- Materials
Materials
Every year, we use tons of materials such as paper, cardboard, metals, plastics, wood, etc. for our administrative operations, to maintain and expand our network as well as to operate our vehicle fleet. Materials are similarly used by our many suppliers in the production and packaging of our products for the consumer market. We currently acquire more than 60,000 different products from 5,595 suppliers.
Our material reduction efforts are not tracked or measured at a corporate level. We are currently able to report on our total paper consumption and the quantity of packaging materials used for our consumer market.
CONSUMPTION
Paper
In 2005, our paper consumption increased by 4.8% over 2004 due mainly to the number of new customers for Bell Mobility and Bell ExpressVuTM services.
| Paper consumption (metric tons) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | |
| Bills and billing envelopes | 4,457 | 4,201 | 3,922 |
| Administrative Operations | 1,505 | 1,485 | 1,714 |
| Total | 5,962 | 5,686 | 5,636 |
Bell has made efforts to reduce paper consumption for many years. In 2005, two-sided photocopiers were introduced in parts of the organization and the goal is to install these across all of operations in 2006.
We are also progressing in our efforts to reduce the quantity of paper in our customer billing and to better promote the use of electronic billing.
Product Packaging
Since 2005, we have reported the materials used in the packaging of our consumer products to fulfill new reporting and payment obligations under Ontario's Blue box program. Reporting for 2006 is based on 2004 data, as per regulations.
The materials used in our product packaging include:
| Material Type (metric tons) | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2004* | 2003* | |
| Fibres | 526.4 | 202.1 |
| Metals | 4.8 | 10.6 |
| Plastics | 159.5 | 124.6 |
| Total | 690.7** | 337.4 |
*Includes Bell Distribution, ExpressVuTM and SympaticoTM products in Québec and Ontario
**In 2004, we significantly increased the amount of packaging mainly because of higher sales of Bell-branded products at ExpressVuTM and SympaticoTM.
We have developed a guideline for our suppliers that recommends preferred materials for product packaging and ways to reduce quantities. The promotion of this guideline has been postponed to 2006.
REDUCE AND REUSE
We rigorously apply Reduce and Reuse principles to improve our consumption. Although we currently do not quantify our material requirements, we have many processes in place to directly reduce the amount of new materials required for business.
Our reuse programs reduce both the quantity of residual materials, as well as the purchase of new products. The following products are currently collected for reuse: laser toner cartridges, wood pallets, splicing closures and terminals, central office equipment, electronic boards and other components.
We also collect telephone sets, cellular phones, modems and adaptors for reuse and recycling.
