Covestro and Fairphone are working collectively on sustainable composite smartphone instances

Both Covestro and the mobile phone manufacturer Fairphone focus on sustainability. The companies are working together to use fully and partially recycled material thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPUs) in the housings of the latest versions of the Fairphone smartphone Fairphone 3 and Fairphone 4.

The Fairphone 4’s back cover, center frame and wireless charger are all constructed with products from Covestro’s post-consumer PCR polycarbonate portfolio, providing the required rigidity, impact resistance and flame retardancy.

Covestro’s Desmopan® 3095AU RC100 TPU, developed from post-industrial recycled plastics, is used in the protective case of both the Fairphone 3 and Fairphone 4. The materials are certified according to the international Recycled Claim Standard (RCS) for recycled raw materials within the delivery chains.

To keep the end-of-life of the smartphone at the forefront, Covestro’s mono-material approach using construction safety inspection apps with a polycarbonate in the case and TPU plastics in the phone’s protective case allows the phone to be recycled when the time comes.

“With the help of our post-consumer recycling portfolio, we support Fairphone in achieving its sustainability goals. This includes particularly robust material solutions that enable a modular design of Fairphone products and promote their repairability,” says Nan Hu, Vice President Head of Global Industrial Marketing Electronics & Electrical in the Engineering Plastics business unit at Covestro. “Such projects and collaborations are in line with our vision to become fully circular.”

Wayne Huang, Fairphone’s Vice President of Product Operations, added, “With a shared mission to create a fairer and more sustainable future, Fairphone is excited to partner with Covestro and use their solutions made from recycled and recyclable materials in our Fairphone 4 We believe Covestro can help us work towards a circular economy that creates a more sustainable world. This is just a first step and we will continue to support Covestro in developing more sustainable materials.”