Program musters support

CASEY Council is jumping on board a program to encourage residents to recycle their mobile phones.
The Mobilemuster recycling program urges people not to throw their mobile phones in the rubbish, instead placing them in one of the special bins provided around councils that have joined the program.
At last week’s council meeting, councillor Lorraine Wreford highlighted the benefits of such a program.
She said recycling bins, which look like a long, thin plastic tube, could be placed in libraries and council offices as well as mobile phone retailers.
“This program is of no cost to us and it keeps mobile phones out of landfill,” Cr Wreford said.
At least 90 per cent of each mobile phone is recyclable.
The stainless steel in the phones can be used for saucepans, and gold and silver in the circuit boards used for jewellery.
Other uses include fence posts, transport pallets, packaging materials and sleepers on train lines.
According to a video on the Mobilemuster program, which was shown at the council meeting, there is 20 times more gold in one tonne of mobile phones than in the same amount of gold ore collected from mines.