Can Cell-Phone Recycling Help African Gorillas?
Digital Opportunity Channel Posted: 20 January 2006 Conservationists point out that recycling cell phones protects landfills from the many potentially hazardous chemicals found in the phones, including antimony, arsenic, copper, cadmium, lead, and zinc. But cell phones also include coltan, a mineral extracted in the deep forests of Congo in central Africa, home to the world’s endangered lowland gorillas. Fueled by the worldwide cell phone boom, Congo’s out-of-control coltan mining business has in recent years led to a dramatic reduction of animal habitat and the rampant slaughter of great apes for the illegal bush-meat trade. “Most people don’t know that there’s a connection between this metal in their cell phones and the well-being of wildlife in the area where it’s mined,” said Karen Killmar, the associate curator of mammals at the San Diego Zoo. “Recycling old cell phones is a way for people to do something very simple that could reduce the need for additional coltan and help protec
