In trying to restore my faith in humanity after that whole robo-squirrel/talking stove breakdown earlier today, I bumped into this story from DC’s WTOP News. The Friends of the National Zoo are sponsoring a mobile phone recycling program.
Columbite-tantalite, or “Coltan,” is an ore, 80% of which is mined in the Congo, home to our hirsute brethren the mountain gorilla. Coltan (as in “Tantalum”) is used in the production of capacitors, which are used in cell phones (and many other electronic devices). So, the idea goes, by recycling all of our unused phones, the materials can be reclaimed, or still usable phones can be refurbished and sold in developing countries (with proceeds going to the zoo’s conservation programs).
So the next time you visit the National Zoo, empty that desk drawer of old phones and drop them off at the Visitor’s Center, and make Dian Fossey proud (actually, Dian Fossey would have probably ripped your head from your shoulders for having a pile of cast-off cellphones in the first place, but that’s neither here nor there).
[Via Textually]