Retrosoftware's Green Efforts

Being green seems to be an enviable business position. Is Retrosoftware just jumping on the bandwagon with everyone else? You be the judge.

Since we started our business in 1998 we have been doing our part to respect the environment. The greatest green contribution we make is through recycling. In 2009, we estimate we will recycle:

• 2 tons of paper which will result in a savings of 14,000 gallons of water, 62 trees, and 8,000 KWh of electricity. In addition, recycling paper uses about 60% less energy than making paper from new materials. That is a 60% reduction of air pollutants including carbon dioxide.*
• 900 pounds of plastic (diskettes, CDs, CD cases, etc.) which keeps 1,800 to 2,700 pounds of greenhouse gasses from entering the environment. Recycling plastic uses roughly 10% of the energy needed to make plastic from new materials which nets a 90% reduction in pollutants!*

*Source: Department of Energy

While recycling is our most significant green effort (but least preferred), we take several smaller steps that help contribute to a greener planet. Please read on.

 

 Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

The main pillars of the Green movement are to reduce, reuse and recycle. What does this mean? In simple terms, reduce what we consume, reuse what has already been produced, and recycle what is no longer useful. Retrosoftware adheres to these basic guidelines in the following ways:

 

Pillar 1: Reduce

According to a recent study, shopping online with stores, such as Retrosoftware, helps reduce when compared to   traditional shopping. The study suggests eCommerce generates 36% less air pollutants, requires 16% less energy and generates 23% less hazardous waste than traditional shopping. Approximately 65% of total emissions generated by traditional shopping come from driving to and from the store.

Retrosoftware reduces the use of paper. For example, most customers do not need invoices, so we do not include this unnecessary paper in our outgoing shipments. If an invoice is needed, a .pdf invoice file is emailed to our customer. We also utilize the reverse side of a printed page for inter-office printing needs. When the sheet is no longer needed, it gets recycled. We rely heavily on electronic forms of communication and use paper only when necessary.

Retrosoftware reduces the amount of energy consumed from normal business activities. Compact fluorescent lights (CFL's) have been placed in all lighting fixtures, computer equipment and printers are turned off or put in sleep mode when not in use, and all doors and windows are insulated to reduce energy needed for heating and cooling.

 

Pillar 2: Reuse

Much of the retro-software found in our catalog is used (prior installation). We collect this still useful software, from various sources, and make it available for reuse through our online catalog. Due to legal issues transferring used software licenses, Retrosoftware offers a safe place to buy genuine, legally transferred software to another end re-user.

Retrosoftware reuses clean packing materials, such as bubble wrap, packing peanuts, Styrofoam, and shipping boxes (so please forgive us if the box you receive seems to have been written on more than once). The reuse of these shipping materials not only makes good business sense, but also keeps them out of the recycle bins, or worse, landfills for at least one more cycle.

Retrosoftware donates unwanted, but still useful software to charitable, non-profit organizations for reuse. Due to the rapid advance of technology, some old version software becomes nearly obsolete to main stream users. But there are non-profits that provide older computer technology to people with disabilities, students at risk, and economically disadvantaged people across the United States, Canada, and around the globe.

 

Pillar 3: Recycle

Retrosoftware recycles all software that can not be legally transferred to a new end user or donated to charity. As anyone who has used software knows, there are many different components to a software package. Disks, manuals, paper inserts, glossy advertisements, packaging material, etc. Recycling this software has two unique steps, recycling the paper and recycling the plastic.

Retrosoftware is a Michigan company and we recycle all paper products through a local Michigan paper recycler, Paper Dragon Recycling. The paper products include manuals, inserts, CD sleeves, packaging boxes, etc. We estimate we will recycle 2 tons of paper this year.

The media or disks need special attention. All software disks contain information which is, in legal terms, the property of the software publisher. In order to legally, safely, and responsibly dispose of this information, Retrosoftware uses GreenDisk, a company founded to solve this very problem. What they do is take used electronic media and degauss (magnetically erase) it, and then either refurbish it (here we go with more reuse!) or recycle it if it is at the end of its usable life. Then, they send a certificate of destruction authenticating that this process has taken place.

 

Back to the original question: Is Retrosoftware just jumping on the bandwagon or really a green company? We still would like you to decide. We do, however, take many small steps to do what we can for the environment and try and keep as much software-related material that comes through our door out of the landfills. In our small way, Retrosoftware is helping to reduce by reuse and what can't be reused gets recycled.

 

Green Resources