The Daily Green Tip

It may not be intuitive, but voice mail uses less energy, and results in less hazardous waste than answering machines.

Similar to the way that power plants result in less pollution than everyone running their own fossil fuel-based generators (or using electric cars versus gas-powered ones), centralizing voice mail into large servers requires less electricity than everyone using their own dedicated machines, which must be on 24/7. If all answering machines currently used in U.S. homes were replaced by voice mail, the annual energy savings would be nearly 2 billion kilowatt-hours, equivalent to taking 250,000 cars off the road, reports The Green Book.

When answering machines break, become outdated or are no longer needed, they become part of the growing glut of so-called e-waste. Most e-waste (computers, cell phones, fax machines, TVs and so on) is not recycled, and is responsible for 70 percent of the toxic heavy metals leaking from landfills, according to the EPA. Plastic breakdown products and flame retardants are also commonly found in e-waste, and can contaminate soil and water.

Using voice mail doesn't totally solve the problem, but it cuts down on e-waste, and makes it easier to recycle the equipment that is needed by centralizing it.

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