For Earth Day, we reflect on our commitment to continuously improving how we do things at Technetix. Central to our operations and product design process is reducing negative impacts on the environment. We strive to make rigorous ‘upstream’ choices within our supply chain. We also cultivate a ‘cradle to grave’ mindset to design the best possible products for our customers as well.

There’s always more to do, but we take our role as responsible global broadband vendors seriously. Part of this responsibility is supporting others to do the same. We share three behaviors we’ve adopted within our operations to help do our part in doing right by our planet.

Product Lifecycle Assessments

It’s impossible to make effectual decisions if you aren’t clear about what needs to change. Reducing environmental impact starts with understanding it.

We apply carbon foot printing and product lifecycle assessments (LCA) across key Technetix products. This helps us identify where emissions really sit across the value chain. LCAs are a critical tool for getting information about what we can change to make the biggest differences.

The data enables us to strengthen our Scope 3 emissions reporting accuracy, at the same time as informing eco‑design.

But datasets should be interrogated: different assumptions can produce very different carbon footprints for the same product.

To challenge industry-standard datasets, Tunley Environmental works with us to gain high-quality insights using primary supplier data. This produces significantly more useful results and provides credibility for improved transparency, confidence, and comparability in product-level data.

Cut waste: not performance

Operational efficiency is one of the most powerful ways to reduce environmental impact. Excellent product design is vital.

However, efficiency isn’t all about cutting emissions through lowering energy use. It includes products that:

• use less material
• are robust to minimize replacements
• are operational for longer periods of time
• work in smarter ways

Our XFO faceplate-only multitap upgrade is a great example of our smart engineering. In response to wastage-heavy rip-out-and-replace HFC network modernization processes, the XFO enables targeted 1.8 GHz upgrades using existing housings. This faceplate-only retrofit approach offers several benefits:

• avoids unnecessary aluminum waste
• reduces installation time
• reduces emissions
• extends existing asset lifespan
• supports uninterrupted subscriber service during upgrade works

We’ve been able to quanitfy the impact of the XFO through our LCA process. Compared to 3.12 kg CO₂e per unit in full tap replacements, XFO delivers ~32% reduction in cradle-to-gate CO₂e. Aluminum has been identified as a key carbon hotspot and reduction opportunity.

Plastic reduction starts upstream

Perhaps one of those most visible environmental challenges within supply chains is plastic pollution. It’s possibly the most preventable as well.

Reducing single-use plastic (SUP) has been a priority action areas for a while at Technetix. We began data collection on plastic removal in 2020. Last year (2025), our total-to-date exceeded 40 metric tons of plastic from Technetix packaging. Furthermore, our packaging specifications now prohibit SUP.

This kind of upstream packaging reduction happens through careful material selection, volume reduction, and design optimization. Consistent, evidence-based changes are one of the most effective methods of cutting plastic waste and associated environmental impacts. These include carbon emissions and leakage into ecosystems.

As we mark Earth Day 2026, we commit to driving improvement up and down the value chain. Behaviors like the ones here remain central to how we operate at Technetix. They guide us to reduce impact while delivering reliable, future-ready broadband solutions.

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Author: Anna Burns, Group Operational Excellence & Sustainability Director

Anna leads Technetix’ global sustainability effort, and chairs the company’s cross-departmental Sustainability Committee. When she’s not analyzing emissions data, she’s a talented ceramicist (which she keeps under wraps) and intrepid traveler.