GO GREEN. FEEL GOOD.
What is it?
The Green Initiative. Environmentally Conscious. Going Green. Being Green. More and more frequently, we hear these phrases - but what do they mean exactly? How can I make this ideal into a reality? Wireless Logic, as a company, asked ourselves this very question. Here's what we've done - and here's what you can do - to help.
As a business entity, with multiple locations, our first thought was, "What can we do to reduce?" Reducing energy consumption, preserves natural resources, demonstrates corporate responsibility, and makes good business sense. Our improvements directly benefit the environment in three categories: power/energy, water, and trash
Reducing Energy
Lighting
We replaced thousands of square feet of overhead lighting with more energy-efficient bulbs. New store locations use low voltage fixtures. Although a costly initial investment, these bulbs last longer, generate less heat, use less energy, and provide brighter lighting that differs from traditional fluorescents. Employees are more conscientious about turning off unnecessary lights.
Signs
All outdoor signs have timers, and those timers are adjusted to coincide with changing seasons and daylight hours.
Heating and Cooling
Each store features a new accurate, programmable, digital thermostat. Accuracy and programmability are important factors in choosing a thermostat. Each store has a specific program for each day of the week to accommodate varying store hours. Seasons change, store hours change - and so do the programs on our thermostats.
Electronics
If every home office product purchased in the U.S. this year were ENERGY STAR qualified, Americans would save $200 million in annual energy costs while preventing almost 3 billion pounds of greenhouse gases - equivalent to the emissions of 250,000 cars. Whenever possible, we use Energy Star-qualified computers, monitors, and office equipment. We even save ink by printing at moderate resolution.
Water
The average toilet tank uses three to seven gallons per flush. Placing a water bottle filled with sand and gravel in a tank will displace enough water to save half a gallon to a gallon each use. That adds up to about 10 gallons a day in a typical home, and exponentially higher in a location with several employees and a public restroom. Multiply that by several retail locations and corporate offices, and the number can exceed tens of thousands of gallons per year. Based on employees, customer flow, and number of locations, we estimate over 30,000 gallons of water saved per year.
Trash
Our company offers invoices through email to help reduce paper use, and we conscientiously recycle our paper and cardboard waste. And last, but certainly not least, we collect as many used cell phones as possible. If you, your company, your school, your church or other organization would like to participate in a cell phone drive and receive a reward for doing so, please continue reading!
The Need for Recovering Used Devices
The Environmental Need:
- An estimated 150-170 million mobile devices are decommissioned or disposed of each year!
- Many of these devices ultimately end up in our local landfills.
- Key materials used to manufacture wireless devices are considered harmful to the environment.
- The EPA considers used wireless devices as potential electronic waste (e-waste).
- As phones become more sophisticated, the removal of personal data will become even more important.
- Corporate decommissioning of integrated multi-media devices continues to grow.
- Through Wireless Logic, recovered devices are disposed of properly through approved ISO 14001 compliant recyclers.
Cell Phone Recycling Critical Statistics
Be Informed:
- The average life of a cell phone is now approximately 18 months. As people upgrade more frequently, unused handsets sit idle in glove boxes and desk drawers. It is estimated that there are more than 500 million unused cellular phones in the United States alone.
- Due to rapid advancement in technology in the wireless industry, the number of unwanted devices increases by up to 3 million units per week.
- Americans alone create 65,000 tons of waste by dumping cellular phones. Many of these phones contain mercury and lead, which can be toxic and hazardous to clean air and water – and you and me. When phones are recycled properly, the threat to the environment is minimized.
- According to the EPA, if 100-130 million of the 500 million cell phones no longer in use were recycled, enough energy would be saved to power more than 194,000 households in the USA.
- The average cell phone user has had 5 phones*
- If each of the world’s 3 billion mobile phone users returned just one phone, that would save 240,000 tons of raw material and reduce carbon emissions equivalent to 4 million cars*.
* Independent survey by Nokia Mobile Phones
Our Collection Process
We have collection sites all over southeast Wisconsin at each of our retail store locations. Bring in your used cell phones, phone batteries, and chargers and we’ll properly recycle them. If you have a business, the Wireless Logic Business Team will come to your office and pick up used corporate phones – even those collected from employee or community collection drives.
GO GREEN. GROW GREEN(TREES).
The Donation Process: Option A
Thank you for recycling your used cell phone! But don’t stop there - with each used cell phone donation, you can have Wireless Logic plant a tree on your behalf. We work closely with local city and county departments to coordinate the planting of donated trees from the “GO GREEN” program. As the “GO GREEN” program sponsor, Wireless Logic agrees to incur all costs associated with the phone recycling program which includes: phone collection, clearing of device data, shipping, and donating and planting trees. Read the article below from www.treesaregood.org outlining the importance of planting trees.
Environmental Benefits
Trees alter the environment in which we live by moderating climate, improving air quality, conserving water, and harboring wildlife.
Moderating Climate
Trees mitigate the effects of sun, wind, and rain. Radiant energy from the sun is absorbed or deflected by leaves on deciduous trees in the summer and is only filtered by branches of deciduous trees in winter. We are cooler when we stand in the shade of trees and are not exposed to direct sunlight. Wind speed and direction is affected by trees. The more compact the foliage on the tree or group of trees, the greater the influence of the windbreak. The downward fall of rain, sleet, and hail is initially absorbed or deflected by trees, which provides some protection for people, pets, and buildings. Trees intercept water, store some of it, and reduce storm runoff and the possibility of flooding. Temperature in the vicinity of trees is cooler than that away from trees. The larger the tree, the greater the cooling. By using trees in the cities, we are able to moderate the heat-island effect caused by pavement and buildings in commercial areas.
Improving Air Quality
Air quality is improved through the use of trees, shrubs, and turf. Leaves filter the air we breathe by removing dust and other pollutants. Rain then washes the particles to the ground. Leaves absorb carbon dioxide from the air to form carbohydrates that are used in the plant’s structure and function. In this process, leaves also absorb other air pollutants—such as ozone, carbon monoxide, and sulfur dioxide—and give off oxygen.
Harboring Wildlife
By planting trees and shrubs, we return to a more natural, less artificial environment. Birds and other wildlife are attracted to the area. The natural cycles of plant growth, reproduction, and decomposition are again present, both above and below ground. Natural harmony is restored to the urban environment.
