AT&T said today it will have a tree planted in honor of each customer who opts in to paperless billing – up to 1 million trees in 2010. The program, which will be operated in conjunction with the Arbor Day Foundation, is open to customers of  AT&T residential home phone, AT&T U-verse TV, broadband and wireless customers nationwide.

According to PayItGreen, if a million customers switch to paperless billing, this would help to save 400,000 pounds of paper, avoid 6 million pounds of greenhouse gases, and prevent 4 million gallons of wastewater from discharging into lakes, streams, and rivers in a year. And, according to the EPA, planting 1 million trees can absorb more than 1 million tons of carbon dioxide, can provide oxygen for up to 4 million people to breathe in a day and can forest more than 1,400 acres of land.

AT&T said customers can opt in to paperless billing and activate the tree planting by going online to www.att.com/paperfree and following the instructions. After enrolling, customers can choose to have a tree planted where there is the greatest need — or they can choose between regions of the U.S. that have various needs for reforestation, such as helping provide clean drinking water in California or protecting rare birds in Michigan.

“The trees planted by AT&T will help clean the air and drinking water for millions of Americans, restore habitat for wildlife and restore our nation’s forests for future generations to enjoy,” John Rosenow, chief executive and founder of the Arbor Day Foundation, said in a statement.

AT&T also accepts wireless devices for recycling in all 2,000-plus of its retail locations. Working with customers and other channels, AT&T estimates it will collect roughly 14 million wireless devices for recycling by the end of 2011, which is the equivalent of keeping more than 920 tons of primary materials and more than 13 tons of toxic waste out of landfills.

“We encourage all of our customers to make the switch to paperless billing with us this year,” Philip Bienert, vice president of ATT.COM, said in a statement. “Whether they care about conserving natural resources, supporting reforestation, enjoying the convenience of reducing the amount of mail they receive each month – or all of these things – we’re offering them a simple way to make a difference with just a few clicks of the mouse or taps of the smartphone.”

AT&T today announced it will switch to more eco-friendly packaging for its wireless device accessories and the company will require manufacturers of its mobile phones to reduce the environmental impact of future handsets.

The Dallas-based company said it estimates that the packaging improvements for device chargers, cases, batteries and data cables will help to avoid more than 200 tons of wasted plastic and paper in 2010.

AT&T will work with its suppliers of mobile phone accessories to use less plastic and paper in packaging. Batteries and data cables will come in recyclable paper boxes rather than plastic “clam shell”-style packaging . The packaging for protective phone cases and car chargers will change to slimmer packaging. The changes will eliminate more than 60 percent of the paper and more than 30 percent of the plastic previously used for accessory products, AT&T said.

In addition to containing less paper and plastic, the improved accessory packaging will be printed using non-petroleum-based inks.

“These improvements are sound business decisions, but more importantly, they significantly reduce the impact of this packaging on the environment,” Jeff Bradley, senior vice president of devices, said in a statement. “This is a small but meaningful next step that AT&T decided to take, and we are pleased to deliver new packaging alternatives that are recycled, can be recycled, and generate less waste.”

In 2009, AT&T introduced environmental requirements and goals for the manufacturing of wireless devices. Those requirements begin to take effect for new wireless phones this year and must be fully met by the end of 2011. These include:

• AT&T’s suppliers must reduce packaging, use non-petroleum based inks and use recycled materials for in-box documentation of new devices.
• Seventy-five percent of new devices will be at least 65 percent recyclable. By weight, most of the new phones AT&T sells will be made of materials that can be recycled when the phones are retired.
• A majority of new devices will comply with the GSMA Universal Charging Solution. This change will allow consumers to use a single, more energy-efficient charger with most new devices.
• All new devices must comply with the European Unions’ Restriction of Hazardous Substances mandate. This directive restricts the use of lead, mercury, and other hazardous materials used in electronic equipment.
• Suppliers will be required to assert that all devices delivered to AT&T have avoided virgin materials mined in conflict zones within the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

You can get information about how to recycle with AT&T at www.att.com/recycle.

NEW: Search the GREEN BUSINESS DIRECTORY for local eco-friendly businesses

AT&T headquarters in Dallas

From Green Right Now Reports

AT&T today announced it has appointed John Schinter as the company’s first director of energy. Schinter, who has 25 years’ experience in environmental sustainability and integrated energy services, will oversee AT&T’s company-wide energy management efforts across all energy-consuming business units and will drive comprehensive programs to reduce energy consumption and direct AT&T’s energy purchasing strategies.

“We know that responsible energy management and improved efficiencies can positively impact both the environment and our bottom line,” Mark Schleyer, senior vice president of corporate real estate for AT&T Operations, Inc., said in a statement. “Through the appointment of John Schinter, we are reorganizing the way AT&T optimizes our energy use, while maintaining — and improving — the quality, reliability and competitiveness of our services.”

Schinter, who will join AT&T’s Corporate Real Estate Property Management team, will help accelerate the Dallas-based company’s efforts to manage company-wide, fixed-energy consumption, including data centers, central office equipment and AT&T facilities.

