10 August 2009

Bendigo Bank Telco is joining forces with Melbourne Zoo to encourage the community to donate old mobile phones to help gorillas in the wild.

Gorillas in the African nation of the Democratic Republic of Congo are under threat, and Bendigo Bank branches are joining the fight to save them by recycling old mobile phones in support of the Zoo's They're Calling on You campaign

Bendigo Bank Telco Chief Operating Officer John Chandler says that the recycling program aims to reduce the need for coltan, a metallic ore used in mobile manufacture and other electronics, divert phones from landfill, and raise money for primate conservation.

"Illegal coltan mining is destroying gorilla and other primate habitat, leaving wildlife vulnerable to poaching and threatening their very survival," Mr. Chandler explains.

Zoos Victoria's General Manager of Conservation, Rachel Lowry, says the campaign is a great way to get the community involved in helping to solve an environmental crisis.

She explains that "There are more mobile phones than people in Australia, because we normally upgrade phones every 18-24 months. This sort of consumption places a huge amount of pressure on gorilla and other primate habitat."

Melbourne Zoo collected more than 7,000 phones in the first six months of the campaign. The funds raised helped the Jane Good Institute and the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International pay the wages of a Congolese ranger to help protect gorillas and other primates from illegal poaching.

People will be able to help save gorillas by dropping off old mobile phones at most Victorian Bendigo Bank branches (excluding Geelong and Ballarat branches) or in all WA and SA branches in August and September.