Monday, December 07, 2009

The Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association has once again asked for a correction of misleading statements made by representatives of zoos about a mobile phone collection campaign to raise money to save gorilla habitat in the Congo.

AMTA has written to Taronga Zoo and Channel 10 following incorrect claims made this week on the “The 7pm Project”.

Representatives of the zoo claimed on the television program:

80% of the world’s coltan reserves are in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where gorilla habitat is being destroyed by illegal mining; therefore, most coltan used for a range of electronics equipment, including mobile phones, comes from this region.

Old mobile phones donated to the zoo’s “They’re Calling on You” program have the coltan – an ore extracted and refined to tantalum, a metal used in a range of electronics equipment – “extracted for reuse”.

AMTA Chief Executive Officer, Chris Althaus, said both claims were wrong.

“Although it’s true that an estimated 80% of the world’s coltan reserves are found in the Congo, it is very misleading to suggest that this means the vast majority of coltan used in a range of electronics equipment, including mobile phones, comes from the Congo,” he said.

“According to the United States Geological Survey less than 1% of the worldwide supply of coltan comes from DRC. It is estimated that the mobile telecommunications industry used less than 2% of the yearly worldwide production (not from Africa) of coltan, which is refined into tantalum, a metal used in a range of electronics equipment.

“The Congo’s large coltan reserves does not mean that the mobile phone industry sources its supplies from there; it uses alternative sources and uses a relatively small amount.”

Mr Althaus said it was very misleading for Taronga Zoo to claim that coltan from mobile phones is extracted for reuse.

“We have checked with the Aussie Recycling Program (ARP), which the zoos use for their “ They’re Calling on You” program. Coltan is not extracted from any mobile phone donated from this program,” he said.

“The mobiles donated to the program are refurbished and sent to third world countries, such as Africa. We have raised concerns with the zoos and ARP of the risk of these refurbished phones ending up in landfill in countries that do not have our high environmental standards.

“The mobile phone industry is concerned that under the banner of assisting gorillas in one part of Africa, the zoos’ “They’re Calling on You” may be inadvertently contributing to environmental problems in other parts of Africa.”

Mr Althaus said recently the Australian Association of National Advertisers adopted a new code to ensure that marketers and advertisers making environmental claims were “truthful and factual” and their claims were “substantiated and verifiable”.

“We, like the zoos, are concerned about the plight of the gorillas. That’s why the mobile telecommunications industry has reduced its use of coltan and requires suppliers to verify that it is not sourced from the Congo,” he said.

“We understand this is a complex and difficult issue. However, bald claims by the zoos that all mobiles use coltan and it all comes from the Congo is not assisting this issue by presenting a distorted picture.”

Mr Althaus said the zoos did not realise that the mobile phone industry’s recycling scheme, MobileMuster, recycled at no charge the old mobile phones donated to the “They’re Calling on You” campaign that were not shipped to Third World countries.

“We believe in the interests of open disclosure to the public the zoos should inform them that their donated mobiles are shipped to developing countries where there is a real risk of them ending up in landfill,” he said.

“I am sure that Taronga Zoo would not inadvertently want to be contributing to an environmental problem in Africa under the rubric of a public fundraising program, which is attempting to assist an environmental problem in another part of Africa.”

Channel 10’s “The 7pm Project” can be viewed here.