RECYCLE ELECTRONICS AT ZOO ATLANTA TO HELP SAVE WILDLIFE

Bring electronics to the Zoo with a two-week campaign and a single-day recycling event 

ATLANTA – August 19, 2024 – Zoo Atlanta is hosting opportunities for Members and guests to promote sustainability, de-clutter their lives, and contribute to conservation by recycling electronics.   

Starting Monday, August 19 and continuing through Friday, August 30, 2024, visitors can bring small electronics, such as cell phones, tablets, smartwatches, and digital cameras, to recycle with Zoo Atlanta. As an incentive, guests will receive $5 off admission for that day’s Zoo visit. Zoo Atlanta Members, who already enjoy free daytime admission year-round, will receive a free ticket for the Norfolk Southern Zoo Train or Endangered Species Carousel.  

For the recycling of larger items, Zoo Atlanta has partnered with Prime Asset Recovery to accept items such as monitors, desktop PCs and printers, during a single-day E-Waste Recycling Event on August 23, 2024. Items will be accepted from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the circular drive outside Savanna Hall. Members and guests will receive the same incentives earned in recycling smaller electronics. Admission discounts are available only at Zoo Atlanta Admissions and may not be combined with other offers; the offer is not valid online.  

The recycling campaign and single-day event are being hosted by the Zoo Atlanta Green Team, an internal committee of Zoo team members who work to forward Zoo Atlanta’s on-grounds sustainability initiatives.  

All small electronic devices recycled through these programs will be recycled through the Gorillas on the Line … Answer the Call campaign and the Zoo’s partners at Eco-Cell. All proceeds from donated items will benefit the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) Gorilla SAFE (Saving Animals From Extinction) Program, which currently supports the work of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund and Wildlife Conservation Society in conservation projects for Grauer’s gorillas and Cross River gorillas.  

There is a direct connection between the manufacturing of small electronics and the future of wild gorillas. Cell phones and other electronics are produced using coltan, a rare substance found only in a few places in the world. Among these are the forests of the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo – a center of gorilla habitat. As a result of mining for coltan, gorillas are displaced and even killed by poachers. Recycling old phones and similar electronics reduces the demand for coltan.  

Find full details on the recycling campaign and single-day event, as well as lists of accepted items, here on zooatlanta.org.