Old and unwanted mobile phones are being turned into money to help the homeless, thanks to Lister Unified Communications.

The Stonehouse-based firm are issuing a call to all Gloucestershire businesses to help them raise funds for the charity Emmaus by donating their used mobiles.

And they are even going that extra mile - literally - by committing to travelling around the county to pick up phones collected by other businesses.

With the company at the cutting edge of the communications market they are regularly updating their tech and were often left wondering what to do with old mobile phones they are collecting from clients.

Simon Gardner, sales manager for Lister Unified Communications, said: "Being in the business we are always updating our customers' phones and that means there are always old work phones in a drawer somewhere.

"One of our engineers, Tim Hutchison, has done some charity work with Emmaus in the past and through that we got to know of their great work.

"As a company we pride ourselves on helping the local community and felt this was the ideal opportunity to do just that.

"Since then, we have spoken to our regular clients and have been completely bowled over by their enthusiastic response."

Lister are now hoping amazing businesses all around Gloucestershire will join the cause, collect old handsets from their staff and get in touch.

Gardner added: "We have sold unwanted mobiles before but this time we really wanted to reach out to not just our customers but to all Gloucestershire business.

"In the first week, just from speaking to people we know really well we collected more than 200 phones, which is incredible.

"Now we want others to join us. We will pick up your unwanted drawer-cluttering mobiles and by doing that we will all help the homeless.

"Emmaus is a great charity who do some fantastic work and we hope the business community in Gloucestershire can come together to help them.

"We are able to get some value out of things that people are no longer using and help a brilliant charity, it's a huge win-win for everyone."

To arrange for your mobile phones to be collected, contact lister on 01453 829200 or e-mail hello@lister-communications.co.uk.