Recycling 115,369 mobile phones for gorilla conservation over a six-year period (2009-2014) at Zoos Victoria: A case study of 'points of influence' and mobile phone donations.

ABSTRACT: More than seven billion mobile phones are estimated to be in service globally, with more than a billion older phones likely to be retired. A major barrier to a sustainable circular economy for mobile phones is people's hoarding of their retired phones. Old mobile phones may be refurbished for re-use or ultimately dismantled for possible extraction of elements, including 'conflict' metals such as coltan (containing elements tantalum and niobium), mined in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and threatening wild populations of eastern Grauer's gorillas (Gorilla beringei graueri). Zoos Victoria cares for western gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) who served as ambassadors for their Grauer's gorilla counterparts in this community-based social marketing initiative. Through tracking of barcodes

SUBMITTER: Litchfield CA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6281204 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature