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Donate your old phones and help save Gorillas

Deforestation and mining for coltan put the habitat of lowland gorillas in danger

The Good Call initiative by the Guelph Tool Library is accepting old, new and used cell phones to help save lowland gorillas.

Here is how the program works.

Used or damaged phones are collected in the Guelph Tool Library, any Planet Bean location, and any Meridian Credit Union Branch in Guelph.

The library then sends them to the Toronto Zoo for the Phone Apes Recycling Program that aims to protect the habitat for lowland apes by reducing demand for coltan, a mineral found in cellphones.

Deforestation and mining for coltan put the habitat of low land gorillas in danger said Guelph Tool Library coordinator John Dennis.

“It’s found around the world but one of the places its found that's quite common is in South Africa in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It’s what considered to be a conflict metal which means that it's mined often,” said Dennis.

Dennis said by recycling your phone you can help this cause because coltan ends up in all new cellphones unless you're using recycled metal.

As for the new phones donated to the program, they are fixed, unlocked and given to those who need it most in Guelph.

So far, they've collected 300 since the program started three months ago and aim to hit 1,000 phones by their last day on April. 22 which falls right on Earth Day.

In total, 30 phones were given to the Welcoming Streets Initiative, Chalmers Community Services Centre and the Guelph-Wellington Women in Crisis.

“The demand for the phones has been great and the agencies distributing the phones tell me that they could easily distribute twice as many phones.

"The organizations that I am working with- a lot of them have reached out to me and they're quite excited to get the phones. There's been lots of positive feedback about that."


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Anam Khan

About the Author: Anam Khan

Anam Khan is a journalist who covers numerous beats in Guelph and Wellington County that include politics, crime, features, environment and social justice
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