The amount of mobile phones collected in the 6-year “Pass it back, Bro!” campaign by the end of 2024: 90 collection points – 260 kg
Changes and reorganisations in waste collection have also affected our campaign. The enthusiasm, positive feedback and hard work of the collection participants contributed a lot to the success of the campaign.
With the results of the 2018 campaign so far, a total of 1,333 collection points have now been set up, collecting more than 8.260 tonnes of unused mobile phones.
Now in its sixth year, the “Pass it Back, Bro!” campaign to collect used mobile phones was launched jointly by the Jane Goodall Institute, the Africa Foundation and the Conservation Society.
Many of the organisations involved in the collection organised internal communication campaigns, awareness-raising events and presentations, so that they could actively mobilise their environment to deliver as many mobile phones as possible to the collection boxes.
Here is the list of the winners:
The most successful company participating in the campaign will receive a Chimpanzee Adoption as a gift from the Institute’s programme (Chimpanzee Adoption Programme)
- Zwack Unicum Nyrt.
The best performing SME, institution, educational institution and the special prize winner of the campaign will receive a professional lecture entitled “Mobile Phones for Gorillas” presented by the Jane Goodall Institute, and the winners of the Large Company, SME and Public Institution categories will each receive aGreen Office – Green Event Certification lecture organised by KÖVET Association.
They received the presentations and training:
- SME category: Tanya Bari
- Educational institution category: Bethlen Gábor Technikum, Budapest XV. kerület
- Public institution: Hajdú-Bihar County Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Special prizes:
The winner of the category for the most beautiful message board and the winner of the category for the educational institution was the Veszprém Ringato District Kindergarten. Not only their message board shows their animal-friendly approach, but also their own projects and activities show their love for animals.
Their prize is a presentation about chimpanzees.
The winner of the most active school was the Deák Ferenc Sports School Primary School in Barcs, who organised sports competitions using second-hand equipment, giving a new approach to objects and our relationship with them.
Their prize was a presentation on “Mobile phones for gorillas”.
Congratulations to the winners. All will be contacted to arrange presentations and chimpanzee adoptions.
The aim of the campaign is to donate as many mobile phones, GPS or tablets and their chargers as possible, without data, which are no longer in use, to promote the circular economy and help save the habitat of the Congolese primates and the lives of local communities. The used chargers are a treasure trove of 17 metals, including gold, silver, palladium and copper. The mining of raw materials for mobile phones, such as coltan, threatens the habitat and survival of endangered species in Africa (e.g. gorillas, bonobos and chimpanzees) and the interests of local communities. We want to curb this process, because if the metals in used mobile phones are recycled in larger quantities, the mining of the ores needed to produce them is expected to decrease.
Among the nearly 1333 collection points that have joined the campaign so far, there are some returning sites and many new ones. They include schools, kindergartens, NGOs, institutions, shops, offices, hotels, libraries, theatres, research institutes, national parks, museums, chambers of commerce, industry and agriculture, ministries, courts and many more.
“Together we can! Together we will!” – “Together we can do it! Together we will!”- Dr. Jane Goodall
“Thank you to all who contributed to the success of the Spring Campaign! We call these mobile collection boxes ‘boxes of hope’ because they give hope to all primates, chimpanzees, gorillas, bonobos and local communities in the Congo that their lives can get better. This is the main goal of our campaign and of the Jane Goodall Institute.” – said András Kádár, Secretary General of the Jane Goodall Institute.
“Congratulations to all participants for a successful collection and thank you for joining the campaign! The campaign has moved people and pulled out the unused phones and tablets lurking in drawers. The posters, the presentations, the countless press coverage have raised awareness of the conflict minerals that are an integral part of our everyday lives, and that we ignore, even though their mining is causing ecological and social problems in Africa. The campaign’s unhidden aim is to raise awareness of these problems, the circular economy and the environmental impact of our lifestyles.” –said Katalin Herner, Executive Director of KÖVET Association.
Small electronic equipment (EEE/WEEE) is the most difficult to collect, but that is why everything should be done to raise awareness and raise awareness of the problem and its solution. Such campaigns help people to live and buy more consciously. It also helps to achieve at least four of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals. The four SDG targets are: 9: Industry, innovation and infrastructure, 12: Responsible consumption and production, 15: Protect terrestrial ecosystems and 17: Partnership for the achievement of the goals (see annex for sub-targets).
The recycling of the recovered appliances was taken care of by Inter-Metal Recycling Ltd.
Join us and let’s collect as many unused mobile phones as possible!
