Circularity

Reducing waste and advancing recovery and recycling to minimize cost and material use.

Click through to learn about our 2024 impact in action. For detailed circularity data, please see our corporate responsibility KPI webpage.

The traditional take-make-dispose approach to material use is resulting in the quick depletion of natural resources. In contrast, wider adoption of a circular economy could extend the useful life of materials through reuse, recovery and recycling. Not only will this reduce virgin resource use; it also has the potential to cut municipal waste by over 40% by 2050 and reduce emissions by 39%.

We are moving to better embrace circularity, aiming to maintain the highest utility and value of our assets and products while reducing electronic and operational waste. Guided by the framework published by the Circular Electronics Partnership, we are developing a roadmap that will guide us in driving circular economies for mobility devices, broadband devices and network equipment. This roadmap is meant to encourage a full life cycle approach to circularity and focus our attention on the areas where we have influence, as well as those where we have direct control.

Our Influence: Circular Resources and Design

• Resource and materials inputs
• Design and production

Our Control: Recovery of Products and Equipment

• Sales and use
• Collection
• Reverse logistics and recovery

Beyond devices and network equipment, we are also committed to managing operational waste, with a goal to reduce U.S. waste to landfill by 30% from 2019 through the end of 2030. 

Our Influence: Circular Resources and Design

Resource and Materials Inputs

We are working to encourage a more circular approach to resource and material use in our supply chain. As an initial step, we have incorporated updates into our Supplier Citizenship and Sustainability Clause, which encourages our suppliers to implement and maintain quantifiable, time-bound emissions-reduction strategies, in line with industry best practices and international standards. This includes exploring and adopting innovative technologies and practices to reduce emissions across their operations and product/service life cycles. Additionally, through the EcoVadis platform, we are reviewing supplier performance across environment, labor and human rights, ethics and sustainable procurement. We expect this comprehensive approach to enable us to more accurately calculate our footprint and strategize reduction efforts.

Learn more about how we’re using EcoVadis in our Responsible Supply Chain issue brief.

Design and Production

• Devices and Equipment: Most of our products are manufactured by suppliers, and we encourage them to design devices that consider end-of-life impacts. This involves engaging them on shared sustainability expectations through our Principles of Conduct for Suppliers. We have updated our sustainability contract clause to emphasize the importance of adopting circular materials in product design, encouraging suppliers to pursue practices like circular materials use, AI implementation, alternative fuel sources and green energy procurement. We also encourage suppliers to pursue TL 9000 certification, which includes sustainability requirements related to design and life cycle models. We expect device manufacturers to adhere to best-in-class energy-efficiency practices, analyzing life cycle performance to estimate energy impacts and inform enhanced energy management features. For example, our handset device manufacturers design smartphones that optimize battery standby and usage time without compromising user experience.
• Packaging: We support packaging suppliers to embed circularity considerations further into product packaging they create for us, assessing key metrics like energy and water use, emissions and waste to understand where there is room for improvement. We have achieved 100% recyclability for consumer device packaging and aim to use 100% recycled materials when shipping orders directly to customers.

Our Control: Recovery of Products and Equipment

Sales and Use

• Devices: Promoting the sale and use of products that keep resources in use for as long as possible is central to achieving our circularity roadmap. We strive to optimize the product use phase by offering device upgrades, insurance and trade-up programs for mobility devices. We continue to share information with consumers on the social and environmental impact of phone and tablet devices we sell. Through the AT&T Eco-Rating system, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs)¹ can assess and share product performance against 20 performance criteria across five attributes:
  • Substances of concern
  • Environmentally preferred materials
  • Energy efficiency and charging
  • End-of-life recycling
  • Environmentally and socially responsible policies and disclosures
• Network equipment: AT&T collaborates with peers through the Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA), which has working groups focused on consumer device and network equipment recycling.

Collection

• Devices: Customers can return their old devices when upgrading. They can also return devices with our trade-in program, through which they can access rewards to apply toward their bill, a new device or accessories. If devices have no trade-in value, customers can mail them to us for recycling. Customers’ broadband internet devices can also be refurbished or recycled by booking an appointment with an AT&T technician to remove old equipment, or by mailing equipment in. When collecting devices, we prioritize protecting customers’ privacy, including removing any customer-saved data. We offer customers detailed information about wiping data from their returned devices.
• Network Equipment: Whenever our network assets need to be replaced, we recover as many waste materials as possible and maintain a team dedicated to responsibly handling equipment, scrap and surplus material generated through our wireline operations.

