Greening the Telephone: A Case Study

1. Greening the Telephone:A Case Studyby Janine C. Sekutowski Summary by Ricky Paredes Critique by David Wolbeck

2. Overview • AT&T’s Green Product Realization • Green Phone Feasibility Study Project • Defining “Green” • Organizing the Green Team • Green Baseline • Design • Manufacture • Use • End-of-Life • The Next Steps

3. About the Green Product Realization Project • Purpose • Learn about Design for Environment (DFE) guidelines • Delivering “Green” products to customers • Minimize the adverse life-cycle environmental impacts (see figure 1)

4. Built on DFX (“design for X”) system, where X considers: • Manufacturability • Installability • Reliability • Testability • DFE definition (see figure 2)

5. Single product selected for project • Criteria for selection • Size • Number of components used • Length of production cycle • The product chosen was…

6. This led to the Green Phone Feasibility Study Project

7. Defining “Green” • If materials used are recyclable • Not truly “green”? • Energy consumed vs. waste produced • Rules of design for assembly (DFA) • Implies design for disassembly • Waste from manufacturing is not landfilled • Product is not landfilled at the end of its life

8. Organizing the Green Team • AT&T assembled a team for feasibility study which included: • Product management • Marketing • Design and manufacture • R&D • Corporate Environmental Organization

9. Green product special interest group discussion: • Customers like green products • Customers would choose green rather than another product • Customers didn’t mind refurbished or remanufactured components • Expected lower price • Most would participate in recycling program • Team established baseline. This task was divided into the four phases: • Design • Manufacture • Use • End-of-Life

10. Green Baseline - Design • “Green” scoring system for design: • 5 points if design possesses “green” attributes • 3 points for partial attributes • Convenient method for comparing design options • Software-based tool • Easy, uniform way to assign points • Environmental effect of potential design changes

11. Green Baseline - Design • Scoring system considers: • Material variety minimized? • Reused or recycled components? • Recyclable plastics? • Product easily disassembled? • Adhesives used? • Hazardous elements? • Score for the design of telephone was good • Improvements

12. Green Baseline - Manufacture • Difficult to evaluate suppliers for “greenness” • AT&T use contracts and purchase order provisions to impose baseline environmental standards on suppliers. • Qualitative statements about the Greenness • Significant amount of waste in packaging • Waste treated differently • Waste treatments preferable to others

13. Green Baseline - Manufacture • Next task is to analyze quantitatively the manufacturing of the telephone • Need to identify and quantify: • Wastes (air, liquid, solid) • Associated costs • Waste handling options • Need a scoring system • Difficult task due to complexity

14. Green Baseline - Use • AT&T is assuming that “greenness” of the use phase is good • Energy consumption is minimal • Environmental impact small relative to other phases • Substitutes for energy-intensive transportation • Environmentally preferable product

15. Green Baseline – End of Life • Bell Systems recycling infrastructure • AT&T’s “take back” policy • Recycling infrastructure still in use for leased products • Leasing telephones declining • Score for leased products is high • Unclear score for products sold

16. The Next Steps • Several tasks require further effort • Several options for designing a “greener” phone were uncovered • Options used for next generation products • DFE guidelines for telephones • Scoring system needs further development • Economical, realistic “take back” program for telephones needs to be explored • Work on a “greener” telephone has begun

17. Critique By David Wolbeck

18. 1994 based Green Phones • Wired handsets are very recyclable. • Efforts being made to make them “greener”. • DFX “green” process is applied to all new designs. • All stages of product life being investigated.

19. AT&T’s “GREEN” Criteria • Simple assembly = easy disassembly • Minimize material variety • Clearly Labeled plastics for recycling • Use no metalized plastics • Use no hazardous elements • Don’t use adhesives • Product not land filled at end of life

20. 1994 “GREEN” Phone Evaluation • Simple disassembly • Minimal materials • No metalized parts • No hazardous material • No adhesives Land filled at end of life

21. 1994 conclusions • AT&T created their own “Greenness” measurement system • AT&T found that they were doing very well in being “GREEN” • AT&T “hopes to incorporate greenness in the next generation products” • AT&T to evaluate OEM’s at a later date • AT&T will try to create a return and recycle program if it is “economical to support the reality of being in an unregulated, highly competitive business”.

22. What has happened in 9 years • Wired phones are much the same “green” phones that they were 9 years ago • AT&T in conjunction with Motorola brought us the cell phone in 1987 and now they are as common as the automobile. • AT&T made cellular handsets for a while but it now focus on the infrastructure. • AT&T wireless uses OEM phones.

23. 2003 “GREEN” Phone Evaluation • Simple disassembly • Minimal materials • No metalized parts • No hazardous material • No adhesives Land filled at end of life

24. Cell Phones • Cell phones contain toxic elements like Mercury, Cadmium, Lead, Gallium Arsenide and other toxic materials that shouldn’t be thrown into a landfill. • Consumers often do just that, it is pretty much understood that Cell Phones are disposable products.

25. Typical Cell phone construction • 3 different types of plastics. • Plastics are composites of metal and plastic. • Toxic Mercury LCD display. • Mixed technology PC boards. • Batteries chemistries of LION, NiCad, NiMH.

26. Difficult to recycle plastics

27. 2003 “GREEN” Cell phone Evaluation • Simple disassembly • Minimal materials • No metalized parts • No hazardous material • No adhesives • Land filled at end of life

28. Who is recycling Cell Phones • Staples & the Sierra Club are! • Reuse containers at Staples stores. • Phones reused in developing countries. • If phones can’t be reused they are recycled for metals and plastics in accordance with federal and local environmental standards.

29. AT&T is a “green” innovator • Generous grants to educational institutes for “Industrial Ecology Research” • AT&T Receives Award for Diversity and Environmental Leadership, 2002 • AT&T to Receive Keep America Beautiful, Inc. 2000, 2001 Vision for America Award • AT&T Receives Climate Protection Award from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2000 • AT&T Receives Innovest's Top Telecom Ranking for Environmental Performance, 2000. • AT&T Receives "A" for Environment, 2000 by Council for Economic Priorities • AT&T Receives Pioneer Award from Association of New Jersey Recyclers, 1999 • AT&T Receives Corporate Green Globe Award from the Rainforest Alliance, 1999 • AT&T Receives EPA 'Way to Go!' Award, 1998