Greentech Lead India: Sprint, which has set a goal of 20 percent absolute emission reduction by 2017, has been awarded 2013 North American Award for Green Excellence from Frost & Sullivan.
The wireless carrier is more than halfway to its goal to achieve its emission reduction target, according to company officials. This target is the most aggressive greenhouse gas (GHG) emission-reduction goals of any U.S. wireless carrier.
Some of the initiatives undertaken by the wireless carrier include adoption of more efficient equipment, an increase in renewable energy purchases, energy efficiency improvements at its data centers and a shift to more fuel-efficient SmartWayÂ
The wireless carrier has outlined specific commitments to address electronic waste (e-waste) holistically by focusing on the full lifecycle of the electronics it buys and sells. As part of the Electronics Stewardship Policy, the company has pledged to responsibly recycle electronic scrap while striving to boost equipment recycling and reuse.
To date, the carrier’s device trade-in program, Sprint Buyback, and other wireless device recycling programs have collected more than 47 million devices while putting more than $100 million back in customers’ pockets.
In one of the first such initiatives in the telecommunications industry, Sprint partnered with UL Environment (ULE) to produce the first environmental standard for mobile devices, ULE 110. The ULE 110 standard sets product guidelines in manufacturing and operations, performance, energy management, sustainable innovation and packaging.
The carrier has also committed to reducing paper use by 40 percent by 2017, and has made tremendous headway on that goal thanks to innovations like its reusable, two-in-one-ecoEnvelope. Sprint’s Overland Park campus – with its recycled rainwater, native wetlands and bird species and ambitious composting and recycling programs – is another contributing factor that fetched the award for the company.