The electronic waste cycle: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Cable One is committed to the reduction of waste generated by our business.
When it comes to the network equipment that enables our service in our customers’ homes, it’s a story of
“one product, many lives.”
Because we own much of the customer premise equipment in our network – the cable modems and
set-top boxes in our customers’ homes and businesses – we enhance the sustainability of our
operations through reuse and recycling. When equipment returned to us is in working order, we
refurbish it and redeploy it for reuse by other customers. When this equipment has reached the
end of its lifecycle with Cable One, we work with brokers who resell it to network operators,
often in developing countries. And if the equipment is damaged beyond repair, we may harvest it
for usable parts before sending it to partners that responsibly recycle it.
It is important for us to effectively manage our resources, achieve cost efficiencies, and
foster sustainability. We do this with Cable One's
office equipment. When its useful life at Cable One ends, we seek to find it a new
home or have it ethically recycled. In 2022, we reduced solid waste by more than 4,000 tons by working with a broker to find secondary market buyers for more than 2,800 devices.
Another environmental commitment is to decrease paper usage throughout the company. A cornerstone of this
commitment is encouraging our customers to adopt paperless billing. Electronic billing is
efficient and timely, allowing us to communicate more directly with our customers. Paperless billing also
streamlines the billing process and decreases recurring expenses associated with printing materials, postage,
and labor. Through increased paperless billing adoption, we hope to eliminate the use of millions of sheets of paper and envelopes per year.
The value of our paperless billing initiative is brought to life even more through our partnership with
the Arbor Day Foundation. To date, donations from Cable One are responsible for planting 120,000 trees,
and we’re committed to planting an additional 10,000 trees each year on behalf of our customers who choose paperless billing. These new trees help offset carbon
emissions while offering additional benefits, including cleaner air and water, soil stabilization and
wildlife habitat.
The impact of this effort is significant. Over their lifetime, 120,000 trees can avoid and sequester 324,866 metric tons of carbon; avoid and remove 874 tons of air pollution and avoid 43,719,710 gallons of water runoff.
Where we can’t eliminate paper and other single-use materials, we strongly promote recycling. Cable One
has a recycling program for all paper, cardboard, and aluminum cans used at our corporate office in
Phoenix. Every workstation has a recycling bin and signage throughout the offices
reinforce our sustainability commitments.