Environmental Leader

CSC, a global IT services provider, has taken steps over the past year to ensure a sustainable environment by focusing on programs such as energy reduction, waste management, and IT equipment reuse and recycling, according to the firm’s annual corporate responsibility report (PDF).

CSC is committed to reducing overall facility energy use by 30 percent (per 2008 cost baselines), according to the 2009 report. The company has implemented several measures to reduce energy consumption including the use of power savers that has reduced electricity consumption by 11 percent.

All of its UK sites, including data centers, are now using cogeneration — combined heat and power systems, which the company is evaluating for use globally.

The IT services provider is also working to reduce emissions from IT equipment and facilities, such as servers and data centers, that it uses to support customers. CSC UK is reducing carbon emissions by 20 percent over 3 years, against a baseline of 2007. CSC Australia’s target for 2010 is to reduce its per-person CO2-equivalent emissions by 25 percent from 2007 levels.

To further reduce emissions, the company is evaluating business travel, company-owned vehicles, indirect offsite combustion of fuels (procured resources, electricity, materials and employee commuting), upstream emissions caused by suppliers, downstream emissions created by an organization’s products or activities during their life cycle, IT servers for internal business operations and electricity consumption at CSC offices.

As an example, over the past year, CSC has deployed life-sized, high-definition videoconferencing technology at 17 key locations globally, with further deployments planned through 2009.

CSC also has a longstanding recycling program in place to separate and process electronic recyclables from general landfill waste. Many of CSC’s global IT disposal companies are fully certified to ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001, according to the report.

In addition, the company is using document recycling bins, which has saved approximately 3,500 trees annually, and is partnering with third-party recyclers to recycle/dispose of its old IT assets.

As an example, in North America, CSC computers, monitors and hard drives are sent to Intechra’s “Big Blue,” a two-story recycling machine that shreds and then separates materials into ferrous (iron) metals, nonferrous metals, plastics, steel and leaded glass, which are then sent to smelters or extruders. More than 34 tons of copper cable have been recycled.

In Europe, CSC EMEA complies with the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Regulations 2006 (as amended), as all IT equipment and peripherals are refurbished and resold or recycled under its disposal contract.

CSC also has implemented “green” supply chain management standards. Each of its new suppliers are evaluated under its Corporate Environmental and Health Management Department, while existing suppliers undergo regular audits to confirm ongoing compliance, according to the report.

The company was named one of the top green outsourcing vendors in 2009.