Greener networking

Reducing energy and packaging waste

Linksys, a division of Cisco, has reduced packaging for its consumer networking products and it has received Energy Star certified ratings on power adapters included with more than 30 of its products.

The packaging changes include: the removal of the ‘sleeve’ (outer packaging that contains all the printing and information about the product). Instead of having a sleeve, Linksys plants to print all the information on the box itself, eliminating the extra material; reduction in the size of the box; all packaging and internal documents are printed on recycled paper and with eco-friendly inks (vegetable and soy); internal packaging is transitioning to recyclable and biodegradable materials made from post-consumer materials including recyclables collected in commercial and residential recycling programs, such as office paper and cardboard; and the use of plastic bags is being eliminated where possible.

The new packaging and materials are claimed to provide more than 40% reduction in waste materials compared to the previous packaging.

Linksys received Energy Star certification and Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS) compliance on more than 30 of its consumer networking products including wired and wireless routers, gateways, game adapters and modems. This means these products meet strict energy efficiency guidelines set by the Environmental Protection Agency, US Department of Energy and Australian state regulations.

The energy consumed by the power adapters has been cut almost in half. For example, a router used 4.6 W and a new router with power adapters is claimed can use as little as 2.6 W.