Old mobile phones can help feed Canberra's disadvantaged this Christmas, and with nearly 400,000 lying around there's no excuse for not helping.
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MobileMuster aims to collect 865 handsets and 2400 batteries from the ACT by the end of January, combining with the Salvos as part of a national campaign to gather 16,000 kilograms of mobiles and accessories.
The not-for-profit recycler will donate $2 to the Salvos for every kilogram received, and $4 for each kilogram collected in special boxes in Salvos stores.
MobileMuster recycling manager Rose Read said market research by Ipsos indicated there were 397,000 mobiles in storage across Canberra.
"This festive season there's no better time to declutter for the New Year, clear out your home or office of unused electronics, all whilst you help raise funds for the Salvos to distribute toys, food vouchers, hampers and Christmas lunches to homeless and families in need," she said.
"Up to half the population will be getting or giving a mobile this Christmas."
Unused mobile phones from just one in 100 Canberrans would be enough for the Salvos to provide 560 Christmas lunches.
Salvos Stores ACT/Monaro area manager Tony O'Connell said he expected about 400 people to be served across the Salvos' eight centres in the ACT and Queanbeyan on Christmas Day.
"For them to get a hot lunch and sit down to a baked dinner – to see the friendships they have and the conversations – it sometimes brings you to tears just to see them enjoy themselves," he said.
"They're so grateful that people in the community can do this for them."
Ms Read said phones received in Canberra would go to Sydney to be dismantled, with some of the plastic made into fenceposts in Melbourne, while steel or aluminium would go to Australian manufacturers. Circuitboards, accessories and batteries would all go to Singapore for further processing, with gold, silver, platinum and nickel among the metals reused.
The inaugural summer campaign with the Salvos last year recycled more than 200 kilograms from the ACT, including more than 725 handsets and 2000 batteries.
MobileMuster, a program of the industry-funded Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association, has saved more than 1100 tonnes of mobile phone components ending up in landfill, including more than 9.95 million handsets and batteries and 500 tonnes of accessories since 1998.
