The “Pass it Back, Brother!” spring 2025 campaign has ended successfully!

The ‘Pass Back, Brother!’ campaign was launched jointly by the Jane Goodall Institute, the KÖVET Association, the Afrikaért Foundation and the Védegylet, with the aim of collecting as many data-free, unused mobile phones, GPS devices and tablets as possible for donation. The initiative aims to reduce electronic waste and promote a circular economy by recycling used devices.

The campaign indirectly contributes to the protection of the habitat of African primates – such as gorillas and chimpanzees – and to improving the living conditions of local communities. This is particularly important, as the mining of conflict minerals and elements – such as coltan, gold, silver, palladium and copper – required for the production of mobile devices causes serious ecological and social problems in Africa. The aim of the campaign is not only to collect devices, but also to shape attitudes: it draws attention to the environmental impacts of consumer habits and the importance of a sustainable, circular economy. Although this is just one step among many, it is our shared responsibility to create a more livable future for both people and wildlife.

Based on the results of the program launched in 2018, a total of 1,453 collection points have joined the initiative, and together with the results of spring 2025, nearly 9 tons of unused mobile phones have been disposed of.

In 2024, the campaign successfully won the support of Hello Nonprofit Kft. and Magyar Telekom Nyrt.’s “Together in circulation, interaction, community” application. Thanks to this, we can take the campaign to even more locations in the next two years and raise awareness of sustainability, reuse and recycling on a wider scale.

Here is the list of awardees. They collected the most devices by category: :

In the Educational Institution category, the XXII. District Egyesített Bölcsőde received the Sétasínházi performance.

In the Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise category, Premed Pharma Kft. earned the Chimpanzee Adoption.
In the Large Enterprise category, Deutsche Telekom TSI Hungary Kft. received the Chimpanzee Adoption.
The winner of the Public Institution category is the Hamvas Béla City Library in Szentendre, where we hold professional lectures.

Special Prize Winners:

The special prize for “Best National Campaign” was won by Auchan Hungary Ltd., which also includes a Chimpanzee Adoption. All Auchan stores in Hungary joined the campaign. During the campaign, customers were informed about the purpose of the collection and the possibility of dropping it off on their online platforms, in the specials, and via the public address system.
The special prize for “Most Beautiful Box and Decoration” went to Újbudai Kuckó Nursery School, and their reward was a Chimpanzee Adoption and a presentation about chimpanzees.

Photo: Újbudai Kuckó Kindergarten

Professional presentations: The best performing SMEs, public institutions, educational institutions and special award-winning organizations participating in the campaign will receive an awareness-raising professional presentation entitled “Mobile Phones for Gorillas” presented by the Jane Goodall Institute, and the winners of the large company, SME and public institution categories will each receive a Green Office – Green Event presentation organized by the KÖVET Association.

Congratulations to the award winners! We will contact them soon to coordinate presentations and chimpanzee adoptions.

Many organizations, institutions and companies participating in the collection organized internal campaigns, awareness-raising events and presentations, which succeeded in mobilizing the community and encouraging even greater participation. The phones collected in this way are not only outstanding from an environmental perspective, but the social impact of the campaign is also becoming stronger, as the recycling of the devices received during the collection contributes to sustainability. The collection points that have joined the campaign so far are extremely diverse, including schools, kindergartens, nurseries, civil organizations, institutions, shops, offices, hotels, libraries, theaters, research institutes, national parks, museums, chambers of commerce, industry and agriculture, restaurants, clinics, courts and more.

“Together we can! Together we will!”

–

“We can do it together! Together we will do it!”

– Dr. Jane Goodall

The changes and reorganizations that have occurred in the field of waste collection have also affected our campaign. However, having been successfully integrated into the MOHU system, it can be said that it is now taking place unchanged, and the enthusiasm of the participants in the collection, the positive feedback and their active participation have contributed to the fact that this campaign can be considered a success.

Join us and let’s collect as many unused mobile phones as possible!