A mobile phone recycling campaign in Australia is helping to secure the future of threatened gorillas.
According to a recent United Nations report gorillas could disappear from large parts of Africa’s Greater Congo Basin within the next ten years due to threats from poachers, the Ebola virus and their habitat being destroyed.
Zoos Victoria has a mobile phone recycling programme named ‘They’re Calling On you’ where unwanted mobile phones are collected, refurbished and resold to developing countries such as Bangladesh.
In the past two years the campaign has raised more than 55,000 Australian Dollars.
Half of the profit from the campaign funds a captive-breeding program at Zoos Victoria and the other half goes to the Jane Goodall Institute’s anti-poaching rangers in Africa.
Mobile phone users looking to support the campaign can collect a postage paid envelope directly from Melbourne Zoo or download and print a label from a website.
Part of the reason the gorilla’s habit is being destroyed is because of coltan mining. Coltan is a metallic ore that is used to make mobile phones and other electrical items. Most of the world’s known coltan reserves are found within Africa and the mining of coltan within the Congo River Basin is sadly contributing to the the loss of mountain gorillas.