Product Life Cycle

We work hard to ensure our products support our sustainability vision. That means developing products that are more energy efficient, that can more often be reused and recycled, and that are more sustainably packaged. 

Engaging customers and suppliers in this pursuit is critical to progress. That’s why we help customers make sustainability-informed purchasing decisions for wireless devices and other products. And that’s why we work closely with suppliers to help them meet our sustainability expectations, which we outline in our Principles of Conduct for Suppliers With these principles, we expect our suppliers to work to eliminate wasteful practices, increase energy efficiency, decrease total cost of ownership, reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, use more sustainable packaging and create end-of-product-life recycling options to avoid sending materials to landfills.

For more information, see our Sustainability Accounting Standards Board Index.

In 2023, AT&T continued—and in many cases expanded—our efforts to support and promote product sustainability, efficiency and recycling, among other climate-aware product actions. We also took steps to help move our industry toward more sustainable product-related practices. Our efforts included:  

• Participating in Cellular Telecommunication & Internet Association (CTIA) working groups to refine the industry standard for used wireless device grading. That initiative aims to promote the extension of product life cycles and reduce waste by building consumer confidence in used and refurbished devices through common tools, technology and terminology.
• Continuing our efforts to recover, refurbish and recycle devices. In 2023, we recovered 12.9 million consumer devices, including 11.4 million mobility devices.²

Product Sustainability Education

We help consumers make sustainability-informed product decisions through the AT&T Eco-Ratings 2.0 system which provides environmental and social details about the phone and tablet devices we sell.⁴ When we release a product, we provide its Eco-Rating on the product’s packaging and online. This system has helped drive innovation among original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in minimizing product impacts on the environment and helps us gain a holistic view of our device portfolio across the product life cycle. The Eco-Ratings system, developed in collaboration with sustainability-focused consultancy BSR, includes the following elements:

• Product Review: OEMs evaluate their products against 20 performance criteria across five attributes, assigning one to five stars. These attributes are:
  • Substances of Concern: Restriction of antimony trioxide, beryllium compounds, extractable nickel, polyvinyl chloride, phthalates, and chlorinated and brominated flame retardants.
  • Environmentally Preferred Materials: Assessment of recycled plastic in the device housing and recycled metals within wireless devices.
  • Energy Efficiency & Charging: Compliance of wireless device chargers with California Energy Commission standards.
  • End-of-Life Recycling: Assurance that batteries are readily removable, the device is easily disassembled by a recycler, and the device contains recyclable materials equal to or greater than 65% of its mass.
  • Environmentally & Socially Responsible Policies & Disclosures: OEMs should have a Global Reporting Initiative-informed sustainability report; a conflict minerals disclosure; a standalone human rights policy or statement; management systems; and public performance reporting for labor, occupational safety and environmental impact at assembly and/or supplier facilities.

Device Energy Efficiency & Life Cycle Performance

We work with suppliers to develop devices with energy efficiency and end-of-life in mind. We are not an OEM, but there are certain AT&T-branded products in our network that are manufactured by suppliers. We believe those products are compatible with our sustainability vision as a result of the following considerations:

• Device Efficiency: We encourage our device manufacturers to adhere to best-in-class energy efficiency practices. This includes analyzing the life cycle performance of their devices to estimate energy impacts, incorporating or further developing energy management features on their devices, and establishing energy efficiency goals. Our handset device manufacturers design highly efficient smartphones that optimize battery standby and usage time without compromising user experience. We measure the energy impacts of our residential internet gateways and will obtain independent assurance of select energy figures once data are finalized. Since 2015, AT&T has worked with other companies and industry associations to improve the energy efficiency of internet modems, routers and other in-home equipment through the Small Network Equipment Voluntary Agreement. Under the voluntary agreement, the average weighted power of each category of new small network equipment (SNE) relative to broadband speed delivered has decreased by up to 87% and has declined every year since 2015, according to the group’s 2022 Annual Report.
• Sustainability: We encourage our suppliers to become TL9000-certified, which includes sustainability requirements related to design and life cycle models. In 2021, AT&T contributed to the development of the most current TL9000 standard, strengthening requirements around sustainability. We recommended that products be designed with the end-of-life in mind and with a hierarchical focus on reusability, repurposing, recyclability and disposability of any nonrecyclable elements.

Consumer Electronics Refurbishment & Recycling

AT&T believes electronic devices should be reused, refurbished or recycled. Refurbishing and recycling electronic devices contribute to a circular economy and helps create more affordable product options for consumers. In 2023, we recovered 12.9 million consumer devices, including 11.4 million mobility devices² and 1.1 million broadband devices. We strive to continue increasing device recycling, and we will continue to encourage customers to participate in our efforts.

Customers can return their old devices when upgrading, or by taking advantage of our trade-in program, which can provide them rewards to apply toward their bill, a new device or accessories. If the device does not have a trade-in value, we provide ways for customers to easily mail their device to us to recycle. Customers can also have their broadband internet devices refurbished or recycled by requesting an AT&T technician to remove old equipment, or by mailing equipment in. For 2023, more than 6 million devices were included in our trade-in program. Through the refurbishment and recycling process, we avoided more than 400,000 metric tons (MT) of CO₂ equivalent (CO₂e) of emissions compared to if those devices were new.

