MobileMuster
Download PDF - Education - Secondary Activity 2.pdf
Key Learning Activities
The MobileMuster Program can help students to achieve many learning outcomes in several Key Learning Areas. Some of the relevant Key Learning Areas are:
- Studies of Society and Environment (SOSE), Strands: Investigation, Communication and Participation, Place and space, Resources and Natural and social systems
- Mathematics, Strands: Measurement, Chance and data and Mathematical tools and procedures
- Science, Strands: Natural and processed materials
- Technology, Strands: Designing, Making and Appraising, Materials and Information
Objectives
A hands-on approach is the best way for students to learn about recycling. By participating in MobileMuster students will gain vast experience in assessing waste volumes and developing a workable recycling program.
This project will enable students to develop a wide range of business skills including communication with individuals and groups (within the school and in the general business community), researching, planning, marketing, problem solving and decision making.
Background
The MobileMuster program collects and recycles mobile phone handsets, batteries and accessories from a network of over 1900 participating mobile phone retailers, local councils, ANZ Branches, government agencies and business drop off points across Australia.
There are an estimated 16 million unused mobile phones cluttering people's homes and offices around Australia. By recycling mobile phones, more than 90% of the mobile phone product materials can be extracted and reused such as plastics, gold, silver, copper and nickel.
Mobile phones are not biodegradable and should not end up in landfill, where potentially harmful substances may leach into the environment.
The program is solely funded by Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association (AMTA) members including:
- Handset manufacturers LG Electronics, Motorola, Nokia, NEC, Panasonic, Samsung, Sharp, Sony Ericsson
- Carriers: 3 Mobile, Optus, Telstra and Vodafone
- Service providers: AAPT and Virgin Mobile
- Others: RF Industries
The recycling service is free to consumers, retailers, local councils, businesses and government agencies. Prior to commencing the project the teacher will need to register with AMTA to receive the various recycling collection units, promotional materials and to be eligible for free pick ups.
Contact AMTA on 02 8920 3555 or 1300 730 070 during business hours or register online
Activity
Introduction to MobileMuster
- To gain a greater understanding of MobileMuster students could undertake research on the MobileMuster website www.mobilemuster.com.au and answer the following questions:
- What is MobileMuster?
- Why was the program established?
- When was the program established?
- What has been collected by the program since it started?
- What is the goal of the program?
- How is MobileMuster funded?
- Who is responsible for the recycling process?
- What is the MobileMuster message?
Organising the MobileMuster
Planning a successful recycling program requires a number of steps that are outlined below.
- The first step is to break up the class into teams to develop and manage the MobileMuster project.
- Describe to students that there will be five teams and the responsibilities that each team will have in leading a stage of the MobileMuster project. The table below describes the team and their main responsibility.
TEAM
|
RESPONSIBILITIES |
| Audit Team |
Conducting a preliminary waste audit. |
|
Marketing Team
|
Developing a marketing strategy. |
|
Collection Team
|
Developing a collection method. |
|
Review Team
|
Reviewing the MobileMuster project. |
| Education Team |
Developing an ongoing education program. |
- Each of these teams will need to appoint a leader who will represent the team on the MobileMuster taskforce. The taskforce will need to:
- Set Objectives, timeframes and tasks.
- Gain approval of school management.
Whilst the class will working on the MobileMuster project in a team environment all students will be involved and participate in the MobileMuster.
MOBILE PHONE AUDIT
Planning begins with an audit to determine mobile phone use of the school community and the potential composition, volume and number of old and unused mobile phones, batteries and accessories that are either lying around at school and/or home or that have been thrown out. Some examples of audit objectives could be:
- to determine the composition and quantities of unused or old mobile phones stored at home or being thrown out
- to understand how often students and families replace their mobile phones, what they do with their old phones and why
- to measure effectiveness of existing recycling and waste systems
- to identify opportunities for the MobileMuster collection
- to collect baseline data for measuring the effectiveness of the MobileMuster project.
The audit team will need to design and conduct a survey that will meet the audit objectives and provide critical information to the other teams involved in the MobileMuster.
MARKETING
The first step will be for the marketing team to develop a marketing strategy which includes the following:
- Developing a collection policy.
- Identifying who is the target audience.
- Working out a schedule for collection (dates, teacher involvement, and student involvement).
- Proposing how to conduct the marketing.
- Identifying what marketing materials are available to the MobileMuster project i.e. ready-made posters & collection crate
- Communicating requirements and associated costs
- Sourcing prizes and awards.
The second step will call for the marketing team to involve all students by communicating the MobileMuster project to the school community. This process may include some of the following activities:
- Writing articles for bulletins
- Creating posters
- Making announcements at school assemblies
- Writing letters to parents
- Establishing a school competition for the greatest number of mobile
- Promoting prizes for the competition
- Creating advertisements for the school website or intranet
- Contacting local councils or businesses for support.
COLLECTION
The collection team will be responsible for developing a collection system. The main points they will need to consider are container security, a central storage area, personnel and materials preparation.
Containers for recyclables can either be designed and constructed or sourced by the students. Consider where containers should be placed, the quantity needed, size and shape, and a design that conveys the intended purpose. AMTA is also able to provide a range of collection units to suit your schools needs.
The central storage area should be secure, clean, dry and free of fire hazards. If located outside, covered storage bins are necessary to prevent litter and protect quality. Collection units should also be locked or kept in a secure area to prevent theft of the contents.
Collection personnel may be designated to collect recycled mobile phone components from various areas of the school and to deliver them to the central storage area. If the school must deliver recyclables, delivery personnel must also be designated. A collection schedule is helpful, especially if recyclables are to picked up at a certain date/time.
REVIEW
During the collection it is important record collection results. A review team will be responsible for working out what information will be important to collect, how it is to be recorded and what it can be used for. They may want to consider looking at the:
- Total number and/or weight of mobile phones, batteries and accessories collected
- Best collector year and/or class.
- What motivated people to participate?
- How did they hear about the MobileMuster project?
- What could have been improved?
These results can be used to provide feedback to school the community and AMTA on what was achieved. This information can be used in a classroom exercise to determine the amount of waste diverted from landfill. The results can also be used to award prizes for the top collectors.
As part of the review it is important to see if the goals of the project were achieved as well as assessing the benefits of running the project and what problems were encountered.
EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM
The collection results can also be used in the development and recommendations for an ongoing MobileMuster program. Students could design an ongoing educational program to inform staff and students about the MobileMuster, program goals, and the value of reducing waste and recycling mobile phones. This could include an initial assembly newspaper or newsletter articles signs, posters and fliers, possibly designed by students as contest submissions and incorporating waste reduction and recycling activities in lesson plans. |
