
I make
heating
oil
out of
plastic
waste
IT entrepreneur Günther Bonin on his maritime waste collection
New ways to combat plastic waste in the oceans
Researchers forecast that there will be more pieces of plastic in our oceans than fish by the year 2050. Over time, the plastic disintegrates into tiny micro particles that end up in our bodies through food. Munich-based IT entrepreneur and enthusiastic sailor Günther Bonin gave up his old life and founded the organization One Earth – One Ocean. His goal: Maritime waste collection that picks up plastic from the ocean. His vision: To turn plastic into fuel for ships in the medium term. 
We mustn’t forget that plastic is just one element of a much bigger problem
Birgit Klesper, Senior Vice President, Group Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability at Deutsche Telekom until the end of 2021, in an interview on resource conservation and circular economy
Ms. Klesper, plastic is poisoning the oceans – is it time for a rethink?
Can you explain that in more detail?
What exactly is meant by a “circular economy”?
You want to see responsible management of resources – what are the best ways of achieving this?
But data needs to be stored somewhere, even in the cloud.
What else is Deutsche Telekom doing in terms of conserving resources?
We have made environmental protection part of the program
Whether in our company or with our suppliers and customers, we aim to boost the responsible handling of resources at all levels of our value chain. To this end, we are reducing resource consumption in our company, cutting waste, and ensuring proper disposal and recycling. We work closely with our suppliers to make our products more environmentally friendly. We are cutting down on packaging and help our customers reduce their own environmental footprint with our sustainable products and solutions. We make sustainability benefits transparent using our #GoodMagenta and #GreenMagenta labels. We take used devices back and ensure they are reused or properly recycled. Our networks enable sharing platforms. In addition to this, we are notably promoting resource conservation by virtualizing our products.
SDG 12 – conserving resources
With our comprehensive “#GreenMagenta Program” we are contributing towards the 12th sustainable development goal of the United Nations.
Our “#GreenMagenta Program”
Whether in our products and networks, in our buildings and shops, or in relation to mobility, our „#GreenMagenta Program“ further expands our commitment to climate and environmental protection and implements resource conservation measures. For example, as part of our “PLASMA” project in Germany, we have implemented more than 160 measures and reduced our electricity consumption since it was launched in 2018.
We have now reached our project goal and save around 274 GWh annually. This corresponds to the annual consumption of around 68 000 four-person households. In addition, we are switching the product packaging to sustainable alternatives: As of mid-2022, all new Deutsche-Telekom-branded products introduced to the European market are to be sustainably packaged. And there is also change for devices from other manufacturers: in 2021, more than two thirds of all smartphones sold by Deutsche Telekom in the EU were already sustainably packaged. We also aim to use sustainable packaging for third-party smartphones in Europe by the end of 2022. Another example of the measures implemented under our “#GreenMagenta Program” is the operation of rapid charging stations for electric vehicles through our subsidiary Comfort Charge. This has achieved a reduction in CO2 emissions of 548 metric tons, which is the equivalent of the CO2 emissions produced by a passenger car on a journey of about three million kilometers. Within the Group, we are using more efficient vehicles and are increasingly opting for alternative drive systems such as electric and natural gas. This approach has enabled us to cut our fleet’s CO2 emissions in Germany by over 65 percent since 2008. You can read more about sustainable mobility here.
More efficient networks for data transmission
As part of our “PLASMA” project, we are replacing the rectifier systems in our central offices with more energy-efficient ones. This saves us around 274 GWh a year – equivalent to the annual consumption of around 68 000 four-person households.
Less is more
One example of resource conservation in our products is the Speedport Smart 4 router. Some 95 percent of its housing is made of recycled plastic. To protect it during transport, we use PaperFoam – a material made of industrial starch, cellulose fibers, and water that can be disposed of with paper waste or composted.
A cloud that conserves resources
With cloud computing, our customers no longer need to be bothered with their own servers and storage media. Cloud computing is more resource and energy-efficient than running your own infrastructure outside of the cloud. Our data centers require up to 80 percent less energy thanks to more effective capacity utilization and less hardware.70
We save up to 70 metric tons of paper a year thanks to custom-fit boxes for our products.
Technology in a made-to-measure suit
We are implementing made-to-measure packaging for the equipment of the technicians and the field service with our packaging machines in Steinfurt. Rather than fixed-size standard boxes, fanfold corrugated is used to produce boxes to specific dimensions in around ten seconds. Cutting-edge technology calculates the perfect size in the blink of an eye and thus saves tons of paper. However, it doesn’t matter how well a box fits, there will always be empty space that needs to be filled to protect the contents. The waste cardboard generated when the boxes are cut to size is therefore shredded and used as filling material. This not only saves space in the paper waste bins, but also conserves paper resources – around 50 to 70 metric tons a year. Every metric ton of paper not used also saves as much as 50 000 liters of water, 10 000 kWh of energy, and one metric ton of CO2.
“Green Shop”
We use 100 percent electricity from renewable sources in our Telekom Shops. In all new or renovated larger shops in Europe, we use recyclable LED lights and sustainable flooring marked with the #GreenMagenta label. Aroud 45 stores in Europe are equipped with “green walls” covered with living plants – and over 20 more a planned for 2022. In addition, energy-saving screens have been introduced, single-use plastic has been banned from the shops and paper consumption has been reduced. We offer our shop employees sustainability training so that they can provide our customers with more specialized advice. At the beginning of 2021, we established a Europe-wide community to further drive sustainability in our shops forward in regular virtual meetings.

We are continuously developing our shop concept by reviewing it, innovating and creating new shop experiences for our customers. Sustainability is an important part of our journey. We already use ecological flooring, recyclable LED lights, and green plant walls in several shops across Europe.
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More than 320 voluntary “Green Pioneers” within Deutsche Telekom in Germany are committed to improving resource conservation and are driving the transformation to an even more sustainable company from within.
Green Pioneers – our sustainability ambassadors
In January 2019, we launched the “Green Pioneers” movement. Around 320 members of staff from 53 sites have meanwhile joined the movement in Germany. They raise awareness of resource efficiency in the workplace among the workforce and also provide inspiration for our core business. On their own initiative and on a voluntary basis, they develop green ideas for more sustainability at Deutsche Telekom – we create the necessary scope for this, for example within the framework of flexible working arrangements. Among other things, some Green Pioneers regularly conducted digital training sessions and workshops on environmental topics for colleagues. Other Green Pioneers organize activities on sustainable mobility, such as “Cycling to work.” Since fall 2021, participation in this initiative has also been possible via our EmployeeApp, which makes the joint “collection” of bike kilometers and CO2 savings even easier. On the initiative of the Green Pioneers, the first bike repair stations were set up at six German sites. In the national companies, e.g. in Austria, Spain, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Mexico, our employees have also adopted similar grassroots approaches. For example, they are implementing campaigns for cell phone collection and to avoid plastic waste.
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T-Mobile US has been able to refurbish and resell over 35 million electronic devices since 2008.