Running a large company like Deutsche Telekom involves high paper consumption. For several years now, we have gradually been reducing our paper consumption. With our Paperless Office project, we aim to completely eliminate paper use by 2025.
Print on demand has many advantages. For example, quick reference guides can be printed as needed depending on orders and don’t need to be preprinted, transported, and stored. Changes to information sheets for our customers can be made on short notice, eliminating large quantities of outdated documents that need to be destroyed. In 2021, we expanded this project, and print on demand is now available for printing quick reference guides for all the rate plans we offer in Germany (MagentaZuhause, MagentaTV, business-customer and hybrid plans). We also reviewed whether there are other materials suitable for print on demand – such as brochures and SIM cards. The process is not yet suitable for all of the materials we work with. This applies to the SIM cards for our hybrid plans, for example. Since March 2021, print-on-demand instructions have been marked with our #GreenMagenta label.
In 2022, we implemented various measures in Germany with a view to minimizing our consumption still further:
Correspondence with our millions of customers is one of the biggest levers for saving paper. Despite online billing and increasing use of digital communication, we sent out around 3.9 million more items in 2022 than in 2021 – equivalent to 47 tons of paper. This was particularly due to the fact that we were obliged to inform a large number of our customers about a rate adjustment.
A portion of each delivery note is provided in digital form. As a result of this conversion, our paper delivery notes now comprise only one page instead of two – a change that saves seven metric tons of paper per year.
A growing number of employees are now working from home, with the result that fewer documents were printed out in the company’s offices. Also, awareness campaigns and digitalization procedures have led to further reductions on printing – amounting to total savings of 3.5 metric tons of paper in 2022. Flipcharts, notebooks and the like are also increasingly being replaced with digital alternatives.
A successful pilot project for reducing printing at Deutsche Telekom Headquarters in Bonn was launched in December 2021, followed by another project in Düsseldorf in May 2022. Both projects ran successfully and are currently being evaluated. As we look to the future, we plan to reduce Deutsche Telekom’s printer fleet considerably at all locations.
Our EmployeeApp (“MitarbeiterApp”) is used to handle HR and accounting processes – such as travel expense reports – digitally and paperlessly.
We have also been able to save large quantities of paper in connection with our shops. The paper-based “Mehr Magenta Magazin” (“More Magenta Magazine”) has been discontinued, decreasing paper use by 92.3 metric tons.
Until we reach our goal of going paperless, we will continue to use certified paper from sustainable sources. Furthermore, over 65 percent of the articles in our range of office products are currently sustainably certified – that’s 15 percent more than in 2021. By 2025, we plan to use certified alternatives for all products for which such alternatives are offered.
We have discontinued most of the flyers available in our shops, keeping just a small selection for customers to take away with them. This has saved 55.14 metric tons of paper.
The next step is to network more closely with our national companies, who can already boast a number of successes:
Slovak Telekom: Through greater reliance on online billing, the company is saving about 10 metric tons of paper per month. In addition, our Slovakian national company uses no paper flyers in its shops, and its customers are able to conclude their agreements entirely online.
Makedonski Telekom: Paper bill use was cut by 10 percent between 2021 and 2022, saving 1.5 metric tons of paper.
Croatia: Since 2021, Hrvatski Telekom’s business customers have been receiving online bills too; this has reduced paper use still further.
Magenta Telekom in Austria: The company’s customers can also receive their monthly bills online if they so request. Furthermore, green receipts, made entirely from recycled paper, have been used in shops since 2020. Additional paper is being saved and resources conserved as a result of the switch from paper bags to rePET bags.
T-Systems in Brazil: 90 percent of customers receive their bills online; supplier contracts are also processed paperlessly using digital signatures.
T-Mobile Polska: For every two pages of paper saved via business customers’ switching to online bills, T-Mobile Polska plants one tree.
T-Mobile US: In the United States, use of digital alternatives for printed bills and flyers is also increasing. Additionally, the company has reduced the numbers of printers in its office buildings in order to conserve resources.
Greece/OTE: With the “MyNet.Go” app, employees can do such things as submit vacation requests online.
Deutsche Telekom Services Europe (DTSE): Paper consumption is being cut through the “Let’s go paperless” project, which is digitalizing as many processes as possible. A digitalization community offers tips, ideas, workshops and digital tools for saving paper and reducing the number of printers.
Running a large company like Deutsche Telekom involves high paper consumption. For several years now, we have gradually been reducing our paper consumption. With our Paperless Office project, we aim to completely eliminate paper use by 2025.
Print on demand has many advantages. For example, quick reference guides can be printed as needed depending on orders and don’t need to be preprinted, transported, and stored. Changes to information sheets for our customers can be made on short notice, eliminating large quantities of outdated documents that need to be destroyed. In 2021, we expanded this project, and print on demand is now available for printing quick reference guides for all the rate plans we offer in Germany (MagentaZuhause, MagentaTV, business-customer and hybrid plans). We also reviewed whether there are other materials suitable for print on demand – such as brochures and SIM cards. The process is not yet suitable for all of the materials we work with. This applies to the SIM cards for our hybrid plans, for example. Since March 2021, print-on-demand instructions have been marked with our #GreenMagenta label.
In 2022, we implemented various measures in Germany with a view to minimizing our consumption still further:
The next step is to network more closely with our national companies, who can already boast a number of successes:
- Slovak Telekom: Through greater reliance on online billing, the company is saving about 10 metric tons of paper per month. In addition, our Slovakian national company uses no paper flyers in its shops, and its customers are able to conclude their agreements entirely online.
- Makedonski Telekom: Paper bill use was cut by 10 percent between 2021 and 2022, saving 1.5 metric tons of paper.
- Croatia: Since 2021, Hrvatski Telekom’s business customers have been receiving online bills too; this has reduced paper use still further.
- Magenta Telekom in Austria: The company’s customers can also receive their monthly bills online if they so request. Furthermore, green receipts, made entirely from recycled paper, have been used in shops since 2020. Additional paper is being saved and resources conserved as a result of the switch from paper bags to rePET bags.
- T-Systems in Brazil: 90 percent of customers receive their bills online; supplier contracts are also processed paperlessly using digital signatures.
- T-Mobile Polska: For every two pages of paper saved via business customers’ switching to online bills, T-Mobile Polska plants one tree.
- T-Mobile US: In the United States, use of digital alternatives for printed bills and flyers is also increasing. Additionally, the company has reduced the numbers of printers in its office buildings in order to conserve resources.
- Greece/OTE: With the “MyNet.Go” app
, employees can do such things as submit vacation requests online. - Deutsche Telekom Services Europe (DTSE): Paper consumption is being cut through the “Let’s go paperless” project, which is digitalizing as many processes as possible. A digitalization community offers tips, ideas, workshops and digital tools for saving paper and reducing the number of printers.
Reporting against standardsGlobal Reporting Initiative (GRI)