Carphone Warehouse 2007 Annual Report Download - page 24

Directive, which aims to minimise the impact of
electrical and electronic goods on the environment,
by increasing re-use and recycling and reducing the
amount of WEEE going to landfill. It seeks to achieve
this by making producers responsible for financing the
collection, treatment, and recovery of waste electrical
equipment, and by obliging distributors to allow
consumers to return their waste equipment free of
charge (“Take-back”).
The Carphone Warehouse Limited and TalkTalk
Telecom Limited are subject to the regulations both as
producers and distributors. The specific obligations are
being rolled out in separate stages; the registration
and labelling requirements commenced in March 2007
and on 1 July 2007 the remainder of the obligations
will come into force, including financing, record-
keeping and Take-back.
Adult content
We take the risks associated with illegal or abusive
content very seriously. In our Distribution business,
we have a code of practice in the UK to apply to all
Carphone Warehouse branded web channels. As well as
clearly classifying content as suitable for adults only, we
include pre-requisites to purchasing, such as only selling
via credit card to ensure that a customer is over 18.
In our growing broadband operations, we have
recently opened a dedicated Abuse Management
bureau in our Stornoway call centre. The bureau is
staffed by trained and vetted individuals and deals
with issues arising from illegal or abusive content on
the TalkTalk network, and any other content that is
alleged to be in breach of our acceptable usage policy.
It liaises directly with the Internet Watch Foundation
(IWF) and, where necessary, the relevant law
enforcement agencies.
In addition, a new platform called StreamShield will
shortly be deployed. This performs upstream filtering
of a list of banned websites as specified by IWF.
Environment
Our stores have a requirement to ensure that all
packaging and store waste is returned to our
warehouses to be recycled and re-used. The UK
monthly buyers’ guide is made from chlorine free
paper and from wood from sustainable forests.
In addition, the Group has made a commitment to
ensure that all cleaning products used in its stores and
at the Support Centre are non-toxic and eco-friendly.
We actively promote non-legislative recycling initiatives
encouraging the recycling of paper, toner cartridges,
batteries and drinks cans.
Handset recycling
In an era of global warming and dwindling natural
resources, we are very concerned with the disposal
of redundant mobile handsets and offer a service to
dispose of old phones responsibly and raise valuable
funds for charity. For every handset received, The
Carphone Warehouse is donating £10 to The CPW
Charity Partnership.
In the last year, 10,000kg of old phones were sent to
The Carphone Warehouse’s recycling centre. When
the phones arrive they are separated into handsets
that can be re-sold and those that need to be recycled
– typically around 10% of the total. No part of the
recycled phone ends up in a landfill site: batteries are
used to repair other handsets, metals are recovered
for re-use and parts with no recovery value are
incinerated to generate power.
Once impurities have been removed, the phone’s
plastics can be ground into a fine powder and fed into
an injection moulder, producing products ranging from
coathangers to garden benches.
Carbon emissions
We have almost completed our far reaching review
of energy and utilities consumption and related
CO2emissions throughout the UK. We are now in
negotiations with carbon offsetting schemes and
alternative fuel providers for the retail distribution fleet,
and we expect to complete agreements before the
end of 2007. We have made considerable moves to
reduce our carbon footprint through a series of energy
efficient measures in both our retail and support
functions, and our retail stores are now amongst the
most innovative and efficient in the sector. A full report,
incorporating emissions measurement and targets, will
be included in next year’s annual report.
Mobile phones and health
Throughout the year we have continued to support the
Government in their research into the effects of mobile
phones on health. Despite the recent conclusion of
their three year investigation, which has found that
mobile phones are unlikely to damage health, we will
continue to support the second phase of research
over the next three years. Additionally, The Carphone
Warehouse continues to provide customers with all of
the information on mobile phones and health concerns
to enable them to make informed decisions. An
independent and extensive health fact sheet is available
in our stores and on our website. We also continue to
list specific absorption rates for every handset in our
Buyers’ Guide every month, and on our website.
Corporate Responsibility continued
The Carphone Warehouse Group PLC Annual Report 2007
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