Earth Day 2008: Are You Green?
Verizon really wants you to recycle your old phones. Its HopeLine program uses ReCellular to recycle phones. In 2007, HopeLine recycled 1.1 million old wireless phones. The number is an increase of more than 15 percent from last year's total of 910,000 phones. This means the word is slowly getting out there that you can and should recycle your old phones.
The phones Verizon Wireless gets for HopeLine are sent to ReCellular, where they are examined. Handsets that are too damaged or old to be refurbished for reuse are recycled responsibly, and those that can be reused, are refurbished for resale. Verizon Wireless takes the proceeds from the resale of those phones and donates it to domestic violence agencies across the country ($1.72 million in 2007). The ratio of recycled/refurbished phones tends to be around 25 percent/75 percent.
Last year, Verizon Wireless also provided nearly 20,000 wireless phones directly to domestic violence agencies around the country for use by their clients. These HopeLine phones are used by victims and survivors of domestic violence to rebuild their lives.
Wireless phones, batteries and accessories in any condition from any wireless service provider are collected in Verizon Wireless Communications Stores nationwide.
HopeLine is not all that Verizon Wireless does, however, to be a good corporate citizen. Verizon is also working hard to reduce its energy consumption.
Over the past year, Verizon Wireless has deployed a program called NightWatchman, which reduces the power consumed by PCs. This power management software is used on some 63,000 work stations across Verizon Wireless, resulting in a 24 percent reduction in both PC power consumption and CO2 emissions. Verizon Wireless says the program reduces annual energy costs by $1.3 million and carbon emissions by an estimated 7,700 tons.
Verizon Wireless has also deployed thin client solutions (technology that provides users access to centrally-stored programs and software) in 17 of its call centers. Thin clients require less power and generate less heat than full workstations, so Verizon can save on cooling costs.
"We also do all the obvious stuff," said company spokesperson Debi Lewis. "In our offices we recycle paper, glass and soda cans. We're also working on converting systems to use power efficient bulbs and putting lighting management systems into our buildings. For future buildings, we have RFPs (requests for proposals) for green buildings."
It also reduced the size of the boxes that its cell phones come in to make them a small as possible. This uses less materials, and allows the company to ship and store more per pallet.
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