Virgin Media O2 Avoid 5,262 Tonnes of UK CO2e Emissions by Recycling Network Kit
Broadband and mobile giant Virgin Media and O2 is estimated to have saved 5,262 tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions over the last 10 years thanks to its partnership with TXO, which specialises in helping the network operator to recycle their old network equipment so that it can be returned to and sourced through the secondary market.
The data shows that the largest share, 4,575 tonnes of CO₂e, was achieved by refurbishing recovered network assets such as switches, routers, and line cards, and returning them to the telecoms market. The remaining 687 tonnes came from Virgin Media O2 sourcing replacement equipment through the secondary market rather than buying new.
The long-term programme to recover, refurbish, resell and responsibly recycle network equipment (end-of-life kit) meant that 690 tonnes worth was also diverted from landfill through responsible recycling, putting valuable metals back into UK resources. This is said to be equivalent to the weight of around 50 double-decker buses.
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This includes cable, power packs, routers, switches and processor boards, with extracted steel, aluminium and copper accounting for almost 60% of the total recycled weight. By recovering and processing assets in the UK, including at its South Wales facility, TXO said they’re also helping to “keep more material value within the domestic economy“.
Paul Franey, Head of Reverse Logistics at VMO2, said:
“We want to extend the life of our network hardware so it can be reused, given a second life or disposed of sustainably. That’s why Virgin Media O2’s long-standing partnership with TXO plays an important role in our supply chain strategy, helping us maintain network equipment through testing, repair and refurbishment wherever possible.
The results of this programme demonstrate how a more circular approach to technology can benefit both the business and the environment.”
Other UK network operators, such as the BT Group (Openreach), also work with TXO.
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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Reminds me of when I moved house, only one street away and still on the same cabinet.
The new house was already cabled for Virgin, so I took my hub with me on moving day and it all worked just fine.
Rang VM to update my address and they insisted I had to pay a house move fee, and that they had to send me a new hub. I argued my way out of the fee but they still sent me a new hub anyway, exactly the same version, and I had to return the “old” fully working one.
The return “packaging” was a plastic bag.
It all felt a bit daft.
Old rubbish, no WiFi 7, no modern router . Hub 5 and Hub 5X are obsolete rubbish. Cannot even put your own router unless using Bridge mode. Charge arm and an leg for Broadband but so stingy as not upgrading router for many years now.
Imagine how many emissions ISPs could avoid by offering a modem- or ONT-only service instead of foisting a disposable all-in-one router on every customer, especially those who already have vastly better network equipment.
Avoiding unnecessary hardware in the first place would be greener than manufacturing, shipping, powering, retrieving and eventually recycling it. Unfortunately, “we didn’t create the waste” makes for a rather less impressive ESG press release, doesn’t it?
Very little, because the overwhelming majority of users use the equipment that they are given. People such as yourself, and many of the people who would post on this website, are very much a small niche.
“Better equipment” could be up for debate, given the bugs and issues present on the favoured third party brands.
In Virgin’s case, on the HFC side anyway, they’d actually generate more future e-waste by following your approach.
Methinks the emphasis on *offering* is rather important. I didn’t suggest depriving the “overwhelming majority” of ISP-supplied equipment if they want it. The point is to give customers who already own suitable network equipment the choice to decline whatever redundant hardware their connection doesn’t require.
“Third-party brands have bugs” is not a meaningful general rebuttal either. Independently purchased equipment ranges from cheap consumer rubbish to actively maintained prosumer and enterprise-grade hardware. Nor is ISP-supplied equipment categorically free of bugs, security problems or poor support. Indeed, it is often locked down, leaving customers dependent upon the ISP’s maintenance and replacement schedule and with considerably less transparency or control over security updates. The competence of the customer and the quality and ongoing support of the particular equipment are fundamentally what matter.
I also didn’t propose that every ISP manufacture an additional modem-only product. Different access technologies require different termination equipment. The general principle should simply be to supply only what is technically necessary and let competent customers decline redundant routing and Wi-Fi hardware wherever possible. Customers don’t benefit from having unwanted equipment foisted upon them, its cost rolled into their subscription and then marketed as a beneficial “service”.
If you believe offering that choice would create more e-waste, explain the lifecycle mechanism. A Virgin-specific assertion about HFC might address Virgin’s HFC service, but it doesn’t establish that forcing unnecessary all-in-one equipment upon every customer is environmentally preferable across ISPs generally.
Most customers retaining the default and a minority opting out are entirely compatible. Reduce unnecessary hardware first, reuse what remains and recycle what cannot be reused. Recycling alone doesn’t make avoidable production the most ethical or preferable option.
There is no environmental justification for forcing redundant hardware upon customers who neither need nor want it. Hardware can last for many years. Modular hardware is even better because you just replace the hardware that needs replacing.
So no, there’s no incidence of this generating ‘more future e-waste’. The failure to offer customers choice, while celebrating ‘recycling targets’ is sheer greenwashing.
I have used both the “prosumer” and “enterprise” stuff, and have worked for an “enterprise” vendor. I know of what I speak.
The article is about Virgin Media, so my reply was in reference to Virgin Media. An HFC modem-only offering (if it was a device other than the router they already supply, which can be put into modem mode) would create more e-waste.
I will add a new point – major ISPs do not want the support hassle that comes from having to troubleshoot shoddy third party equipment or the many ways in which users (who often over-estimate their skills) can screw it up even more. Far easier to ensure that the customer has a tried, tested and trusted box of known quantity which can be factory reset to known defaults.
Look at this website’s own forum for examples of both instances. A lot of “boy crying wolf” over reduced speeds where it turns out that its their own equipment that is causing the problem. Somehow a PC can’t shift packets as quickly as the “consumer” box that cost a fraction of the price, lol.
And that is why no major ISP does what you want. You have the option of paying more with a smaller ISP if you are desperate to have an “official” BYOD product.
When I left VM January last year, they didn’t bother to ask (self addressed box?) for their Superhub 2ac back. It may be old but there must be some value to the components. Either way it’s their property to dispose of properly.
EE/BT are also very good at promoting recycling of their kit. But Vodafone – bad, bad, bad Vodafone! It says on their goodbye email that you can generate a shipping label on their website. On the website, it says you can take the kit to their retail store and they’ll take it. In the store, they say they don’t deal with this at all, and all they can advise is that you should take your kit to the coup yourself.