Reverse Logistics and Recovery

• Devices: Where possible, we refurbish or resell returned devices. We also distribute refurbished devices to people affected by the digital divide. Where devices can’t be used in their entirety, we extract reusable components for incorporation into new products. We strive to recycle remaining plastics and metals responsibly and require that our U.S. device recycling and salvage vendors maintain R2 certification, confirming adherence to responsible electronics recycling standards.
• Network Equipment: Our Wireline Transformation and Asset Recovery team works with R2-certified contracted vendors. We process scrap materials like copper and fiber-optic telecommunications wire, dismantling, sorting and baling materials by commodity for resale or recycling. Where asset waste can’t be recovered for reuse or recycling, we incinerate it for energy recovery.
  • Copper: As customers continue to leave our copper networks, 100% of the copper we reclaim is recycled.
• Batteries: We use lead-acid batteries in some operations, primarily for network facility back-up power systems. As such, they are essential to delivering the reliable, resilient service our customers expect. When batteries reach their end of useful lives, we aim to recycle them for reuse. Recognizing concerns around exporting lead-acid batteries from the U.S. to locations where lower standards can significantly impact environmental safety and public health, we are shifting away from vendors that may export lead-acid batteries used in our operations. We continuously review and monitor vendors to ensure they understand and comply with our requirements.

Addressing Operational Waste

We are working to minimize the waste and material impacts of our offices and manufacturing sites. Our approach involves reuse and recycling programs and other initiatives to reduce our overall waste footprint. In many locations, including across our Dallas headquarters campus, we provide recycling and composting bins to encourage employees to responsibly dispose of their waste.

We store recycled batteries and e-waste in nearby warehouses before transporting them in bulk to a U.S.-based smelter to maximize trip efficiency. We ensure internal electronic device waste is recycled with R2-certified vendors, following the Restriction of Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive and the Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive.

Data tracking is central to an effective waste management approach, which is why we maintain an internal waste tracking system. We upload shipping documents from our fleet and mobility vendors, increasing data availability regarding total waste generated by AT&T.

Hazardous and Regulated Waste

We responsibly manage hazardous and regulated materials in compliance with applicable environment, health and safety (EHS) laws and regulations. AT&T’s primary hazardous waste includes:

• Compressed gas cylinders
• Aerosol cans
• Acidic wastes
• Batteries
• Contaminated soils
• Contaminated liquids

When it comes to minimizing hazardous waste, our first step is to reduce the volume generated. Step two is recycling, and we have implemented recycling programs for batteries and aerosol cans. Where reduction, recycling or reuse isn’t feasible, we physically treat, incinerate or dispose of hazardous waste in an appropriate landfill as a last resort.

We maintain records for hazardous and other regulated waste disposal in one centralized place to help ensure compliance and improve the accuracy of waste reporting and metrics.

Circularity Governance

Across AT&T, several internal organizations lead waste recycling and management programs, including:

• Circularity Working Group: Convenes three times a year to record the results of current circularity practices and identify new opportunities to enhance efforts. The group has a short-term goal to provide a comprehensive overview of the life cycles of our products, components and materials while highlighting work being done to generate revenue and savings through refurbishment, reuse and recycling efforts.
• Global Real Estate Team: Manages vendors at AT&T facilities to optimize waste, recycling and composting programs. We work with our real estate management companies to identify over-serviced locations to minimize unnecessary truck rolls and reduce waste.
• EHS Team: Manages hazardous and other regulated waste generated by operations. Also provides guidance to business units regarding battery and e-waste recycling and the management of other regulated waste.
• Global Supply Chain Team: Manages electronics recycling in coordination with e-waste recyclers.
• Supply Chain Asset Recovery and Sustainability Team: Manages recycling and potential resale of common, high-volume materials from internal network operations.

