Nimble’s iPhone cases use recycled bottles and no new plastic

Eco-friendly, Californian phone accessory maker Nimble has just launched a new line of iPhone cases crafted from 100% recycled plastic bottles. The new Bottle Cases are available for the latest iPhone models and Nimble has committed to donating 5% of every sale to various ocean and marine life charities.

A horrifying 18 billion pounds of plastic flow into our oceans every year and we just keep making more of the stuff. While some industries are embracing recycled plastic and trying to reduce their negative impact on the planet, most phone cases are made from new plastic and old phone cases often end up in landfills. With around 1.5 billion phones sold in 2018 alone, and somewhere around 75% of phone owners using a phone case, that’s well over a billion new phone cases last year alone.

“Our oceans are drowning in plastic. We’re not interested in creating new plastic to make phone cases,” said Ross Howe, CEO and co-founder of Nimble. “Virtually all phone cases made today require production of virgin materials, while there’s an overwhelming abundance of plastic material already in the ecosystem. We want to keep existing plastic in the economy and out of our oceans and landfills.”

The new Bottle Cases are svelte, offering basic protection from bumps and falls. There’s a hard inner shell covered by a kind of textured fabric to enhance grip and make the case comfortable to hold. There’s also a soft interior to protect your iPhone and a camera ring styled in Nimble’s signature blue — a nod to its hopes for plastic-free oceans. Every element of the case is made from recycled plastic bottles and the cases are washable.

Naturally, the cases are shipped in plastic-free packaging. Nimble has also followed Apple’s guidelines for protection, though these aren’t rugged iPhone cases. When you’re done with your iPhone case you can also return it to Nimble to be recycled or repurposed as part of its One-for-One Tech Recovery Project.

While you may feel Nimble’s effort is a drop in the ocean, so to speak, and while there’s no doubt we need more cleanup projects, it’s still refreshing to see a company trying to find a better way to do things. Nimble also offers cables and portable battery chargers, wall chargers, and wireless chargers, all with a similar ethos that includes recycled plastic and biodegradable packaging.

The Bottle Case line is available to buy at Nimble for the iPhone X, iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max,  and the iPhone XR and the cases cost $40 each. There are five different case color schemes: Soft Coral, Glacier, Seagrass, Deep Sea, and Black Sand, and each is committed to a different nonprofit from the Coral Reef Alliance to the Carbon Fund. To ensure they get their cut, all the donations are tracked and verified by 1% for the Planet.