MobileMuster a boost for the environment
Ballina Shire residents have played an important role in assisting the planting of 75,000 native trees to restore and protect the environment including repairing landscapes damaged from Cyclone Larry in Queensland and protecting the habitat of the endangered cassowary.
MobileMuster, the official recycling program of the mobile phone industry, in partnership with Landcare Australia, pledged to plant a tree for every mobile phone handed in for recycling between May 21 and June 30. Australians handed in 75,000 mobile phones, which will result in the planting of 75,000 native trees.
Brian Scarsbrick, Landcare Australia CEO, said Landcare Australia was delighted to have partnered MobileMuster and encouraging Australians to help protect our environment.
“The ‘Old Phones, New Trees’ campaign will deliver a three-fold benefit to the environment. It has diverted 75,000 mobile phones from landfill, helped conserve natural habitats and helped plant 75,000 trees, which are urgently needed across the country,” he said.
“The planting of native trees in Innisfail, Queensland for example, will assist in protecting the habitat of the cassowary, in which there are only 2000 left in the world.”
Landcare Australia will plant the 75,000 native trees across Australia, with plantings set for sites in NSW, Victoria, Western Australia and Queensland over the next two years.
Holly Kramer, Chair of Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association (AMTA), says AMTA and Landcare Australia are very pleased with the result.
“We would like to thank Ballina Shire residents for their support by handing in their old mobile phones for recycling. We can now plant close to 75 hectares of trees in degraded areas such as Murrumbidgee and Manning Coast in New South Wales and Innisfail in Queensland,” said Ms Kramer.
Rose Read, Manager of the Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association’s (AMTA) recycling program, MobileMuster, said the planting of 75,000 native trees will provide a multitude of environmental benefits such as restoring biodiversity, protecting the habitat of Australia’s endangered wildlife, reducing soil salinity, improving water quality and helping to reduce global warming.
For Ballina Shire residents who didn’t get a chance to hand in their old mobiles, batteries and accessories for recycling during the campaign, they can still recycle them at any one of the 1900 collection points across Australia.
MobileMuster drop-off points include Nokia Care Centres, mobile phone retailers Telstra, Optus, Vodafone, 3 Mobile, Virgin Mobile, Crazy Johns, Fone Zone, Allphones as well as participating local councils, ANZ, Sydney Credit Union and Cartridge World branches.
To locate your nearest MobileMuster drop-off point visit www.mobilemuster.com.au or call 1300 730 070.
MobileMuster is funded voluntarily by handset and battery manufacturers Nokia, Motorola, Samsung Electronics, Sony Ericsson, LG Electronics, Sharp, NEC, Panasonic, I-Mate, Force Technology and network carriers Telstra, Optus, Vodafone, 3 Mobile, Virgin Mobile and AAPT.
Key mobile phone recycling facts: (figures current as of 30 June 2007)
Australians upgrade or exchange their mobile phones every 18 to 24 months, resulting in nearly 16 million old mobile phones cluttering people’s homes and offices across Australia, of which four million no longer work
Mobile phones are not biodegradable and contain small amounts of potentially hazardous substances such as cadmium in NiCad batteries which if not managed properly can be harmful to the environment
By recycling mobile phones, more than 90% of the mobile phone product materials can be extracted and reused such as plastics, gold, silver, copper and nickel
MobileMuster aims to raise community participation and treble recycling levels to 1.5 million mobile phone and batteries a year by 2008
8.4 million handsets were shipped into Australia in 2006/2007
454 tonnes of handsets, batteries and accessories have been collected since the recycling program commenced was initiated by AMTA in late 1999. This includes 2.7 million batteries and handsets
One tonne of mobile phone circuits can yield the same amount of precious metals as 110 tonnes of gold ore, 123 tonnes of silver bearing ore and 11 tonnes of copper sulphide ore.
PICTURE: Landcare CEO Brian Scarsbrick and Chair of the Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association Holly Kramer, who have thanked Ballina Shire residents for their support in handing in their old mobile phones for recycling, plant the first native tree as a result of the Old Phones, New Trees campaign.
