Forward-looking enterprises realise they need to take the initiative to do what is ethically right , while cutting costs and improving brand reputation . •
56 56 www . intelligenttechchannels . com