Stakeholder Engagement

To support our circularity efforts, we partner strategically with like-minded peers through industry organizations such as:

• Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association (CTIA): AT&T collaborated with CTIA working groups to create the Guidelines for Wireless Device and Accessory Packaging and the refined industry standard for used wireless device grading.
• Circular Electronics Partnership (CEP): AT&T joined CEP to drive collective action on global circular electronics initiatives.
• Global enabling Sustainability Initiative (GeSI): AT&T is a member of GeSI’s Circular Economy Working Group.
• GSMA: AT&T participates in GSMA’s Climate Action Taskforce on device circularity, focused on consumer device equipment recycling.
• Joint Alliance for CSR (JAC): AT&T sits on the JAC Board of Directors, reinforcing our commitment to supply chain sustainability.
• Small Network Equipment Voluntary Agreement: AT&T participates in the agreement to help collectively reduce the energy demands of in-home internet equipment. Under the agreement, the average weighted power of each category of new small network equipment relative to broadband speed delivered had decreased annually since 2015, achieving an 89% overall reduction in 2023.

Giving Consumer Devices a Second Life

In 2024, we recovered nearly 12.5 million consumer devices, including nearly 9.1 million mobility devices and nearly 3.1 million broadband devices. This included more than 5.7 million devices returned through our trade-in program. As well as giving valuable materials a second life, through the refurbishment and recycling process we avoided more than 730,000 metric tons of CO₂e compared to if those devices were new.

During the year, we piloted a series of initiatives to help more consumers recycle their old devices — particularly those with no value. For example, in partnership with Recycle Global Exchange, we launched a retail store pilot across 20 stores in Seattle, Dallas, Atlanta and Austin to enable customers to recycle old electronics, even if they had no trade-in value. Through in-store collection bins, customers could drop off old phones, tablets and laptops for recycling in the select pilot stores.

Not only did the pilot help reduce waste and emissions associated with sending old tech to landfill; through it, we also delivered a successful consumer engagement campaign with Human-I-T to connect our e-waste and digital divide efforts. To celebrate Earth Month in April, for each pound of e-waste returned to pilot stores by consumers, a refurbished laptop was distributed to communities in need. In total, approximately 725 refurbished laptops were distributed as a result of the campaign. The pilot demonstrated the unique opportunity that exists for customers to make an impact to the digital divide by bringing back more nonvalued devices.

We plan to expand this digital divide commitment-aligned retail store device returns program to more than 100 stores in 2025.

Learn more about how we’re bridging the digital divide in our Digital Divide issue brief.

Reducing Our Packaging Footprint

While most of our packaging is produced by OEMs, during the year, we updated AT&T-produced packaging for phones being sent to customers for insurance claims to more clearly highlight messaging on how to recycle the packaging at its end of life. This messaging now forms part of our brand guidelines to ensure that, wherever products come in our own-branded packaging, consumers know how to responsibly dispose of it.

As of the end of 2024, we have transitioned 89% of our shipping cartons to recycled content in Fort Worth, Texas; York, Pennsylvania; and Rialto, California — up from almost 80% in 2023. For 2024, this represented a transition of nearly 3,000 tons of paper used in packaging to 100% recycled content.

Recovering Network Equipment Materials

Having launched the Wireline Operations program as a pilot in 2023, today, it is a vital facet of our circularity approach. During 2024, the program contributed to a 98% landfill diversion rate for operational waste recovered by our Wireline Operations Asset Recovery team.³ This team is responsible for the recovery and processing of AT&T assets from the field as they reach end of life.

In total, our Asset Recovery team handled 47,231 tons of domestic U.S. operational waste and kept 46,136 tons from landfill.³

Evolving Lower-Waste Operations

In 2023, we became the first company in Texas to use a new artificial intelligence (AI) smart trash-sorting system. As of 2024, we have three AI-enabled bins across our headquarters, helping increase recycling accuracy by tracking data on recycling, composting and waste for landfill in high-volume areas such as our cafeteria. To continue reaping the benefits of the system, we have extended the contract for another year, with plans to install additional bins in strategic locations.

Throughout 2024, our diversion rates with haulers for operational waste (including materials returned by customers to AT&T facilities or vendors) decreased by 1%.² A total of 19,322 tons was recycled, resulting in a general solid waste diversion rate of 13%. We also managed 14,915 tons of regulated waste — comprising both hazardous and nonhazardous waste. We recycled over 8,600 tons of this and sent 1% of hazardous waste to landfill.² In total, we diverted 76,467 metric tons of waste from landfill in 2024.