MobileMuster is teaming up with Landcare Australia to raise public awareness of mobile phone recycling. The campaign is called ‘Old Phones, More Trees’ and for every kilogram of mobile phones and accessories handed in by the end of October, a tree will be planted in one of five coastal areas.
There are an estimated 16 million old phones going to waste in Australia, and if just one in 200 of these phones were recycled via the programme, 25,000 trees could be planted. The native plants will help tackle problems like dune erosion and will help to restore native wildlife habits.
So far, around 87,000 handsets plus accessories, leading to over 21,760kg of mobile phones, have been collected and as a result 21,760 trees will be planted.
Rose Read of MobileMuster said: “Thousands of Aussies and overseas tourists flock to the beach every summer, but our coastlines are suffering from erosion, storm water pollution, weeds and damage caused by people and their cars. By recycling old or broken mobiles with MobileMuster, Australians will be able to help to restore the health of our precious coastline.”
People who recycle their old mobile phones using the programme are also helping avoid future greenhouse gas emissions because the plastics and metals in the mobiles can be reused to make new products as well as reducing demand on natural resources.