A green business strategy

A subsidiary of GDF Suez, SITA Ile-de-France (SITA IDF) provides eco-conscious waste management solutions to businesses, governments and healthcare sectors. As pioneers in the world of sustainable development, SITA is always looking for new ways to protect the environment while reducing energy costs, not just for ourselves, but also for our customers.

At SITA IDF it is imperative that vendors not only offer performance and value, but also meet our environmental and sustainable development standards. We ask potential suppliers many searching questions about their sustainable development policies, in terms of equipment energy consumption (both power usage and cooling) and the long-term sustainability of their products and systems: Are the products recyclable? How is product end of life managed? Their answers greatly influence our supplier choice decisions.

Sustainable development is our business; we know how a green business strategy can translate into reduced costs and increased profits. Alcatel-Lucent was selected as the supplier for our local area network (LAN) because their OmniSwitch solution met our performance and value criteria. In addition the Alcatel-Lucent solution consumes 20% less energy than their competitors’ equipment.

Green IT saves power, increases efficiency

As leaders in sustainable development strategies for industry, smart telco solutions that help reduce our carbon footprint are extremely important to us. Our core waste collection and recycling business relies on vehicles. One solution we’re trialing is the use of mobile data applications that enable what we call “geolocalization.” The solution uses mobile data applications that allow drivers to modify their route planning in real time, in response to customer requirements or traffic issues.

Also many of our waste collection agencies are busy at certain times of the day, such as the morning, and less busy at other times of the day. We were impressed by the savings available from Alcatel-Lucent’s Dynamic Power Save (DPS) technology, which puts equipment into power-saving mode when data traffic is light. DPS offers substantial cost savings when traffic is lower and because of the monitoring techniques, power savings are also available during busy times.

Translating eco-declarations into green operating models

Another area of focus for us is extending collaboration and teleworking applications across our business. Our current teleworking trial, particularly for administrative and sales staff, is very successful and looks like it will be extended to other areas of the business. By working smarter, increasing efficiency and reducing travel, we can have a significant impact on our energy bill and carbon footprint.

We are also now trialing convergent technologies which will reduce the number of phone terminals and workstations where an individual employee can be contacted. We plan, in the near future, to move to a “one number” system where people can be reached wherever they are.

Virtual collaboration applications and systems like video conferencing are also being explored to see how they can contribute to energy reduction and higher efficiency. We’re examining Alcatel-Lucent’s Dynamic Enterprise concept to see how we can maximize collaboration and knowledge sharing to increase efficiency over the long term.

Expanding business opportunities

Our experience has acted as a catalyst for some of our partners to start examining how they recycle and how they manage the long-term sustainability of their products. For example: Three years ago we asked a supplier of ours — a leading European distributor of electronic products — to think about how they were going to manage the integration of the new European regulations on electronic waste into their business. Based on our knowledge we were hired as their consultant to look at the issue and develop a strategy: Our supplier became our customer.

Following are some other examples of our work in sustainable development and the benefits that translating eco-sustainability into real-life solutions has offered our customers:

• Volvo Europa Truck NV and Electrabel, a subsidiary of SUEZ, have developed a CO2-free car production facility in Belgium. The site is powered by wind turbines, a biomass power plant and solar panels, enabling Volvo to reduce its CO2 emissions from 14,000 tonnes in 2004 to zero in late 2007.
• Currently only 2% of the waste water produced in the world is reused. SUEZ subsidiary Degrémont has built a factory in Milan for the safe reuse of waste water on crops. The site delivers 4,000 liters of usable waste water per second.
• Managing waste effectively means maximizing materials recovery and improving recycling rates. In France, SITA is engaged with Renault to manage the disposal of vehicles at the end of their life. Our common goal is to achieve a recovery rate of 95% of the materials used in each vehicle by 2015.
• By recovering energy through the incineration of waste, we have provided electricity to nearly 3 million inhabitants and heating to 170,000 households in France. Our sites produced 3,410 Gigawatt hours (GWh) of electricity and 1,090 GWh of heating in 2007.

Sharing lessons learned

We believe we have an educational role in the area of sustainability. Sharing our knowledge about sustainability and the benefits to the bottom line with our customers and clients has increased our business.

Sustainable development is not just good marketing, it’s good business. Return-on-investment (RoI) calculations for plant and equipment must include all hidden costs, such as the energy needed to run the equipment as well as end-of-life recycling costs. Rapid action to stamp out the hidden costs can enhance efficiency and significantly reduce carbon footprint.

We work to integrate sustainable development into our commercial offers. We also strive to help our customers reduce costs, increase profits and meet the energy challenges of today and tomorrow and thereby preserve the environment. At SITA IDF, translating the values of sustainable development into our practices and culture is key to our success.

To contact the author or request additional information, please send an email to enrich.editor@alcatel-lucent.com.