Rose Read, Manager of Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association's (AMTA) mobile phone recycling program, MobileMuster, encourages Australians of all ages to look into their drawers at home and at work, pull out old and unused mobile phones and hand them in for recycling.
"This year, MobileMuster and Landcare Australia have chosen to support Koaladoors Inc Koaladoors Project, as one of two projects, and plant native trees in the Framlingham Forest, which was affected by severe bush fires in January 2006.
"It is estimated that thousands of native animals which lived in the forest perished. Planting of the new trees will establish essential wildlife corridors, linking remnant bush land and providing easy escape routes for animals during fires," said Ms Read.
MobileMuster can recover over 90% of the metals and plastic found in mobile phones and reuse to make new products such as jewellery, plastic fence posts and stainless steal products such as saucepans.
"Australians will not only be helping thousands of native wildlife by recycling their old mobile phones, but will also be helping their local environment, as returning essential metals and plastics for reuse, will in turn help avoid future green house gases and conserve our natural resources," added Ms Read.
Brian Scarsbrick, Landcare Australia CEO, says the campaign, now in its third year, have grown from strength to strength and looks forward to partnering with MobileMuster again.
"The ‘Old Phones, More Trees' campaign have been a great success in the past two years, collecting over 100,000 mobile phones for recycling and resulting in the planting of over 175,000 native trees in degraded areas across Australia.
"By simply recycling their old mobile phones for free, Australians have assisted in the planting of native trees in the Manning Coast, Penrith, Liverpool Plains, Warnambool, Port Philip and Westernport, Innisfail, Goolwa and Wellington, Murrumbidgee regions," said Mr Scarsbrick.
"I encourage everyone to play a part in the future of our local environment and wildlife and hand in their old mobile phones, batteries and accessories for recycling. Every mobile phone will count," concluded Ms Read.
Old mobile phones, batteries, accessories and chargers can be recycled for free at any one of MobileMuster's 3,500 drop-off points across Australia including Nokia Care and Motorola Service One Centres; mobile phone retailers Telstra, Optus, Vodafone, 3 Mobile, Virgin Mobile, Crazy Johns, Fone Zone, Allphones as well as participating local councils, Cartridge World stores and selected ANZ and Sydney Credit Union branches.
Alternatively, they can pick up a free recycling satchel from participating Australia Post outlets nationwide or by downloading a free reply paid label from www.mobilemuster.com.au.
To find your nearest MobileMuster drop off point or to download a free mailing label go to www.mobilemuster.com.au or call 1300 730 070. To find out more about Landcare Australia visit www.landcareonline.com.
For more information or to arrange an interview contact:
Eileen Lorenzo
Professional Public Relations
Telephone: 02 9818 0979
Email :
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Ginni Ryan
Professional Public Relations
Telephone: 02 9818 0962
Email :
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About MobileMuster (figures current at 31 December 2008)
- There are over 3,500 MobileMuster collection points across Australia, including Nokia Care and Motorola Service One Centres; mobile phone retailers Telstra, Optus, Vodafone, 3 Mobile, Virgin Mobile, Crazy Johns, Fone Zone, Allphones as well as participating local councils, Cartridge World stores and selected ANZ and Sydney Credit Union branches
- There are over 21 million mobile phone subscribers
- Australians upgrade or exchange their mobile phones every 18 to 24 months
- 80% of people choose to keep or give away their old mobile phones, less than 4% throw them out
- Net imports of mobile phones into Australia for 2007/08 were 8.9 million units. This is equivalent to 1,774 tonnes (assuming average unit weight of 200g - handset, battery, charger and accessory included)
- In 2007/2008 MobileMuster collected 97 tonnes of mobile phone components including 755,200 handsets and batteries
- 557 tonnes of handsets, batteries, chargers and accessories have been collected since the recycling program was initiated by ATMA in 1999. This includes 3.83 million batteries and handsets
