Canadian Zoos Answer the Call of the Wild Through Exclusive Cell Phone Recycling Program
Leading Cell Phone Recycler, ECO-CELL, Forms Partnerships with Toronto Zoo and Greater Vancouver Zoo to Gather and Recycle Used Cell Phones
Louisville, KY (June 15, 2006) – ECO-CELL, a Louisville-based cell phone recycling and fundraising company, today announces exclusive partnerships with two major Canadian zoos, the Toronto Zoo and the Greater Vancouver Zoo. These two new partnerships follow in the steps of over 50 other North American zoos who participate in ECO-CELL’s recycling programs.
Through a joint partnership with CollectiveGood Canada, Inc., ECO-CELL recycles cell phones collected at the Canadian zoos and in turn raises funds and increased awareness for the damaging effects of cell phones on the environment and specifically on the habitat of African gorillas.
“The Toronto Zoo’s partnership with ECO-CELL enables us to raise funds and offer zoo visitors a chance to help the environment,” said Dr. William Rapley Executive Director Conservation, Education and Research Toronto Zoo. “With over 1.2 million visitors annually we can, with this campaign, help increase awareness for the link between cell phones and the endangerment of gorillas and their habitat.”
The habitat of the gorillas has been adversely affected by the production of cell phones since it requires a dull metallic ore known as “Coltan”, which is largely found in Eastern areas of the Congo. The mining of this ore occurs in the middle of endangered gorilla and elephant habitat. The U.N. has reported that in the past five years, the eastern lowland gorilla population in the Congo has declined 90%. Reducing the demand for Coltan will help save gorillas and their habitat.
Due to constantly changing technology, the average lifespan for cell phones is 14 months. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) there are over 500 million broken or unusable cell phones in the U.S. with over 130 million added each year. Less than 2% are recycled. The EPA estimates that this quantity of cell phones is equivalent to about 250,000 tons of toxic material.
As part of the program, participating zoos, including the Toronto Zoo and Greater Vancouver Zoo, gather cell phones at drop boxes inside the zoo and turn the phones over to ECO-CELL who sells the phones to companies that refurbish and sell them to first-time users abroad. Phones that cannot be resold are recycled using best demonstrated technologies for recycling. A portion of phones are also donated to senior citizens’ centers and hospitals for discharged patients to use for emergency calls.
ECO-CELL works with over 50 zoos across North America including the National Zoo, San Diego Zoo, Zoo Atlanta, Denver Zoo, Philadelphia Zoo, Cleveland Zoo, Phoenix Zoo and Louisville Zoo. A complete list of participating zoos can be found at www.eco-cell.org. In addition to collection boxes at the participating zoos, used phones can also be mailed directly to ECO-CELL with the proceeds being designated for a specific zoo.
About ECO-CELL
ECO-CELL is a cell phone recycling and fundraising company that works with a variety of Associations in the U.S. and Canada, particularly zoos and conservation programs, to collect used cell phones and raise funds. ECO-CELL helps keep cell phones out of landfills and provides organizations with a profitable, easy to use and environmentally focused fundraising program. For more information visit: www.eco-cell.org.
