Starship children's hospital has done wonders by recycling. This hospital has raised half a million dollars by regenerating the old mobile phones.

New Zealanders donated their old mobile phones which were sent to a recycling plant in Ireland, Folamh, and for further processing and programming, these were sent to Hong Kong, China and Eastern Europe. These newly generated phones were then sold.

Andrew Young, CEO of Starship Foundation, said they have received 60 percent of the proceeds from thousands of unwanted phones and is grateful to those thousands of people who donated their mobile phones.

"I should add that there is no end date to the Mobile Phone Appeal so if people keep sending us their old mobile phones, I'm confident we'll hit the $1 million mark before too long", Andrew said.

The money which is generated from old phones will be used for fulfilling hospital’s needs. New lifesaving equipment and vital paediatric research would be undertaken with this amount.

Phones can be sent using freepost appeal envelopes. For any further information please log on at www. starship. org. nz/phone or 0800 STARSHIP.