National Mobile Recycling Campaign Details

Gorilla’s are on the brink of extinction. They’re calling on YOU to donate your phone today!

You can now help save Gorilla’s in Africa simply by donating your mobile phone! Each time your mobile phone rings, a tiny piece of metallic ore from Africa is making this call possible: coltan. The mining of this commodity within the Congo River Basin is contributing to forest loss and unrest in the region, and is accelerating the loss of mountain gorillas at an alarmingly fast rate.

By donating your phone through the They’re Calling on You mobile phone recycling program you are:

• Diverting your phone from landfill
• Helping participating Zoos and Aquaria raise money to support the Jane Goodall Institute's primate conservation work in Africa through the sale of refurbished phones and…
• Lessening the demand for coltan mining by providing the coltan coated capacitor in your old mobile phone a second life.

To support the They’re Calling on You mobile phone recycling program you can:

1. Visit your local participating Zoo and Aquaria to collect a postage paid recycling satchel, and post your mobile phone to the Aussie Recycling Program. Your phone will be refurbished and resold to disadvantaged community groups.
2. Download and print a copy of our postage paid label and post your phone today!
3. Donate a corporate fleet of mobile phones by following these four easy steps! To register your support simply email the registration form to polly.cevallos@janegoodall.org.au .
4. Schools can get involved too! Please contact annette.debenham@janegoodall.org.au to discuss integrating this program to your curriculum whilst inspiring students to take action for wildlife.

For further general information please contact National Campaign Coordinator Rachel Lowry.

Next time your mobile phone rings, let that be a reminder that 'they're calling on you'!

- Reply Paid Label (pdf file 161kb)
- Corporate Fleet Registration (word document)
- 4 Easy Steps for Organisation Donations (pdf file 44kb)

See Also

- United Nations
http://www.un.int/drcongo/war/coltan.htm

- Friends of the Congo
http://www.friendsofthecongo.org/new/coltan.php

- Jane Goodall Institute International Website
http://www.janegoodall.org/africa-programs/programs/CCCDRC.asp

- Video of Jane Goodall discussing the role of zoos
http://www.zoo.org.au/Default.aspx?DN=34fbc602-a111-45d1-bbb7-78eb2a72acb1

Did you know?

More than 800 million people around the world currently use mobile phones and that figure is growing daily!  In Australia alone, it is estimated that there were 9 million new mobile phones sold in the last 12 months.

Australians typically upgrade their phones every 18-24 months! This exerts enormous pressure on the mining of resources such as coltan needed to manufacture new phones. 

80% of the world’s coltan reserves are located within the Democratic Republic of Congo. As the forest is denuded for mining, the protection once offered by the habitat in it’s pristine state is now no longer able to shelter gorillas and a range of other species from the bush meat crisis.  In Kahuzi Biega National Park, more than fifty percent of the mountain gorilla population has been lost, leaving the species on the brink of extinction.

You can make a difference simply by donating your old mobile phone.