My crew rolls their eyes when I stash old cable, but I stand by it

In my experience, a lot of guys on the job think tossing every bit of removed wiring is the only way to go. They say it speeds things up and avoids clutter. But I always set aside good sections of coaxial or Ethernet from tear-outs in a marked bin. Last Tuesday, I fixed a customer's intermittent signal by using a salvaged ten-foot piece instead of cutting into a new spool. That saved money and kept more plastic out of the dump. Sure, it adds a minute or two to clean and coil the cable, but over a month, I've reused enough to fill a couple of trash bags. Your mileage may vary, but I feel we should try to reduce waste where we can. A little habit like this can help the environment without hurting our efficiency.

3 comments

3 Comments

robin_lee27d ago

Is it really making that much of a difference for the planet though? Feels like one cable out of a dumpster is a drop in the bucket.

tyler626d ago

You ever think about how a bucket gets filled? It's one drop at a time. If everyone says their one cable doesn't matter, then nothing ever changes. That mindset is why the bucket is overflowing in the first place. Doing the right small thing is still better than doing nothing.

amy_adams1321d ago

Honestly, I used to think it was pointless too, but seeing the actual pile of saved cable changed my mind.