The new iPhone 3G will ship in a paper tray made that has a carbon footprint a tenth the size of a plastic tray, according to its manufacturer.

The paper tray, manufactured by Dutch firm PaperFoam, is made from potato or tapioca starch.

According to Dutch blog Bright, PaperFoam CEO Hans Arentsen said that Apple ordered "millions of PaperFoam packages" for the new iPhone. PaperFoam also makes carton components for Motorola.

The PaperFoam tray will be inside a coated cardboard box, both of which are fully recyclable. Apple committed to reducing its environmental impact in an open letter from Steve Jobs released in May 2007.

[Via The Register.]

Our sister blog, Engadget, noted yesterday that Apple has filed a patent for transparent photovoltaic cells that can cover portable devices. This means your iPod, iPhone or MacBook might be coated in a layer of clear, power-charging solar cells.

Motorola already has a similar patent, though it only applies to covering the display area with solar cells.

While it's not clear how much power these cells will be able to generate, it will certainly be nice to have devices in the future that can charge themselves just by sitting out in the sun.

A big green Happy Saint Patrick's Day from TUAW. What says "American Irish experience" more than iPods in resplendent verdant hues? Or classic green gumdrop iMacs? Or colorwared MacBook Airs? We can't think of anything!

Just remember to keep your electronics away from the jello shots and green beer. Alcohol immersions are not covered under AppleCare. And remember why TUAW celebrates in March: because God didn't make little green apples in the summertime.

• Green iPod nanos
• Green iPod shuffles
• Colorware your Mac
• Classic green gumdrop iMacs
• Green accessories, including socks and cases

If you've got a favorite green Mac, iPod or peripheral, shout it out below.

Update; Green beer, being secular, doesn't conform to liturgical necessities.

In the press room at Macworld there was a little foyer with alphabetized buckets where you could pick up press kits from the various vendors. This is an exercise in wastefulness, as many of the press kits are glossy folders filled with photocopies and CD's.

Now, I realize the coordination required to put all this on a single DVD or USB drive would be immense, so I'm not blaming Macworld/IDG here, but surely there's got to be a better way. I've made a gallery of the leftover press releases, CD's and cases I was left with-- and I didn't even take everything! I also had to discard all the covering folders for what I did grab, because I didn't want to pay $60 extra for the additional weight in my luggage (no kidding, it was like an extra 10 lbs. of junk). Sadly, that stuff got trashed in my hotel room, and I'm sure it didn't get recycled. Maybe next year the dream of a "paperless" Macworld can be realized...

Apple has received a lot of flack, especially from Greenpeace, for their supposedly less-than-stellar commitment to "green" design and manufacturing processes. However, the MacBook Air might be a sign of changes to come, as it is officially the most environmentally-friendly Apple product on the shelves. The latest, thinnest Apple notebook boasts the following:

• Fully recyclable aluminum case
• Apple's first mercury-free LCD display, with arsenic-free glass
• Circuit boards are BFR-free and PVC-free
• 50% less packaging than the previous MacBooks
• Meets ENERGY STAR requirements
• Receives a EPEAT Silver Rating

Is Apple a "green" company? Today is Blog Action Day, where 15,000 blogs are publishing posts about the environment. I have always thought of Apple having an eye towards the environment, but perhaps I think this is because I remember Apple eschewing extra paper on their boxes way back in the early days. You see, to get optimal 4-color print on a shipping box you have to wrap that box in an additional layer of glossy paper. For a while, Apple was content to ship the monochrome brown box with black ink, thus saving trees and ink. The original Mac boxes were white, but didn't use the glossy stuff.

A year ago you may remember Apple being taken to task regarding their recycling efforts. In fact, Apple has been taken to task on their computer take back program, their packaging and now the scary hazardous chemicals in the iPhone. Shock, horror! Yes, it is obvious Apple is determined to coat the Earth in a fine sheen of clear plastic, aluminum and bromiated compounds. Evil I tells ya, evil.

In their defense, Al Gore is on the board. OK, they have more than just Al. Steve Jobs issued a statement just a few months ago for a greener Apple. Naturally, there are still plenty of skeptics, but the site Green My Apple provides constructive criticism and a fairly healthy outlook for the future. Apple appears to have listened! Of course, they could just hire the Professor and make iPhones from coconuts, right? Given the fact that consumer electronics is about as un-green an industry as you can get, it'll be a very long road indeed before everyone is happy. Then again, as we know too well, there's no way to make everyone happy. The hope is that Apple will continue to innovate with "green" in mind. Not the back of the mind, but right up there in front where it'll do the most good.

Good news for iPhone owners who love information but hate wasting paper. AT&T is texting iPhone accounts with messages saying: "We are simplifying your paper bill, removing itemized detail. To view all detail go to att.com/mywireless. Still need full paper bill? Call 611". Check your iPhone for the message.

After all the 500-page iPhone bill hilarity, sanity begins to return to the iPhone world.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in.

Some environmentalists have been a bit down on Apple. Today, Steve responds to those criticisms, writing "[u]pon investigating Apple's current practices and progress towards these goals, I was surprised to learn that in many cases Apple is ahead of, or will soon be ahead of, most of its competitors in these areas. Whatever other improvements we need to make, it is certainly clear that we have failed to communicate the things that we are doing well."

He writes that Apple has been removing toxic chemicals from products and promoting product recycling. Did you know that a typical CRT contains 3 pounds of lead? I didn't. Apple no longer sells them, having eliminated the use of CRT's in 2006.

Apple's eWaste program continues to grow. In 2006, Apple recycled just under 10% by weight of the products sold seven years earlier. This seems to be in line with Dell and HP's figures, each at about 10%.

Apple's 10% iPod trade-in discount will now expand to Apple stores worldwide. And Apple is exploring the overall carbon "footprint" of their products although some scientists controversially question the need for this particular approach.

Thanks everyone who alerted us to this new Hotnews item.

Apple shareholders will vote on removing hazardous chemicals from the Apple product line at the upcoming May 10th annual meeting according to Macworld. Apple's board thinks Apple already has sufficient environmental standards and opposes the resolution, which was introduced by Trillium Asset Management of Boston. Trillium, an investment firm, specializes in "socially responsible investments". The chemicals in question include brominated flame retardents and polyvinyl chloride plastics.