AMTA has responded to a report in today’s Adelaide Advertiser, which claims that mobile phones are “killing apes” because of the use of a precious metal used in some mobile handsets.

AMTA CEO Chris Althaus has written: “ Contrary to suggestions in a recent article (Why phones are killing apes 3 Jul), the mobile phone industry shares concerns about the plight of apes in the Eastern Congo and handset manufacturers take steps to help protect their habitat from destruction.

“Handset manufacturers require suppliers of coltan/tantalum, which is used in some handset capacitors, to verify and certify that it was not obtained from the environmentally-sensitive regions in the Congo.

“It is important to note that not all handsets use coltan. In a handset that does contain coltan, only one or two capacitors out of more than 100 would contain coltan. In such a phone, this equates to less than 0.04g of coltan, which is about 0.04% of the phone’s weight.

Although the use of coltan is being phased out, when it is used (from non-illegal sources), coltan capacitors provide superior voice quality for users, such as those with a hearing impairment.

“It was estimated that the mobile telecommunications industry used less than 2% of the yearly worldwide production (not from Africa) of tantalum. Tantalum is used in a wide range of products, including computer motherboards, computer disc drivers, video camcorders, engine control units, surgical equipment, turbine blades in jet engines and lining chemical reactors.

“MobileMuster, the official recycling scheme of the mobile telecommunications industry, is AMTA’s commitment to an environmentally sustainable industry, which minimises the use of resources through product stewardship, including recycling.

“It’s the only industry-wide program for electronic waste offering free recycling for all mobile phone brands in Australia. It’s believed to be the only such scheme in the world. To find out more on how to recycle your old mobile see www.mobilemuster.com.au”