Phone amnesty to reduce waste and help tsunami victims

A mobile phone amnesty is being held in Bristol this weekend in an attempt to raise money for charity, as well as the profile of national efforts to divert waste from landfill.


ActionAid Recycling will be holding the amnesty at organic food store, Fresh & Wild, in Clifton over the weekend in an attempt to help reduce waste and poverty by collecting old mobile phones and inkjet cartridges for recycling and reuse.

“Most people have a spare phone which they’ll never use again and businesses are always upgrading their phone fleets,” said Piers Newsome, spokesman for ActionAid Recycling.

He added that, as an added incentive, profits from the sale of donated phones would go towards helping victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami as ActionAid was one of the organisations carrying out the relief operation.

A recycled phone can raise anything from 50p to £40.00, depending on it age and condition, as if they are reusable, the mobile phones can provide a vital means of communication in parts of the world where landline telecommunications are either non-existent or impossible to provide.

“We are hoping that by offering an amnesty event, the people of Bristol will help us put their old phones back to good use,” Mr Newsome concluded.

ActionAid Recycling is an official fundraising organisation for ActionAid, the charity and international development agency.

The amnesty will take place in Fresh & Wild on Friday 21 and Saturday 22 January. Fresh & Wild is offering participants the opportunity to win an organic hamper.

By Jane Kettle

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