18 November marks the beginning of the European Week for Waste Reduction and, for this occasion, we are officially joining the nationwide phone recycling campaign launched by the Hungarian sub-organization of the Jane Goodall Institute in order to help protect endangered primates endemic to Central Africa.
Waste reduction and recycling are key considerations for us as we are the first zoo in Hungary to have completely phased out all disposable plastic products. With separate collection of our own waste introduced a while ago, now we also aim to help you dispose of your unwanted mobile phones in a safe and productive manner by setting up bring points at our cash desks.
The production of mobile phones and various other electronic devices requires the ore coltan (or, specifically, the tantalum extracted from it), found mostly in the Congo Basin in Central Africa, home to a number of primate species including chimpanzees, bonobos, mountain gorillas, and mantled guerezas. Due to large-scale mining and associated forest destruction, the natural ranges of those species are now undergoing dramatic changes for the worse; but, by joining the phone recycling campaign, we hope to contribute to the global efforts to protect these invaluable habitats since the use of more and more recycled materials may lessen the demand for the highly intrusive practice of mining. We therefore encourage everyone to drop off their old and unwanted phones at the bring point by the main entrance.
For further motivation, we are now launching a nationwide phone collection contest for elementary school classes, ending in June 2020. The classes that get first, second or third place in terms of the total weight collected will be granted a free Zoo and Amusement Park trip and the one that gets first place will become honorary foster parent of our mantled guerezas.
Please help protect nature and wildlife by recycling any old and unwanted devices.
Debrecen Zoo and Amusement Park