AT&T said it has already taken a number of steps to reduce energy consumption over the past year. These include:

• Establishing an Energy Council comprised of key executives from every AT&T business unit that directly consumes energy in its operations or that designs, develops or specifies energy-consuming equipment.
• Setting a goal to reduce electricity usage intensity (relative to data growth on the AT&T network) by 15 percent compared to 2008 levels.
• Installing 1E’s NightWatchman energy-saving software on 310,000 AT&T desktop computers. The company estimates this will save an estimated 135 million kWh of electricity and 123,941 tons of carbon emissions per year, according to 1E. This is equivalent to the electricity required to power 14,892 homes.
• Exploring alternative energy sources, such as using wind power for 10 percent of the electricity for  AT&T’s facilities in Austin, Texas. AT&T also installed a 1 megawatt solar power system on its facility in San Ramon, Calif. The 3,700 solar panels will generate more than 1.6 million kilowatt hours of electricity per year and reduce the building’s normal power consumption by more than 4,300 kilowatt hours per day.

Prior to joining AT&T, Schinter worked with several Fortune 500 companies to reduce their energy consumption. Most recently, he served as the President of Global Energy and Sustainability for Jones Lang & LaSalle (JLL) Global Commercial Real Estate Services, where he directed award-winning energy efficiency programs for several well-known companies. Schinter previously worked with Exelon, where he led a major expansion of downtown Chicago’s cooling system, and at Duke Energy, where he crafted energy solutions for some of the world’s largest companies.

If it feels like you are finding a new phonebook on your door step every week and yet, you can’t remember the last time you opened one to get a number, listen up. The industry may be walking away, albeit in baby steps, from its paper-wasting ways.

These days there are multiple ways to get a phone number without having to thumb through a directory. With sites like www.yellowpages.com and www.superpages.com many people are turning away from print phone books and using online versions. There are even free phonebook applications for phones such as the iPhone and Blackberrys.

This is a trend that even phonebook providers are waking up to. On August 13, the Yellow Pages Association and the Association of Directory Publishers launched a national opt-out program. “Yellowpagesoptout.com makes it simple for consumers to find information about managing home delivery of print directories,” said Neg Norton, president, Yellow Pages Association.

It is simple. Go to www.yellowpagesoptout.com to enter your zip code. The site pulls up the list of providers for your area. Some publishers have direct links to stop delivery, while others require that you call them. This allows users to lower the number of phonebooks they receive yearly or simple stop all print delivery.

You’ll still be able to get “the yellow pages”.

“Our local data is available in a number of ways, including print phone books, Internet Yellow Pages, Google, and Yahoo! Local, for example.” Norton said. “Whatever way consumers choose to find a local business, chances are the last mile of the search was supported by Yellow Pages – whether the consumer knows it or not.”

There are areas that are testing out a Yellow Pages-only pilot program. A hardcopy of the yellow pages would be distributed to consumers, with a cd-rom of the white pages. Consumers would still be able to request to receive a hardcopy of the white pages if they preferred. ”In areas where the Yellow Pages-only delivery has been tried, an average of 1 percent of subscribers requested paper copies of the White Pages,” said Don Sadler, AT&T Spokesman. AT&T Florida is getting on board with the program this fall in four of their major markets: West Palm Beach, Jacksonville, Orlando, and Miami.

And if you do prefer print versions to virtual phonebooks, you will be pleased to know that the print versions are becoming more eco-friendly. The paper used contains 40% recycled content, while the other 60% is a byproduct of sawmills.

If you don’t recycle your old phonebooks, they are either gathering dust on your desk or taking up space in area landfills, neither of which are desirable.

Need help figuring out where and how to recycle? The Yellow Pages site has tips.

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

There’s a nice symmetry to this green trend that’s taken root among financial institutions. Aware that their paper-spewing tendencies carry a high carbon price (not to mention their actual price), many banks and credit companies are planting trees for customers who agree to forgo paper statements.

The latest to announce such a tree-planting project is the Kinecta Federal Credit Union in Manhattan Beach, Calif. Kinecta will make a donation to plant a tree in the Brazilian Rain Forest for every customer who converts to electronic statements between now and Sept. 30.

“Our intention is not only to show our commitment to being a green organization, but also to motivate our members to consider the positive global impact even the smallest decision can have,” said Shannon Doiron, Director of Marketing & eCommerce in a news release. “Collectively, credit union members can make a tremendous difference simply by opting out of paper statements.”

The LA-area credit union hopes to plant 1,000 trees through the Nature Conservancy, which will put the plan into action.

Electronic statements save banks money — an estimated $12 to $17 annually per customer, according to the Arbor Day Foundation, which partners with institutions to handle the tree plantings.

And that savings can benefit customers, especially when credit unions or member-owned investment groups are involved. (Kinecta has 225,000 members to whom the savings can accrue.)

As important to environmentalists, and increasingly so to businesses, reeling in the paper trail can significantly reduce the company’s carbon footprint. Trees help clean the air and save habitat for wildlife, stacking up positive points for a company inventorying its environmental impact; by contrast, paper statements are resource intensive.

Other financial and retail organizations that have planted trees to encourage paperless statements include:

• Bank of America, Sovereign Bank, AT&T, T Mobile, Mary Kay and Allstate have all partnered with the Arbor Day Foundation at various times in the past two years during paperless promotions that reward customers with tree plantings.
• HSBC in the United Kingdom created an online virtual forest to depict the real tree planting going on as customers moved online, though their initial proposition was not one-for-one — the going gold standard today.
• Bank of New York Mellon, Bank of America and Allstate have partnered with the Nature Conservancy to plant trees in exchange for customers going paperless.