Motorola today announced the launch of their first new phone for 2009 - the Renew, the company's first cell phone made with a plastic housing made from recycled water bottles and the world's first carbon neutral phone.

Through an alliance with Carbonfund.org, Motorola offsets the carbon dioxide required to manufacture, distribute and operate the phone by investing in renewable energy sources and reforestation. And as well as offsetting the carbon, Motorola have also made an effort to reduce the phone's overall environmental impact.

When designing the packaging, Motorola was able to reduce its size by 22 percent and the box and all of the materials inside are printed on 100 percent post-consumer recycled paper. In addition, a postage-paid recycling envelope in box makes it easy to return your previous mobile phone for recycling at no cost.

"Today, natural resources, energy and time are more precious than ever before," said Jeremy Dale, corporate vice president, global marketing, Motorola Mobile Devices. "From the product's design, to the packaging to our partnership with Carbonfund.org, we wanted to ensure that this device makes the right impact with consumers and the environment."

Renew will first be available at T-Mobile USA in early 2009 - and while all the eco-friendly features are commendable, we would still like to see them rolled out over the entire Motorola range, rather than just one phone.  The company does at least offer a free recycling service. Postage-paid label can be printed at their website and a portion of the proceeds generated from returned mobile phones is distributed to schools participating in Motorola's Race to Recycle program.