You can help save chimpanzees simply by recycling your old phone. How do old phones help chimpanzees? The mining of coltan poses a substantial threat to African great apes. Coltan is a mineral used in electronics. Mining results in the clearing of habitat in coltan-rich areas such as the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where chimpanzees live. It also drives the bush meat trade, further exacerbating the decline of chimpanzee populations
Who’s involved
JGIA has partnered with Phone Cycle and Mobile Muster to run a nationwide mobile phone collection drive at participating schools during Term 4.
Why we’ve added new partners for this campaign
JGIA’s existing mobile phone recycling campaign partner, PhoneCycle, is a mobile phone reseller, which means funds donated to JGIA are from the sale of working used phones only. Given that many phones that don’t work but can still be stripped of their essential components like coltan, we have entered a new partnership with a mobile phone recycler, Mobile Muster. This new three-way partnership will allow JGIA to ensure that more funds are raised to support chimpanzee conservation while reducing the demand on elements like coltan which impact Great Ape habitat.
A recent ABC News article featured the program as part of a story on schools tackling waste.
