Switch. Replacing your answering machine with a voicemail service can save energy. Besides, an extra technological appliance on your kitchen counter or desk is not very design-savvy.

A study done in Germany by the Wuppertal Institute regarding answering machines versus voicemail revealed that “telephone answering machines use electricity 24/7 and can consume up to 100 kWh per year,” according to green your answering service by Green Living Tips. “By replacing all the estimated 18 million conventional answering machines with voicemail, it could save around 788 GWh per year and 600,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions in Germany alone.”

Alongside saving energy by switching to the 21st century voicemail service, in doing so “results in less hazardous waste,” according to use voice mail instead of answering machines by The Daily Green.

The “e-waste” group, which includes answering machines, fax machines, televisions, computers and so on, when not recycled, “is responsible for 70 percent of the toxic heavy metals leaking from landfills, according to the EPA,” as stated in The Daily Green article.

Going green can be as easy as recycling an answering machine—who knew.