Atlanta Society category interest

In an effort to combat the destruction of gorilla habitats around the world, Zoo Atlanta offers an outlet to donate used electronics to cultivate conservation and slow mining that affects gorilla habitats.

The zoo’s Green Team focuses on monitoring the zoo’s environmental endeavors, offering a resource for the community to recycle cell phones and other electronics to support gorilla conservation. After they donate, guests also earned a $5 discount on entry for the day or a free ride on the train or carousel for members.

“In education, everything that we do, events and program-wise, we try to integrate into our conservation messaging,” April Anderson, the zoo’s volunteer programs director, said. “People are coming to see the animals like, ‘Oh, they’re so cool,’ but also they’re walking away understanding what is a challenge for their counterparts in the wild and how we can change our behaviors to positively impact them.”

In 2019, when the Super Bowl was held in Atlanta, Zoo Atlanta partnered with Verizon to promote an electronic recycling event that received massive support, according to Anderson. On a smaller scale, Zoo Atlanta has now partnered with electronic recycling company Prime Asset Recovery.

The Green Team hopes to gain momentum with this new initiative through “Gorillas on the Line,” a program launched across the international organization focusing on the wellbeing of animal management and conservation Association of Zoos and Aquariums through a partnership with recycling tech company ECO-CELL to collect donated electronics. These electronics are then broken down to extract the reusable mineral coltan to minimize the need for mining in the wild.

“Gorillas on the Line is a campaign that staff members from different zoos are a part of,” Anderson said. “They’re supporting [an organization] called Gorilla SAFE (Saving Animals From Extinction). They focus on how zoos can support educating the public about what’s affecting gorillas in the wild and how we can actually take steps to make those changes. They came up with that program idea, and then they sent it out to all of the zoos that are associated with AZA to try and get local schools, clubs, anybody to participate in the Gorillas on the Line program.”

The mineral coltan can be found in a variety of electronic devices. As the demand for coltan increases, Anderson said more gorillas lose their habitat to one of their biggest threats, coltan mining. The Western Lowland Gorillas are no exception to this threat, allowing visitors to directly view animals that are being impacted by the electronics they recycle as part of the Green Team initiative.

“Zoo Atlanta has Western Lowland Gorillas, and Western Lowland Gorillas come from an area in the Democratic Republic of Congo,” Anderson said. “They are impacted by their natural area in Democratic Republic of Congo, the mountains of that region is where this mineral coltan is actually mined for. They and their counterparts, the Mountain Gorillas, are actually impacted by the mining for coltan. So, our Western Lowland Gorillas actually serve as ambassadors for their species and other gorilla species.”

Through the recycling of electronic devices, the demand for coltan decreases to minimize the destruction of the habitats gorillas, such as the Western Lowland Gorilla, depend on. Anderson said this electronic recycling event allows an outlet for people to be part of steps toward a more sustainable future.

“Technology recycling is very limited,” Anderson said. “Often, if you’re trying to take a TV, computer, printer or something to a recycling center, they’re not going to accept it. Resources are limited to do this, so partnering with Prime Asset Recovery helps the community know that they exist and that people can take stuff to them, but also they can bring their stuff to us. We had many people who pulled up with a carload of stuff, and they said, ‘I’ve been holding on to this forever; I didn’t know where to take it.’ So, just [letting the community know] that you can recycle it, and it doesn’t have to end up in a landfill is what’s important.”

The Green Team Committee spearheaded the electronic recycling event at Zoo Atlanta. The staff-led committee from various departments continued to carry out its goal to promote sustainability within the community and brainstorm better ideas for recycling.

“We’ve been able to explain the program more [through the electronic recycling event],” Anderson said. “Talking to more people and branching out further and further. Getting people to recognize that it is a program that exists and that everyone can participate in this to help gorillas. We’re all so attached to these devices, and we all go through cell phones and tablets constantly, so knowing that if you were to just throw that away, it’s wasting materials that could be reused. Just getting to spread the message is really the biggest goal.”

AP Environmental Science teacher and Earth and Recycling club sponsor Beth Kotska said events similar to the ones Zoo Atlanta hosted serve as educational opportunities to engage guests with conservation efforts.

“We need to recycle, but nobody knows where to take it whether that be electronics, used oil, larger pieces of plastic,” Kotska said. “We need to do a better job as a society at educating the public on where they can take it, because otherwise, folks who have an interest can’t go ahead and follow through on that interest.”

Over the course of the recycling event, Amy Arnold, the zoo’s facilities operations manager, said the participation for the first time hosting this event was promising. While building momentum, the Green Team Committee also promoted the Illuminights event at the zoo where holiday string lights are collected for recycling in the winter.

“I think the goal was really just to [show] that there is a Green Team here at the zoo and just try and put a face with the name,” Arnold said. “The idea behind it was to try and drive attendance. The thought was let’s try and get [used electronics] because you would be amazed by what folks dropped off. With the idea that Zoo Atlanta wants to put the idea that we are trying to be a sustainable facility and that we do truly care about conservation.”

Both Arnold and Anderson oversee the Green Team Committee and said the momentum is just beginning to build for the future of electronic recycling at Zoo Atlanta.

“For the first time that we have this event, we felt like it went really well, and we really hope that it continues to go well,” Arnold said. “We’ve done this work that hopefully will continue and that others whether they’re on the Green Team or not will help with that mission and help to keep this going.”

Kotska said one of the biggest challenges with recycling in any field is spreading the message on where the public can go to expand their interest.

“I think hearing about this event builds awareness for recycling and encourages people to take stock at how much material we have around our house because we have all this old stuff; we have old electronics, and a lot of people would like to get rid of it,” Kostka said. “So, rather than throwing it in the trash, now they can start realizing, ‘Oh I should take that somewhere.’”

Arnold and Anderson hope the community learns from this electronic recycling event that seemingly small actions create significant impacts for the long term health of ecosystems across the world.

“The biggest challenge that we face when it comes to recycling is that you don’t know what can be recycled or how to recycle it,” Anderson said. “I think a lot of people get overwhelmed and then they just don’t participate, but there are resources out there. If people know about how to recycle, they’re far more likely to actually do it.”