Consumers Urged to Recycle Mobiles and Halt Gorilla Habitat Destruction
Wednesday, December 12, 2018 - 09:56:47
Gorillas living parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo are being put at risk as a result of mining operations in this African nation which are carried out in order to source materials used in the manufacture of mobile phones.
This fact has been uncovered as a result of work by conservationists associated with the University of South Australia, with campaigners now making new efforts to encourage people to sell their old handsets so that they can be recycled rather than holding on to them for no reason.
Earth.com reports that hundreds of millions of devices are hoarded in homes around the world, all of which are packed with precious metals and other recoverable elements which could be recovered via recycling processes and then reused to make new handsets.
The problem is that if not enough people decide to sell their old phones, mobile manufacturers will need to buy freshly mined metals which often come from parts of the planet where environmental regulations are not properly observed or enforced.
This has led to the decimation of many natural habitats, pushing gorillas in the DRC and other areas to the brink of extinction. Campaigners also point out that the money made from mining is often funnelled into extremely problematic conflicts in the poorest nations on the planet.
There are various ethical conundrums associated with buying a new mobile phone, but now this research shows that there are also issues that come with holding on to an outdated device.
Recycling mobile phones is immensely easy for consumers in the UK, with the option to sell them meaning that the value of the handset can be recouped rather than lost altogether. Meanwhile, any model which is simply gathering dust is arguably doing real harm to the environment.
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