An Eco Friendly SmartPhone Saves Resources
In general, smartphones are not green because so many people replace them so often and then they end up in landfills.
However, if you have a smartphone, you can use it in ways that help you to reduce your carbon footprint and live a greener lifestyle.
How? Keep it for longer, and take advantage of the scanning capabilities of smartphones.
Why? Because scanning instead of printing means:
- no paper or ink (save trees, reduce resource use), and
- no paper needing to be recycled or ending up in landfill
Here are my 10 favourite ways to make your smartphone eco friendly:
1. Keep Shop Receipts on your Eco Friendly Smartphone
Many stores now offer electronic receipts. They’re great – no printing, and (even better) if you need to return something, you don’t have to hunt frantically for your receipt, it’s there on your phone.
2. Save Store Points / Loyalty Cards on your Eco Friendly Smartphone
Many stores offer credits for purchases, which are normally paper-based. Find out if the shop offers an app (many do) so you can have your credits available anytime, with no paper required.
Are you tired of carrying (or losing) store loyalty cards? The Cardstar app lets you load all your loyalty cards onto your smartphone. Then the cashier can scan your phone instead of the actual card. (The app also advises you of special offers).
3. Copy Sales Fliers on your Eco Friendly Smartphone
A lot of shops will match the price offered in another shop, but of course you need to prove the price offer. A quick photo of a sales flier will do the trick.
4. Get Airline Boarding Passes on your Eco Friendly Smartphone
Flying is seriously non-green, so buy carbon offsets for your trips and take advantage of electronic boarding passes – no printing required!
5. Save Appointment Cards on your Eco Friendly Smartphone
It can be difficult to keep track of the whole family’s various appointments (e.g. dentist). Keep the family calendar on your smartphone, and you’ve always got it handy wherever you are. No need for all those little appointment cards (save a tree) and nothing to worry about losing.
6. Save Coupons on your Eco Friendly Smartphone
If you use coupons, you normally have to print them out. Download an app that will allow you to use your phone to show the coupon instead of printing it. There are loads of free apps for this, and you always have the latest coupons.
7. Read News and Journals on your Eco Friendly Smartphone
Save paper and use a free reader (such Google Reader) to keep up-to-date with news and events, professional journals etc. You can also use an app called Instapaper to save interesting papers for future reading.
8. Manage Your Time on your Eco Friendly Smartphone
Do you normally have 20 pieces of paper with different To Do lists, shopping lists and reminders? Easy to lose and messy, aren’t they? Find an app which you like (there are tons) which provide everything from simple To Do and grocery lists to full-blown time management systems such as Wunderlist.
9. Track Utility Bills on your Eco Friendly Smartphone
Many energy companies now offer smartphone apps – you can send in your meter readings, view your latest bill, and get energy-saving hints and tips.
10. Purchase Online with your Eco Friendly Smartphone
When you buy goods online that you pick up later (e.g. movie tickets), always check if you can show the electronic receipt rather than print it out. This is becoming much more widely available.
What else do you use your smartphone for? How does it help the environment? Let me know in the Comments below.
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Related: Smartphone app that lets you vote with your wallet!
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I have found that insurers would not accept electronic receipts printed out (I lost all lot of stuff in a flood) – they wanted original paper ones only
I have often thought that dealing with insurance companies in general is rather like dealing with dinosaurs – in some ways they seem a little reluctant to adopt new technologies. Certainly that is the case with my last 2 insurers! What a shame electronic receipts are not acceptable to them. That’s good to know, and perhaps we could use greener technology for non-insurance receipts. I’m sorry to read you were flooded and that you lost a lot of stuff, that’s horrible.