In 2013 we told you about an ethically sourced smartphone, the Fairphone. Today the Fairphone 2, which runs a customised version of Android 5.1, sells the idea that it is ‘as repairable as a modern smartphone gets’.
Owners can replace the screen, microphone, speaker, camera, and main circuit board using nothing more than a screwdriver, with all the replacement parts available directly from Fairphone. The new phone has gone up in price from €325 to €525 and is concentrating on turning into a movement rather than just being a product.
The company’s founder and CEO Bas van Abel says that the most ethical smartphone is the one you already own. The fact that the phone can easily be take apart is quite the party piece.
(Link: www.theverge.com, Image, screenshot of video)
A recent tightening of the Dutch law regulating the sales of alcoholic drinks in supermarkets has affected fair trade stores, 
A Dutch company has started building a mobile phone that they say is made from conflict-free materials by well-paid workers while also addressing what happens once the phone has reached the end of its life. 
In 2007 the Dutch mint started with a pilot project that made it the first in Europe to print money using cotton for which the producers have not been exploited. So far, the 20 and 50 euro bills produced by De Nederlandsche Bank have contained 10 to 14% fair trade cotton.
On Thursday the criminal court in Amsterdam threw out a case against reporter Teun van de Keuken for complicity in slavery. Van de Keuken, who co-hosts a consumer advocacy show on TV called ‘Keuringsdienst van Waarde’ (a pun referring to the Dutch Food and Drug Administration), instigated the case against himself