Mobile phones vs. Great Apes

Can’t wait to get a new iPhone 5? Or maybe just need to upgrade from your current old phone? Well you might as well just kill a gorilla or a chimpanzee? Have I gone mad? Some might say so, but there is a very close link between gorillas and chimpanzees and the production of mobile phones. Each time another mobile phone is produced it may be contributing to the destruction of the habitat of gorillas, bonobos (a type of chimp), forest elephants, otters and many more species of animals.

Over a billion phones have been sold each year since 2006. Wireless Intelligence claims that there is currently over five billion mobile phones in use around the world and that number should reach six billion in 2012. With the average person upgrading their phone every 14 months it is predicted that there are about 500 million old phones laying around in people’s junk drawers.

A cell phone is made up of many materials being about 40% metals, 40% plastics, and 20% ceramics and trace materials. The circuit board is made out of a variety of metals including copper, gold, lead, nickel, zinc, beryllium, tantalum and one in particular that is of interest and has a rather sinister story. Columbite-tantalite, or coltan for short, is a metallic ore that, when refined, becomes metallic tantalum, a heat-resistant powder that can hold a high electrical charge. In mobile phones it is used to regulate the current flow within a mobile’s circuit board. One of the main places where coltan is mined from is the Dominican Republic of Congo and the Congo River Basin (containing the second largest rainforest in the world).

Since the DR Congo’s independence in the 60’s the country has been in a continual state of civil war as varying parties battle over the country's rich resources (I found BBC News provides a great overview. Click here to see the article). The fighting has led directly and non-directly to over three million people being killed. Amongst the unrest, illegal mining groups have been able to sneak into protected areas and mine by hand using groups of men digging basins in streams, scraping away dirt to get to the muddy coltan underneath.

These illegal mining groups are capitalising on the mobile phone boom but the coltan mining industry in this region has led to ongoing destruction of the as well as the slaughter of great apes for the illegal bushmeat trade. The United Nation’s Environment Program has reported that the number of eastern lowland gorillas in eight national parks in the Congo has declined by 90% over the past five years. Now there are only two to four thousand left in the wild and less than 50 in zoos.

It’s easy for us in the Western world to look at the situation and feel that there is nothing we can do. However that is definitely not the case! Mobile phones can be recycled. This reduces the demand for coltan as well as reduces the amount of mobile phones in landfill leaking toxic elements such as arsenic and lead.

There are many companies and organisations coordinating the recycling of mobile phones. Some offer free postage while others have drop off points. I have found most Zoos have drop off boxes. Below is a list of some. Please feel free to message me more that you know of.

This weekend I challenge you to take five minutes to dig up any old mobile phones and get them to an organisation that will have them recycled. By doing so you are helping save the gorillas and other animals of central Africa no matter where you are in the world.

Global - WWF
Click here for information about various recycling drop off points.

Australia - The Jane Goodall Institute
Click here for a Reply Paid Label for individuals.
Click here for schools and businesses who are interested in organising a collection.

USA - The E.P.A.
Click here for a list of organisations participating in the recycling of mobiles and other electronic devices.

Canada - Recycle My Cell
Click here to be redirected to a directory of drop off points around Canada.

United Kingdom - Recycling Appeal
Click here to be redirected to their site.

Ireland - Recycling Appeal
Click here to be redirected to their site.

Other Related Information
- Gorillas are so closely related to humans that the human birth control pill is used by zoos to control breeding in gorillas.
- On 31st May 2011, the World Health Organization confirmed that mobile phone use may represent a long-term health risk, classifying mobile phone radiation as a "carcinogenic hazard" and "possibly carcinogenic to humans”.
- Like your honey? There have findings that cell phone radiation may be negatively affecting honeybees, but the results have been disputed.

Here is an old interview I did with Rachel Lawry at Melbourne Zoo a few years ago. Click here to listen.

Your Mobile Phone may be destroying the Habitat of the Great Apes in Africa

Did you know that your mobile phone may be responsible for the destruction of the Great Apes Habitat in Africa?

Renowned primatologist Dr Jane Goodall (pictured) has visited Melbourne Zoo to launch a new mobile phone recycling campaign aimed at protecting primates in the wild.

Dr Goodall’s lifelong study of the chimpanzees of Gombe, Nigeria has made her not only the world’s most recognised expert on the species but also their most effective advocate.

Old mobile phones donated to the Zoo’s ‘They’re Calling on You’ campaign will benefit primate conservation in two ways: financially, but even more directly by reducing demand for coltan, a mineral used in mobile phones.

Eighty percent of the world’s coltan is found in Africa. Illegal mining in areas where chimpanzees, gorillas, and other primates live has had devastating consequences.

There is loss of habitat through deforestation, and primates and other wildlife in the areas are hunted so their meat can be sold in the growing bushmeat trade. In one national park alone, more than 10,000 people are mining illegally, and the once-protected gorilla population has fallen by more than 50% in the past five years.

With about 15 million new mobile phones sold in Australia every year, there are a great many old or outmoded models available for recycling. These phones can all be put to good use if they’re donated to the ‘They’re Calling on You’ campaign.

Postage-free mailing satchels are available at Melbourne Zoo, or a post-free mailing label can be printed http://www.zoo.org.au/

Click here to hear the interview with Melbourne Zoo's, Jessica Lawry, Community Conservation Manager.