A challenge has been issued to all schools to see how many mobile phones and accessories they can collect for recycling as part of the MobileMuster National Schools Recycling Challenge.

The Challenge will be highlighted in next week’s ebulletin from the Australian Council of State School Organisation (ACSSO), the peak national organisation representing the interests of the parents, families and school communities, which is sent to 10,000 schools throughout Australia.

MobileMuster, the official recycling program of the mobile telecommunications industry, will donate native Australian plants to schools as part of its “Spring into Action” national environmental challenge. The number of trees and plants will be based on total weight of old mobile phones and accessories collected.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association, Chris Althaus, says recycling old and unwanted mobile phones is a win-win for the environment because it not only helps to reduce carbon emissions,but also conserves scarce resources. The gold, copper and silver found in circuit boards and the plastics in handset casings can, through the recycling process, be turned into useful products such as plastic fence posts, jewellery and stainless steel.

“By using recycled materials we can avoid 60-90% of the greenhouse gases that would normally be emitted when making these useful products from raw materials,” he says.

Individual classes or entire schools can register to participate in the Recycling Challenge, which ends on Friday November 14, 2008. MobileMuster will send a Challenge Pack, which includes posters, teaching resources and activities. A collection point can be set up at the school and students invited to do a spring clean at home by rounding up old mobiles phones, batteries, chargers and accessories and handing them in at school.

To register click here or log on to www.mobilemuster.com.au to fill in the online registration. Contact the Challenge Co-ordinator on 1300 306 162 or email to schools@amta.org.au.

Mr Althaus says one tonne of mobile phone circuits can yield the same amount of precious metals as 110 tonnes of gold ore, 123 tonnes of silver bearing ore and 11 tonnes of copper sulphide ore. It is estimated there are 16 million old mobile phones lying around people’s homes and workplace – about four million of these no longer work and are of no use to anyone.