Your Phone is Killing Great Apes, with Eco-Cell's Eric Ronay | S2E38

Talking Apes

Gadget Recycler-Ape Lover. This is how Eric Ronay signs off on all his emails.
From his warehouse in Louisville, Kentucky, Eric works diligently to not only save gorillas and their habitats, but also to save our precious environment while enacting lasting culture change.
Eric, whose vision is clearly seen through the work that Eco-Cell does, wants to empower people, especially teenagers and young adults, to demand sustainable changes within the technology world.
'What we do is a labour of love - I want to see a different kind of consumption culture.'

In an average cell phone, there are several rare minerals. Coltan, for instance, is a mineral that makes tantalum. Tantalum is what allows cell phones and many other handheld electronics to hold a charge. 80% of the world’s coltan is in the Democratic Republic of Congo which is also home to endangered gorillas. Mining of coltan (and other minerals) disrupts and destroys their habitats.
'Everybody's got these old cell phones, nobody knows what to do with them, they don’t know what’s in them, they don’t know they affect wildlife.'

To mitigate this, Eric started Eco-Cell in 2003. Eco-Cell recycles, reuses, and resells cell phones and other electronics. Since its inception, Eco-Cell has safely recycled nearly one million cell phones and raised close to one million dollars for gorilla conservation.

Eric Ronay is a gorilla champion. He has made it his mission to save gorillas and raise awareness of their dire need for protection and increased conservation efforts. He does this by educating children and teenagers about cell phones and other electronics. He inspires them to contact technology companies and demand “gorilla-safe” technologies.
His hope is that, with his education and partnerships with zoos and aquariums, electronics will be kept longer and longer, diminishing the need for increased mining. Eric wants everyone to realize that they do not have to trade in their phone every year for the newest version. Eric is striving for sustainable technology which will positively impact not only the gorillas, but the planet as well.
Episode description by Maegan Leavendusky - Programs Co-ordinator for GLOBIO

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