What happens to old out-of-date phones? It's estimated that more than 100 million cell phones are thrown away, or stuffed in a drawer, each year. The Zoological Society of San Diego, along with Eco-Cell, a cellular phone recycling company, has a free-of-charge cell phone-recycling program at both the San Diego Zoo and the Wild Animal Park to encourage visitors to recycle.Did you know that cell phones here in the United States (and elsewhere) have a connection to the well-being of gorillas and other animals in central Africa? Here's the 4-1-1: cell phones contain a rare ore called coltan (short for columbite-tantalite). This metal is found in central Africa, and increased mining operations to get the coltan means habitat loss and increased hunting pressure on gorillas and other wildlife.
Surprisingly, wildlife reserves suffer most from mining. Two World Heritage Sites, Kahuzi-Biega National Park and Okapi Wildlife Reserve, have suffered the most damage from mining. With the increased popularity of cell phones over the past five years, thousands of illegal miners invaded the "protected" parks. Needing food, they have hunted gorillas and elephants to near extinction in these areas.
But there are things that can be done to help. Our cell phone recycling program will help keep those obsolete cell phones, chargers, and old batteries out of landfills and reduce a little of the coltan demand at the same time.
The San Diego Zoo and the Wild Animal Park have installed cell phone collection boxes at their exits, so it's really easy to simply drop off those old phones and accessories, working or not. There is no recycling fee to drop off you phone. All cell phones and accessories collected are reused or properly recycled. Every little bit helps!
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