Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Monday, 21 April 2008 14:18
Opinion and Analysis
Page 1 of 2
Telstra is asking CDMA customers to hand in their old CDMA phones at
Telstra shops and dealers around Australia so they can be recycled for
valuable materials, rather than end up in landfill as an inconvenient
pollutant. But why recycle them at a Telstra store – when your local
school – and the environment – needs them more?
Got an old CDMA phone – or heck, any old phone? With CDMA due to close on April 28, Telstra has put out the call to recycle those old phones at any Telstra shop or dealer around Australia, but there’s a very good reason to ignore Telstra and give those phones to your local school, instead.
Why? Because of the
MobileMuster program, which Telstra is promoting in its
press release, has a far worthier use for them than Telstra, which just wants to see them recycled. Of course, that is very noble, and Telstra can’t be faulted for that, not for a minute.
Now, MobileMuster recycling stations – basically a big plastic box with a hole at the top - are dotted across Australia – my most recent memory of seeing one is at various ANZ Banks, and you can recycle any old phone, not just CDMA phones.
Telstra says that it is an active supporter of the MobileMuster handset recycling program, which to June 2007 has collected more than 2.7 million handsets and batteries, something that is also very, very worthy.
So why am I so ardently suggesting you ignore Telstra’s request to recycle your old phones, be they CDMA or otherwise, at Telstra stores?
Because I decided to visit the MobileMuster home page, which led to me to a
page that asks Australians to “Register your school to round up old mobiles in the lead up to World Environment Day (June 5th)”, and asks “are you ready to accept the challenge?”
The MobileMuster site says that: “For every mobile handset received by MobileMuster a native tree will be planted by Landcare”, up to a maximum of 100,000 trees.
In addition, MobileMuster’s site says “Plus your school could earn rewards like library resources, landscaping supplies or sporting equipment for the school; Milton school packs, watches or backpacks for students and classroom resource packs for teachers! “
They finish by saying: “Be part of the solution and celebrate World Environment Day by accepting the MobileMuster Old Phones, More Trees Challenge.”
So, given that your local school can actually earn some likely much needed new resources, and the planet can benefit by getting up to 100,000 new trees planted, why would you just want to take the easy option of recycling your old phone at a Telstra store?
Now that we have that out of the way, what did Telstra say about the recycling drive, which is all still, nevertheless, quite valid? And what are the valuable metals contained within each phone? Please read onto page 2.
