Orange SIM cards go green

Orange has announced that it will be the first mobile operator to introduce mini-SIM cards which, it claims, will reduce the amount of waste plastic produced by traditional SIMs.

The mini-SIM card uses half the amount of plastic per SIM, according to Orange. Customers will now receive mini-SIM cards when they purchase an upgrade or new contract.

Tom Alexander, chief executive of Orange UK, said: "Ultimately, our goal is to have no waste involved in providing new SIMs and to use organic materials.

"This is just one small but significant step further in that journey of reducing the environmental impact of our business for our customers," he continued.

Last year more than 2.9 billion SIM cards were shipped across the world, weighing 11,600 tonnes.

Orange aims to halve this amount by fitting two SIMs into each credit card-sized piece of plastic.

SIM card providers, Gemalto, Sagem Orga and Oberthur Technologies, are supplying Orange with the mini-SIM cards.