Sony develops enviro-friendly FeliCa cards

by Donald Melanson, posted Nov 29th 2006 at 8:03PM

Sony's FeliCa contactless smart card system has already seen a fair degree of success, in Japan if not here, with Sony signing up NTT DoCoMo to put the technology to use in its cellphones, and, of course, pushing the technology hard in its own laptops. Not one to rest on its laurels, however, the company's now looking to further broaden its FeliCa appeal, not to mention do the right thing, by creating cards made of vegetable-based plastic (itself a product of sweet, sweet biomass) instead of the less renewable petroleum-based plastics. Apart from that not-so-secret ingredient, the cards are apparently identical to and just as durable as existing cards.This isn't the first time Sony's used vegetable-based plastics in its products, however, with the company previously putting it to use in a Walkman, DVD player, and a few AIBO parts, as well as some product packaging. Keep it up, Sony, there's plenty more plastic you can replace.

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Tags: environment, felica, smart card, SmartCard, sony, vegetal based plastic, VegetalBasedPlastic

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Neutral

nick @ Nov 29th 2006 8:11PM

I second the motion. Any way that you can put less burden on this environment is a plus in my book.

I also have to agree that yes.. there are definitely more plastic products out there that they can start to replace with these vegetable=-based plastics.

(nicholas)
http://www.tingog.com

Neutral

Mike @ Nov 29th 2006 8:41PM

I was one of the beta testers of the technology when they tried to roll it out in conjunction with they My Sony program. The technology definitely has potential.

Neutral

Asher M. @ Nov 29th 2006 8:41PM

Finally, a technology company is actually making the effort (even though it is minuscule in nature)to actually care about what the planet will be like in the not so distant future. I've done some research on the usage of vegetable (and other biological substances, mainly lipids) oil and the prospects are phenomenal. I hope lots of other companies adopt the same approach, even though it is a little expensive to pull off the production of parts from it.

Neutral

V @ Nov 30th 2006 10:11PM

i remember when sony started using only one battery in their remote controls to help reduce waste not sure how long this lasted or if it's being implemented atm

oh btw we use too much paper in this hi tech world not just plastics

Neutral

smartcard @ Dec 16th 2006 1:39AM

A comprehensive online portal to smartcard industry in China

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