Customers
- Mobile phone, battery and mobile accessory recycling campaign in Colombia
In 2008 we continued the intiatives we had begun the previous year to recycle mobile phone handsets, batteries and accessories. We managed to recycle a considerable volume (391,000 units) and cemented Telefónica Latin America's recycling scheme and operating procedure. The recycled materials are exported to Mexico under the Basel Convention, to which both Mexico and Colombia are parties. Once in Mexico, most of the handset components are earmarked for re-use, while cards and metal parts are sent to a smelting plant in the United States.
The whole process, which is compliant with legal requirements, is handled by a waste manager licensed by the Colombian environment ministry. The waste manager certifies the intended purpose, treatment and recovery of all these materials.
Movistar Colombia currently has in place 38 drop-off points for mobile phone handsets, batteries and accessories, located in shops and distributorships across 27 cities.
The company runs a specific waste management procedure and has implemented employee awareness campaigns using a variety of in-company and external media.
- Environmental awareness-raising:Punto Radio's "green tour" of Spanish cities
Telefónica partnered with the Tragamóvil Foundation, a charity set up by ASIMELEC, the Spanish electronics and communications business federation, on a tour set in motion by Punto Radio, a major radio station. While on tour, the radio station encouraged the public to drop off their unwanted mobile phones and accessories in Tragamóvil recycle bins. Tragamóvil then manages the waste handsets and accessories throughout the entire recycling process, from collection in bins to recovery of secondary raw materials and metal and plastic parts which can be re-used in the product manufacturing process.
Punto Radio's "Protagonistas en Verde" is one of Spain's most popular radio programmes. Its three-month tour of several Spanish cities sent out an upbeat message: climate change is something we're all responsible for, and by taking individual action we can help save our environment.
- Nokia 3110 Evolve, the only eco-friendly mobile on the market
The initiative is of a piece with the company's environmental policy and its commitment to find new ways of enhancing energy efficiency in its operations and cut back on greenhouse gas emissions.
The handset, with its biological casing comprising 50% recyclable materials, is packaged in a small recycled cardboard box. Its small size is estimated to save the use of 5,000 lorries for distribution, with the implied savings in fuel and in atmospheric emissions.
The handset's energy-saving charger reduces consumption to a minimum when the phone is fully charged, and the screen displays a message prompting the user to unplug the device.
This detail alone could save up to 94% of the energy, because two thirds of all the energy consumed by a mobile phone simply goes to waste - when the charger is plugged into the wall but not connected to the handset.
- Electronic billing: fostering customer commitment to the environment
Telefónica regards electronic billing as a good way of dovetailing its commitments to clear information and to the environment. By the end of 2008, close to 78 million customers had chosen to have their bills sent electronically (accounting for 11.3% of all invoices issued).
The e-bill had been introduced in Europe and some Latin American countries, always in compliance with applicable law: in Argentina and Chile and, for the first time in 2008, in Colombia and Mexico. The countries seeing the highest e-bill use in each region were: Germany, where 43.3% of customers have elected to receive e-bills (30.4% in 2007); the UK, with 30% choosing e-bills (27.2%); Chile, on 44.6% (18.9% in 2007); and Mexico, where e-billing was launched in 2008 and had won over 32.3% of users by the year-end. Brazil started a pilot e-billing programme among its employees in 2009.
- Telefónica Panama joins the Alianza Contaminación Cero
Telefónica Panama joined the alliance in 2008. The company helped to raise awareness about the serious environmental harm done by thin plastic bags, and gave out 1,000 re-usable cloth bags to employees and customers.