Abstract
More than seven billion mobile phones are estimated to be in service globally, with more than a billion older phones likely to be retired. A major barrier to a sustainable circular economy for mobile phones is people’s hoarding of their retired phones. Old mobile phones may be refurbished for re-use or ultimately dismantled for possible extraction of elements, including ‘conflict’ metals such as coltan (containing elements tantalum and niobium), mined in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and threatening wild populations of eastern Grauer’s gorillas (Gorilla beringei graueri). Zoos Victoria cares for western gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) who served as ambassadors for their Grauer’s gorilla counterparts in this community-based social marketing initiative. Through tracking of barcodes on satchels of recycled mobile phones, efficiency of ten different points of influence could be calculated for the ‘They’re Calling on You’ mobile phone recycling community campaign at Zoos Victoria in Australia. Over a six-year period (2009–2014), a total of 115,369 mobile phones were donated. The Courier Collect initiative resulted in 50,883 mobile phone donations (44% of total), followed by the Static Display at Melbourne Zoo, resulting in 29,778 mobile phone donations (26% of total). The number of phones collected for Keeper Talks (at Melbourne Zoo and Werribee Open Range Zoo) was 12,684 (11% of total), and in terms of fostering close connections between visitors and the conservation campaign, keeper talks were effective as one phone was donated for every four people attending a keeper talk at Werribee Open Range Zoo and one phone was donated for every 28 people who attended a keeper talk at Melbourne Zoo. We provide suggestions for future campaigns, so that accurate data capture can allow cost-benefit analyses to be conducted. Our results demonstrate that a conservation-based organisation, in partnership with corporate sponsors and community groups can effectively influenced people’s mobile phone recycling behavior, paving the way for international collaborations to maximize scale and impact.
Highlights
One of the biggest challenges for conservation remains in how to translate people’s intention to act or pledges to act into actual behavior, and necessity for ongoing campaigns to ensure people continue engaging in the desired behavior
In this paper we address the following research questions: Q1: What was the total number of mobile phones donated to each Points of Influence (POI)? Q2: Research Question 2: What was the potential participant exposure to each POI, costs associated with each POI, and estimated recoverable elements and landfill space saved?
We collected data for ten Points of Influence (POI), inside the zoo and outside the zoo, made possible because each POI was allocated a separate barcode, printed on the recycling satchels, which were returned to Aussie Recycling Program (ARP) at Moorabbin in Victoria, Australia
Summary
One of the biggest challenges for conservation remains in how to translate people’s intention to act or pledges to act into actual behavior, and necessity for ongoing campaigns to ensure people continue engaging in the desired behavior. Many conservation problems are ‘wicked problems’, with climate change as a ‘super wicked problem’ [1]. As with many conservation programs, it is difficult to measure the success of a program and always somewhat subjective. Linking mobile phone recycling behaviour directly to conservation outcomes for gorillas and other species impacted by mining for materials contained in mobile phones has not yet been attempted. Systematic analyses and evaluations of conservation program successes or failures in the field are uncommon, especially in regions where it is politically or logistically difficult to conduct scientific or community-based studies [4]
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