Sony Ericsson
C901 GreenHeart

In June 2009, Sony Ericsson launched the GreenHeart programme offering products with a focus on sustainable innovation. This was a revolutionary project that was ahead of its time delivering breakthrough features such as a reduction of the CO² footprint of the phones being offered by 15 percent. The first flagship product to be launched was the C901 GreenHeart which included an electronic, in-phone manual to replace the standard paper version, saving over 90% in paper and reducing the environmental impact of transporting the final product through more compact packaging. The C901 GreenHeart phone casing was made from a minimum of 50% recycled plastics and included an optimised display light sensor that uses less energy. The phone was coloured with waterborne paint that lowered exposure to Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) during manufacturing. It was launched at the same time as the Naite phone and the MH300 GreenHeart headset, one of the greenest headsets available at the time. This was made up of 100 percent recycled plastics in 4 out of 5 hard plastic parts, far exceeding legal environmental requirements at the time. Both new GreenHeart phones built on Sony Ericsson's longstanding commitment to eliminating the use of hazardous chemicals from the product design and manufacturing process. The C901 GreenHeart included a WalkMate application that let users “walk the talk about being more eco-friendly” by comparing the steps they take with the equivalent journey travelled by car. Sony Ericsson planned to use the product innovations in its new GreenHeart range to 'green' its full product portfolio with the aim of setting a new benchmark in sustainability for the entire mobile phone industry. At the launch of the GreenHeart initiative, Sony Ericsson was supported by network operators Telefonica O2 in the UK and TeliaSonera in Sweden. Sony Ericsson also had a global take-back programme which had been in operation since 2007. This allowed consumers to send back used mobile phones in an effort to ensure they did not end up in landfills but were instead sent to specialised mobile phone recycling centres. The C901 GreenHeart included a five-megapixel camera with built-in Xenon flash. Sony Ericsson launched further GreenHeart phones in 2009 with the Elm and Hazel models and in 2010 with the Aspen and Cedar phones.