Ananova:

A female US inventor has created a new kind of mobile phone which she expects her customers to throw away - it's the world's first fully disposable mobile phone.

Once purchased, the phones which are constructed of paper, can be operated anywhere in the world and when customers use up their call time the phone can be thrown away.

Randi Altschul, from New Jersey, came up with the brainwave after listening to airline workers complaining that their phones would not work abroad.

She told Sky News: "You get to the airport and your cell phone doesn't work because you're from another country. So you just pick up one of these things out of a vending machine and you're making your call instantly."

The tiny phone will measure two by three inches and will be launched by Altschul's company, Dieceland Technologies. It will be made entirely of paper substrate, including the touch pad and circuit board, so it will be extremely light-weight.

Initially the phones will be powered by regular batteries but plans for a smaller power source are being researched.

Ms Altschul expects to launch the product some time next year and hopes to sell around 300 million phones by the first month of production.

She is also creating a paper laptop computer which she says will be available for as little as $10 dollars and to encourage low-income families to surf the net.

"We live in a disposable society. Everybody's running around and people don't even eat at home anymore. We do things on the go and this is just par for the course in my opinion," she said.