Our approach for managing recovered devices includes:

Refurbishment & Material Recovery: Devices are refurbished or resold and put back into the marketplace when possible. Some of these devices are refurbished and distributed to students affected by the digital divide, through our partnership with Digitunity. If a phone cannot be reused in its entirety, we extract individual parts that might be reusable, such as the camera. The remaining plastics and metals are recycled responsibly. The recovered materials are used in future consumer products such as cell phones, computers and tablets.

Protecting Privacy: When recovering devices, one of our top priorities is to protect our customers’ privacy. We offer customers detailed information about wiping data from their returned devices. When we receive a device, we also remove any customer-saved data.

Responsible Recycling: We require that all U.S. device recycling and salvage vendors maintain an R2 certification. R2 is a comprehensive global certification awarded to facilities that adhere to the R2 responsible electronics recycling standards, which cover areas such as worker health and safety, environmental protection, chain-of-custody reporting and data security.

Industry Collaboration: AT&T collaborates with peers through the Global System for Mobile Communications Association, which has working groups focused on consumer device and network equipment recycling. In 2023, we also engaged with CTIA working groups to refine the industry standard for used wireless device grading. The goal of this initiative is to scale device reuse through common tools, technology and terminology, ultimately supporting consumer confidence in used and refurbished devices.

Packaging

We strive to minimize the impacts of packaging through industry collaboration and by assessing key sustainability metrics such as energy and water use, GHG emissions and packaging waste. Three of our approaches:

• Industry Collaboration: We collaborated in 2020 with CTIA, the trade association representing the U.S. wireless communications industry, and other members of its Sustainable Packaging Working Group to create the Guidelines for Wireless Device and Accessory Packaging. This set of voluntary best practices encourages the wireless industry to reduce the amount of packaging produced and waste associated with wireless devices and device accessories.
• Recycled Materials: We set out in 2020 to use 100% recycled materials when shipping orders directly to customers. As of the end of 2023, we have transitioned almost 80% of our shipping cartons to 100% recycled content in Fort Worth, Texas; York, Pa.; and Rialto, Calif.—up from less than 75% in 2022. For 2023, this effort represents a transition of 2,780 tons of paper used in packaging to 100% recycled content.  
• Recyclable Packaging: In 2023, we made great strides in making our consumer device packaging more sustainable. Our consumer device packaging is 100% recyclable. We continue to significantly reduce and eliminate plastics in our devices sold in national retail stores.

Paper Procurement

We aim to reduce our use of paper and to purchase responsibly sourced paper products wherever possible. We have implemented an enterprise-wide Paper Procurement Policy to reduce, reuse and recycle paper products. We also continue to promote responsible forest products and encourage the paper market and industry to support the conservation, protection and restoration of forests. We established a goal of 90% of total paper consumption for direct mail and office paper being Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)- or Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI)-certified. In 2023, 96% of the direct mail and office paper we purchased was FSC- or SFI-certified, up from 85% in 2016. We also achieved 7% post-consumer waste and recycled content.³

Paper bills represent a significant opportunity to reduce paper consumption. We promote online billing and reduced the size and weight of our paper bills. In 2023, AT&T Communications delivered approximately 390 million paperless bill statements. In conjunction with other corporate-wide initiatives, we are working to increase the number of customers receiving paperless bills through reminder messaging on printed bills, email communications and pop-ups when customers log in to their online account.

E-Waste

AT&T is committed to managing our internal electronic waste in a responsible manner. For more information, see our Waste Management issue brief. 

Stakeholder Engagement

AT&T recognizes the importance of embracing a circular economy and leveraging technology in a sustainable manner. We engage and collaborate with industry partners and peers. For example:

• Circular Electronics Partnership (CEP): AT&T joined the CEP in 2023. We look forward to collaborating with fellow industry leaders to drive collective and converging action on global initiatives for circular electronics.
• Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI): AT&T is a member of GeSI's Circular Economy Working Group.
• Global System for Mobile Communications Association (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 was recently elected to the JAC Board of Directors. Our board participation indicates a redoubling of our commitment to JAC’s mission and the expansion of its efforts into environmental sustainability and supporting supplier sustainability programming. 

AT&T will continue to take steps to increase reuse and recycling, improve product sustainability, reduce the impacts of our packaging and e-waste, work with our suppliers to lower energy consumption in the production of our products, and engage customers in our efforts. Surveys reveal that customers are keeping old, no-longer-used devices that could be returned to the circular economy. In the spring of 2024, AT&T began piloting efforts to help drive consumers toward recycling devices. Additionally, AT&T is working to better inform customers about what types of packaging are more sustainable, including packaging manufactured in North America and packaging that is 100% recyclable. And in keeping with our consumer packaging guidelines, we will help ensure that consumers see more sustainability messaging on device packaging, including guidance on how they can dispose of devices responsibly. 

• • AT&T Eco-Ratings 2.0 System
  • AT&T Paper Procurement Policy
  • AT&T Phone Trade-In Program
  • AT&T Principles of Conduct for Suppliers
  • BSR
  • California Energy Commission
  • Cellular Telecommunication & Internet Association
  • Circular Electronics Partnership
  • Digitunity
  • Global e-Sustainability Initiative
  • Global Reporting Initiative
  • Global System for Mobile Communications Association
  • Guidelines for Wireless Device and Accessory Packaging
  • Joint Alliance for CSR
  • R2 Certification
  • Small Network Equipment Voluntary Agreement
  • Small Network Equipment Voluntary Agreement 2022 Annual Report
  • TL9000