Celebrate Earth Day 2023 at the Zoo!
Make Green Your Color & Celebrate Earth Day!
🌺 Pollinator Plant Craft
Interactive Conservation Corners
Electronic Gadget Recycling with EcoCell
Saving Species Scavenger Hunt
️Wildlife Presentations & More!
Have some old electronic gadgets laying around? Round up all those old cell phones, smartphones, iPhones, iPods, iPads, tablets, Apple\Android watches, bluetooth, tablets. GPS, MP3 players, e-readers, digital cameras, handheld gaming systems and the accessories that come with them and we'll take care of the rest!
It doesn't matter if they are broken, old, locked, drowned or bedazzled. We are happy to recycle them to keep them out of the landfill and raise money to directly support gorilla conservation initiatives through Gorilla SAFE programs.
Only the above type of items will be accepted. No large computers, laptops or printers.
Why Gorillas?
Electronics are connected to apes via an ore called Coltan (columbite-tantalite\tantalum). Tantalum coats the capacitors inside gadgets which makes them energy efficient. This ore is found in great quantity in the Congo, home to the critically endangered gorilla and chimpanzee. These species are being killed by rebel bands mining Coltan. The U.N. has reported that in the past five years the eastern lowland gorilla population in the Congo has declined 90%. Recycling your cell phones through ECO-CELL helps save these animals by reducing the demand for Coltan and by providing funds for our partners who are actively engaged in protecting these species.
