Recycled mobile phones help the Safety Line
Your old mobiles can help! With this appeal, Telefónica O2 turns to all mobile phone users who still have old or non-functioning mobiles and don't know how to dispose of them.
For every mobile phone that people drop off at any O2 Shop, we will donate CZK 25 to the operation of the Safety Line through the O2 Foundation. The Safety Line is the only national help line for children and adolescents in crisis situations. The phones that are dropped off are handed over for ecological recycling. The recycling program is being carried out by the non-profit organization Rema System, which is building a system of collection points for unused electrical equipment throughout the Czech Republic.
"We regard the activities of the Safety Line as essential, and therefore every year we provide more than four million crowns for its operation. The objective of our new campaign is not only to motivate people into behaving ecologically, but it is primarily an endeavor to give more help to those who need it," says Salvador Anglada, General Director of Telefónica O2 and an honorary member of the Supervisory Board of the O2 Foundation. "We decided not to take a commercial route, that is, using a form of discounts for customers. Instead, we chose to support the Safety Line, which truly helps children through telecommunications services," adds Mr. Anglada.
The number of the Safety Line, 800 155 555, serves primarily those who do not know who to turn to for advice for their problems, feel threatened, alone, betrayed, confused, and, for a variety of reasons, do not want to, or cannot, trust anyone around them. The Safety Line receives around 400 emergency calls from children every day. It also operates an Internet help line and, at the same time, a parent line, which is intended for adults seeking advice on bringing up their children. Many calls to this line concern suspicions of tyranny, abuse, or neglect of children in the neighborhoods of the callers, who are afraid to turn to the police. More at www.linkabezpeci.cz.
Mobile phones are a considerable burden on the environment. In addition to helping the Safety Line, the objective of the campaign is to motivate mobile phone users to think in an ecological manner. Since June 2005, a law regarding electrical waste has been in effect, and this includes mobiles. Their users, however, remain unaware of how to dispose of their old phones properly. The number of handsets that have been turned in for recycling is just a fraction of the number of units sold. If mobiles are ending up in the dump instead of being recycled, the result is a relatively substantial ecological strain. Copper, for instance, comprises just 15% of a phone's mass, but its share in toxicity is 45%. In addition to this, of course, there are plastics, which take hundreds of years to decompose.
About the O2 Foundation
The O2 Foundation is the corporate foundation of Telefónica O2 Czech Republic. Through long-term, well-planned, and systematic donations it places emphasis on providing a helping hand to our surroundings and takes partial responsibility for the state and development of society.
The O2 Foundation has given out over 90 million crowns in support for non-profit projects. It is active in the fight against bullying in Czech schools through its long-term Eliminating Bullying project. In 2007 it became the general partner of the Safety Line association, which helps children in crises.
The O2 Foundation was one of the first registered corporate foundations in the Czech Republic and one of the most frequently used models of corporate donations. It is a member of the Donors' Forum - The Associaton of Foundations, and, in 2004, for its systematic and well-planned donations it won the grand VIA BONA prize, which is public recognition of the support of activities that benefit the greater good. Telefónica O2 Czech Republic also took part in the launch of a unique philanthropic tool known as the DMS, or Donation SMS. It is a fast, transparent, one-of-a-kind method that enables the public to make donations to charities through mobile technology.
In the TOP CORPORATE PHILANTHROPE rankings for 2007, Telefónica O2 Czech Republic was the sixth most generous corporate donor in terms of total donated resources. The operator is also a founding member of the Donators' Club of the Donors' Forum.
