Zoos SA calls on public to recycle old mobile phones this World Chimpanzee Day

Every year on July 14th, Chimpanzees are celebrated by honouring all the ways that they are innately valuable, essential to ecosystems, and deserve our respect. This World Chimpanzee Day, Zoos SA is calling on the public to help them recycle 500 old mobile phones as Chimpanzee habitat in Africa is being destroyed to mine coltan, a mineral used in most electronic devices.

Monarto Safari Park’s Chimpanzee troop is home to five males and seven females ranging from one to 42 years old. While Monarto Safari Park marks this World Chimpanzee Day by giving their troop extra enrichment including paper mache boxes and paper chains filled with interesting smells and tasty treats to entertain and stimulate, Zoos SA Senior Keeper of Primates, Laura Hanley advises the holiday isn’t only about enrichment, but saving chimps from extinction.

“World Chimpanzee Day actually marks the first time renowned primatologist Dr. Jane Goodall stepped foot in Gombe Stream National Park in 1960.

“This World Chimpanzee Day, we’re calling on the public to help us recycle 500 old mobile phones with We’re Calling on You 500.

“Chimpanzee habitat in Africa is being destroyed to mine coltan, a mineral used in most electronic devices.

“By recycling your old phones, you’re not only helping to reduce the amount of new coltan and other minerals that need to be extracted from areas of vital habitat, but also helping to raise funds for our conservation partners.”

Zoos SA is proudly working with Mobile Muster, Phone Cycle, Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary and the Jane Goodall Institute Australia to help save chimps from extinction.

Tacugama have 102 Chimpanzees in their Rehabilitation Centre in Sierra Leone and run community outreach, field research, sustainability and alternative livelihoods programs.

The Jane Goodall Institute Australia are supporting education, research and community programs in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

As part of her institute’s 2019 The Forests are Calling campaign, Dr Jane Goodall urged “Please help by keeping your phone for longer and recycling it when it’s at the end of its life – it really will make a difference.”

Chimpanzees are highly endangered with as little as 350,000 individuals remaining in the wild.

If every one of Zoos SA members donated at least one old mobile phone, they could raise over $30,000 for Chimpanzee conservation.

What’s more is every ten mobile phones donated saves the equivalent of 22 kilograms of CO² emissions and equates to planting a new tree.

Research shows that most people have at least one unused phone lying in the bottom of a drawer or cupboard.

According to Mobile Muster’s 2020 Insight into mobile phone use, reuse and recycling, there are around five million broken or unusable mobile phones and a staggering 24.5 million unused phones in storage in the home.

Visitors can help Zoos SA collect over 500 phones as part of We’re Calling on You 500 by dropping them off to Monarto Safari Park or Adelaide Zoo, or by organising a free courier pick up for more than 10 items, within the next month.

More details on how to do that can be found on the Zoos SA website. 

Visitors wanting to visit the chimps and other animals at Monarto Safari Park are encouraged to book their tickets online in advance to avoid disappointment.

Images from top: Monarto Safari Park, Hannah with baby Hope. Credit: Adrian Mann; Monarto Safari Park Chimpanzees. Credit: Adrian Mann; Monarto Safari Park Baby Zola. Credit: Adrian Mann