Telecom Trends: Can telecom carriers go green?

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Can telecom carriers go green?

The inspiration for today's blog posting incubated as I read an article last week about BT extending its commitment to climate change initiatives. It developed as I read about Finance Minister Jim Flaherty's 3 E's (economy, energy and environment), listened to a BNL interview on Newsworld, and found that the environment was leading parliamentary Question Period. I started thinking about what Canadian telecom companies could and should be doing to enhance their adoption of green.

It seems to me that, like BT, Canadian telecom companies need to look at their own activities as a start and develop specific goals and programs to reduce harmful environmental impact. Further, the companies should set objectives to require suppliers to demonstrate commitments to similar initiatives.

As an easy start, why not provide better financial incentives for customers to move away from paper billing? How about reductions in travel and commuting for employees and aggressively promoting the green benefits of teleconferencing services. These are the services telecom companies sell! Facilitate recycling of batteries from cel phones and computers. Why can't I bring all my used batteries to those cel phone kiosks in the malls? Let's see commitments to green sources of power. Conversion of vehicle fleets to hybrids or trucks that use alternative energy sources.

By its very nature, telecom services should be seen as offering environmentally friendly solutions for any business. As a result, the telecom industry can be expected to benefit from increased consumer concerns about climate change. It should therefore show leadership in elevating the level of adoption of such solutions.

Comments? Other ideas?

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Posted by Mark Goldberg @ 1/30/2007 06:44:00 AM

Comments:

Not sure if you are aware of it or not, but there is an organization in Canada known as the Electronics Products Stewardship Canada (www.epsc.ca), which is a not-for-profit working to design, promote and implement sustainable solutions for Canada's electronic waste problem. It was created through the joint efforts of ITAC and Electro-Federation Canada in response to increasing pressure from the feds and the provinces to deal with the problems resulting from the growing amount of electronic waste - with all its inherent lead, cadmium and mercury - that was ending up in landfill sites. The founding members were 16 leading electronics manufacturers (egs. Dell, HP, IBM, LG Electronics, Panasonic, Sharp, Sony).

Many provinces, Ontario included, have passed waste diversion legislation and under that legislation designated certain items as priorities. In Ontario waste tires and used engine oils and packaging were some of the first products dealt with. In December 2004 Ontario's environment minister asked Waste Diversion Ontario to develop waste diversion programs for four priority categories (out of 7 in total) of electronic and electrical equipment waste. Two of the 4 priority categories were IT equipment (computers, monitors, printers, copiers) and telecom equipment (telephone - wireline, wireless and cellular, faxes, modems, pagers, answering machines). The WDO filed a proposed consultation plan with the minister in April 2005 outlining how it would proceed with its task. As best I can determine, concrete waste diversion proposals have not yet been tabled with the minister.

Among those to be consulted in this process were the Association of Competitive Telecommunications Suppliers, the Canadian Independent Telephone Association, the Canadian Telecommunications Action Committee and the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association. The WDO also saw distributors and retailers of electronic and electrical and equipment and companies providing repair services for such equipment as possibly being affected.

So, the telecom industry is or will be involved to a degree in efforts to clean up our environent from a waste diversion perspective. The suggestions in your blog cover off those aspects of the industry not associated with the equipment they or their customers use.

It's also interesting to note that in December 2006 the WDO filed a proposed consultation plan for the diversion of municipal hazardous or special waste. Rechargeable batteries are included here. (As an aside, there is an organization known as the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation).

Posted by

Brian Gordon : 10:27 AM, January 30, 2007

i don't think so? knowing that their equipments waste are hazardous. unless they would exert more effort in engaging their company in cleaning the environment diversion. but still they have to make it possible to have equipments that are environmental frienldly.

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