Mobile Phones Come Home to Roost?

The 'old phones, more chickens' campaign saw 2,000 chickens being purchased for needy families around the world. Photo courtesy MobileMuster.

A joint Not for Profit Christmas campaign to collect and recycle old mobile phones has resulted in 2,000 chickens being purchased for needy families around the world.

The joint MobileMuster and Oxfam campaign ‘old phone, more chickens’ saw over 9,700 old mobile phones, batteries and accessories recycled over three months between November and January, resulting in the chickens being purchased by MobileMuster through Oxfam’s Unwrapped program.

MobileMuster, the official Not for Profit recycling program for the mobile phone industry, says that for every two donated mobile phones the company purchased one chicken through Oxfam to help poverty-stricken families.

Oxfam Australia’s fundraising manager, Leigh Stewart, said that each mobile phone sent in for recycling has helped to support Oxfam’s work in tackling poverty.

“Everyone who has sent in their old mobile for recycling has helped to make a significant difference to people’s lives around the world,” Stewart said.

MobileMuster said that more than 27,700 kg of handsets, batteries, chargers and accessories were collected in the campaign.

It says the program aims to recycle and recover as much of the materials in mobile phones to re-use, and prevent mobile phones, batteries and accessories from the phones ending up in landfill.

MobileMuster recycling manager, Rose Read, said that they and Oxfam were thankful to those who supported the campaign.

“Recycling a phone that is no longer needed has positively impacted the environment, a family in need and helped to share the festive spirit around the world,” Read said.

If you have old, broken or unused mobile phones, chargers, batteries and accessories you can recycle them with MobileMuster at no charge. See www.mobilemuster.com.au for details.