The telecoms operator Orange will accelerate the recycling of smartphones during the transition to 5G, its CEO promised on Saturday, in order to reduce the energy footprint of digital technology, which also involves the supervision of the sale of laptops, judge for its part the regulator.
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"
We have installed recycling points in all 600 Orange stores and we intend to use the arrival of 5G, which will lead to a certain gradual renewal of terminals (smartphones, Editor's note) (...), to very strongly increase ambition in terms of recycling,
”explained Orange number one, Stéphane Richard, interviewed on France Inter.
"
If ideally we could recycle at least one terminal out of two or even three out of four terminals at the time of the change to 5G, the results would obviously be significantly improved,
" he added.
Regulate the environmental footprint
Initially scheduled for April but postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, the start of the main auction for the allocation of 5G frequencies, which is expected to bring in several billion euros to the state, will begin on September 29.
By offering a considerable increase in speeds, the future 5G network should allow the development of new consumer and industrial uses.
But the technology is encountering hostility from part of public opinion and several local politicians or NGOs, who cite risks to health or the environment.
Also questioned by France Inter, Sébastien Soriano, president of Arcep, the telecommunications regulatory authority, said he was “
powerless
” to regulate the environmental footprint of 5G.
"
We do not have an instrument that allows us to regulate, to set up safeguards, constraints, to ensure that there is environmental control in 5G
", he declared during the meeting. 'a report broadcast by public radio.
“
Today about 80% of the digital environmental footprint, according to a recent Senate report, is in terminals,
” he said.
"
The top priority is to better regulate the way in which smartphones are supplied to customers, the way in which they are encouraged to renew their smartphones, whether through commercial practices that give discounts or whether through software obsolescence.
", he added.
"
We are pushing the market to fit within a reasonable environmental envelope
," said Mr. Soriano.
“
Is there any planned obsolescence?
We all know very well
", reacted Mr. Richard, assuring that Orange is trying to tackle it"
with our means, that is to say recycling
".
