Australians are being urged to recycle their old and broken mobile phones to help protect some of the nation’s most endangered species and contribute to rehabilitating two of Australia’s agricultural heartlands – the Murray River and West Australia’s central-eastern wheatbelt.

MobileMuster has again partnered Landcare Australia to run its ‘Old Phones, More Trees’ campaign. For every kilogram of mobiles sent in for recycling between 1 May and World Environment Day on 5 June 2010, a tree will be planted at one of four key project sites including Far Northern Queensland, along the Murray River and WA.

“By recycling old mobile phones, Australians will be helping to achieve significant environmental outcomes. These include: restoring native vegetation; protecting endangered species; helping to improve the sustainability of two of the nation’s key food growing areas; and recovering and reusing the materials in old mobiles,” says Rose Read, manager recycling with MobileMuster.

Endangered species to benefit from the projects are North Queensland’s Southern Cassowary, the Kuranda Tree Frog and the Murray River’s Superb Parrot.

Mobile phones are not biodegradable, but are 90 per cent recyclable. According to the Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association, there are an estimated 16 million mobile phones lying unused or broken in drawers across Australia that could be recycled.

Over the past four years, ‘Old Phones, More Trees’ has collected 90,000 kilograms of mobiles and accessories, and planted over 200,000 trees in key projects across Australia.

“We know that seven out of 10 Australians have at least one unused mobile that could be recycled and we are setting the bar high for this year’s collection,” says Ms Read.

MobileMuster and Landcare Australia hope to plant 30,000 trees across Australia this year. To meet this target, 30,000 kilograms of mobile phones and accessories must be collected for recycling between 1 May and World Environment Day on 5 June.

The four projects are all considered to be ecological hotspots, supporting populations of rare native fish, birds and vegetation.

“Everyone in Australia has a chance to have a positive impact on the habitats of the Southern Cassowary, Kuranda Tree Frog and Superb Parrot and to contribute towards the health of agricultural heartlands,” says Heather Campbell, CEO of Landcare Australia.

The mobile phones and accessories recycled through the ‘Old Phones, More Trees’ program will also achieve significant environmental outcomes.

“Recycling 30,000 kilograms of mobile phones will not only see 30,000 trees planted, it will also see 47 tonnes of carbon emissions avoided by reusing recovered materials,” says Ms Read.

The material recovered from the recycled mobiles can be used to make stainless steel items, plastic fence posts, jewellery and even new batteries.

“Keeping one mobile phone as a spare for emergencies makes sense, but if you have more than one lying around the house it’s time to put it to work for the environment to achieve three great outcomes,” says Ms Read.

AMTA Chief Executive Officer, Chris Althaus, said planting native trees helps to prevent soil erosion, improves biodiversity, improves soil and water outcomes and enhances revegetation.

“It’s a great example of how many people making small actions by recycling their old mobile phones can lead to big environmental outcomes of reducing waste and storing carbon through revegetation – all of which help in tackling climate change,” he said.

AMTA is committed through MobileMuster to an environmentally sustainable industry, which minimises the use of resources through product stewardship, including recycling.