[128837] in North American Network Operators' Group
Re: Recycling old cabling?
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Jeffrey Lyon)
Wed Aug 18 02:05:38 2010
In-Reply-To: <20100817220849.68E39692@resin07.mta.everyone.net>
Date: Wed, 18 Aug 2010 10:35:30 +0430
From: Jeffrey Lyon <jeffrey.lyon@blacklotus.net>
To: nanog@nanog.org
Errors-To: nanog-bounces+nanog.discuss=bloom-picayune.mit.edu@nanog.org
I know of a guy that was terminated for "stealing" CAT5 that he was
instructed to throw in the dumpster.
Jeff
On Wed, Aug 18, 2010 at 9:38 AM, Frank A. Coluccio <frank@fttx.org> wrote:
> =A0 All of the larger telcos and power utilities have been 're-smelting'
> =A0 copper for decades. Verizon (nee NY Telephone) had a copper smelting
> =A0 plant on Staten Island at one time that recycled all of the used
> =A0 cross-connect wire and cables removed from underground and poles. Tel=
co
> =A0 main distribution frame personnel were, and very likely still are,
> =A0 instructed to use "copper-scrap" bags for depositing small bits and
> =A0 pieces of copper wiring collected at cleanup time at the end of work
> =A0 shifts. Many years ago, copper, for this reason, was one of the three
> =A0 "C"'s that no one would mess with. Copper and Cash were two.I'll leav=
e
> =A0 the third one to the reader's imagination.
> =A0 This subject is interesting because it's one of the cost-justifiers i=
n
> =A0 business models that seek to re-engineer large office buildings and
> =A0 other copper-intensive venues where the objective is to replace all
> =A0 copper wiring with hybrid fiber-wireless alternatives. While
> =A0 reclamation through salvage is only a by-product of this movement, it
> =A0 is nonetheless one that is cash intensive, so it cannot be overlooked=
.
> =A0 Not only is the copper data cabling removed (Cat3/5e/6, in this case)=
,
> =A0 but also potentially tons of power cables and racks supporting
> =A0 sometimes hundreds of riser telecom/LAN closets, where there are
> =A0 usually anywhere from two to four closets per floor, depending on the
> =A0 size of the floor plate, in a forty- or sixty-story building, say.
> =A0 Every copper penny helps these days.
> =A0 --- streiner@cluebyfour.org wrote:
> =A0 From: "Justin M. Streiner" <streiner@cluebyfour.org>
> =A0 To: nanog@nanog.org
> =A0 Subject: Recycling old cabling?
> =A0 Date: Tue, 17 Aug 2010 07:29:50 -0400 (EDT)
> =A0 Just out of curiosity, is anyone here recycling old cabling and plant
> =A0 infrastructure for their raw materials, or engaging a recycler to
> =A0 handle
> =A0 those materials? =A0Where I work, there is almost always a renovation
> =A0 project going on. =A0This provides opportunities to rip out
> =A0 Cat3/Cat5/long-abandoned thicknet/thinnet/FDDI-grade fiber/etc, which
> =A0 we
> =A0 normally do. =A0Most of the time that old cabling ends up in the
> =A0 dumpster,
> =A0 but I'm wondering if anyone is recycling it, either by their choice, =
or
> =A0 as
> =A0 the result of company policy or relevant laws in your area?
> =A0 Cat3/Cat5 can be broken down to raw materials with some effort, but I
> =A0 haven't seen many recyclers with an economically viable process for
> =A0 doing
> =A0 it. =A0Coax is a bit tougher, but not impossible (same questions abou=
t
> =A0 economic viability still apply). =A0Fiber can be tough, expecially if
> =A0 you're
> =A0 dealing with something like 20+ year old gel-buffered cable where the
> =A0 has
> =A0 long-since dried out.
> =A0 I'd be interested to hear other peoples' experiences along these line=
s.
> =A0 jms
>
--=20
Jeffrey Lyon, Leadership Team
jeffrey.lyon@blacklotus.net | http://www.blacklotus.net
Black Lotus Communications of The IRC Company, Inc.
Follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ddosprotection to find out
about news, promotions, and (gasp!) system outages which are updated
in real time.
Platinum sponsor of HostingCon 2010. Come to Austin, TX on July 19 -
21 to find out how to "protect your booty."
