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2022 Corporate Responsibility Report

Used mobile device collection

The European national companies (with the exception of Germany) are aiming, by 2024, to collect one million used mobile devices and refurbish or recycle them to return them into circulation. In Germany, we are also doing more than the law requires in our efforts to collect used cell phones. Since 2003, we have collected over 3.4 million used phones. 

Under our sustainable smartphone recycling scheme, users can sell used phones to Deutsche Telekom in Germany via the cell-phone purchase service (only available in German). Used phones that lend themselves to refurbishment and reuse are refurbished – and the results are certified. Via the ReUse MyMobile (only available in German) service, they are resold and returned into the smartphone ecosystem. By being reused, their ecological footprint is considerably improved. With our Insure MyMobile service, we also offer cell-phone insurance for new and refurbished smartphones. 

Business customers can use the cell-phone purchase portal (only available in German) to return smartphones and tablets. In this way, we also offer a complete cell phone cycle for companies.

In Germany, used mobile devices can be sent to us by mail – without batteries, please! – or deposited in a Deutsche Telekom collection box. Overall in 2022, Deutsche Telekom took back or purchased a total of around 172 000 used cell phones in Germany. We offer an online portal (only available in German) via which anyone can get involved in cell phone collection and order a free collection box. Phones returned via this channel are also checked to see if they can be reused. Phones that are no longer suitable for refurbishment are recycled in Germany, by specialized companies, properly and environmentally safely. The metal resources thus recovered are also returned to the cell-phone ecosystem and reused. The cell-phone collection center published a mandatory training course for collectors in 2022 to ensure that devices with batteries continue to be collected in a legally compliant manner.

We work with collection specialist Teqcycle for our device collection processes. Together, we are committed to secure, state-of-the-art solutions for the collection and transport of used equipment and data deletion. Deutsche Telekom maintains high security standards for data privacy; data privacy throughout the entire collection process has been certified by the testing and certification company DEKRA. In addition, the joint collection system of Deutsche Telekom in Germany and Teqcycle, operating via the cell-phone collection center, has been awarded the official Blue Angel eco-label.

We use the proceeds from marketing and recycling to support nature-conservation and environmental-protection projects (only available in German), as well as social projects organized by the partners of the cell-phone collection center.

Cornelia Szyszkowitz

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Cornelia Szyszkowitz

Reporting against standards

 

Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)

  • GRI 301-3 (Materials)
  • GRI 306 3-3 (Management des wesentlichen Themas)
  • GRI 306-1 (Waste)
  • GRI 306-2 (Waste)

Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB)

  • Code TC-TL-440a.1 (Product End-of-life Management)

Global Compact

  • Principle 7 (Support a precautionary approach to environmental challenges)