Life cycle considerations about optic fibre cable and copper cable systems: a case study

Optic fibre cable and copper cable are important media for data transfer, the latter especially for shorter distances. However, the environmental implications of this facility are rarely looked at. The present paper investigates and discusses the life cycle of a cat5e copper cable and that of a 4-core multimode optic fibre cable. It shows that the difference in the environmental impact depends on the type of end-of-life treatment and that there is no clear advantage to either type of cable. Moreover, the question is raised if providing the infrastructure for internet access will have a higher impact than the mode of data transmission.