Hardware Recycling Service Helps Orange Go Greener

A hardware recycling service from Greenwoods Communications is helping Orange UK reduce waste by re-using redundant transmission equipment. With recycled equipment saving more than half the costs of acquiring new equipment and disposing of obsolete hardware, the service is helping Orange reduce its capital expenditure (CAPEX) and meet its commitment to the responsible environmental management of all its operations.

London, UK (PRWEB) January 14, 2006 -- A hardware recycling service from Greenwoods Communications is helping Orange UK reduce waste by re-using redundant transmission equipment. With recycled equipment saving more than half the costs of acquiring new equipment and disposing of obsolete hardware, the service is helping Orange reduce its capital expenditure (CAPEX) and meet its commitment to the responsible environmental management of all its operations.

Greenwoods Communications, the UK's leading independent telecoms services company, takes back and refurbishes transmission cabinets that it originally supplied and which have reached the end of their service life. Each cabinet is stripped of its equipment and cabling. Serviceable items, such as power supplies and fan controllers, are refurbished to ‘as new’ condition, boxed and put into Orange’s spare part supply chain.

“These items carry a full 12 month warranty, the same as our new equipment,” explains Bob Peters, Sales & Marketing Director, Greenwoods Communications. “To re-use equipment successfully, it has to go out exactly as if it was newly manufactured.”

“The Greenwoods service is excellent,” comments Kevin Hobman, Reverse Logistics Manager, Orange UK. “To my knowledge no equipment that has been refurbished by Greenwoods has failed when commissioned on site. Greenwoods are very flexible in their approach to Orange's changes in strategy, which sometimes means short notice changes in demand.”

Once stripped, the cabinets themselves are also refurbished. Often this means fitting them with new doors, the part that is most regularly damaged during site removal. “We also clean up the cabinets and if necessary repaint them, before holding them in stores awaiting call-off by Orange. Refurbishment saves several thousands of pounds per cabinet compared to purchasing new product,” says Bob Peters.

Greenwoods Communications offers a full service that includes collection of old equipment from Orange sites and delivery back to stock once the items are refurbished. Currently about 50 cabinets per month are refurbished for Orange.

“Operators today are constantly looking for ways to lower costs, while at the same time developing more environmentally friendly processes that their customers are demanding,” says Peter Skinner, Commercial Director, Greenwoods Communications. “This is an innovative approach from Orange and a service that Greenwoods Communications is looking to develop to meet growing operator demand for recycling, instead of writing off equipment.”

About Greenwoods Communications
Greenwoods Communications is one of the UK's leading independent providers of custom-built solutions for telecom network operators and OEMs. The company supplies major OEMs, network operators, mobile operators and cable TV companies with a complete range of modular services. These include outsourcing of procurement and logistics, network installation and de-installation, and custom design and manufacture. Customers include Alcatel, Cable & Wireless, Easynet, Fibernet, Flag Telecom, Global Crossing, Nokia, Nortel Networks, NTL, Orange, THUS and T-Mobile. Greenwoods is actively involved in building DSL and 3G networks throughout the UK and currently employs 500 staff. Visit http://www.greenwoodscomms.com for more information.

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