Stop Wasting...

... Start Caring!" – Deutsche Telekom CEO Tim
Höttges calls on all DT employees to avoid
plastic, packaging and scrap metal.

First it was saving paper, then avoiding meat and long-distance travel, then replacing stinky diesel with an expensive electric car and now avoiding plastic. What more must we do to keep the planet from being destroyed?

In reality, we need to change our thinking regarding a fundamentally more sustainable life. We are currently wasting the resources of 1.7 Earths, and contaminating the one we have, with garbage. Believing that we can continue down this path without pulling the rug out from underneath ourselves is simply an illusion. The good news is that we can all make an important contribution to avoiding impending catastrophes. In the end, it's the sum of many small steps that leads to success. Deutsche Telekom CEO Tim Höttges is providing an impetus for this.

We need to adopt
a more sustainable
manner of thinking
in everything we do. Tim Höttges,
Chairman of the Board of Management of Deutsche Telekom

In September 2018, Tim Höttges started the "Stop Wasting – Start Caring!" initiative and called on all employees to work towards sustainable and long-term reduction of plastic, packaging and scrap metal at Deutsche Telekom – every individual in the group is needed for mutual success. Environmental awareness should become entrenched in every single person at every single department at the Group. The first effect - seen just a few days after the launch of the initiative - was to get rid of the plastic spoons at the coffee bar at Deutsche Telekom headquarters. And this was only the beginning. Additional measures were undertaken together with the cafeteria operator, such as the introduction of the RECUP return deposit cups to replace the disposable cups. A core team is developing fundamental waste reduction measures, for the product design of Deutsche Telekom products all the way to device management.

Of course, Deutsche Telekom has been committed to sustainability projects for a while now. This is evidenced by solutions such as Speedport PRO router, which will be introduced in the second quarter of 2019. Its inner parts consist of recycled plastics. Another example is the shrinking of SIM cards packaging. In that manner, Telekom managed to produce 1.4 fewer tons of plastic in 2018. In 2019, it will save more than 17 tons.

Yes, you can! But how? There are some 100 million old cell phones lying around drawers in Germany alone. What many people don't know is that these old devices contain valuable raw materials like copper, gold and silver which can be recycled and reused. Since 2003, Deutsche Telekom has reused or recycled more than 3 million used cell phones in Germany, thus conserving resources.

However, the "Stop Wasting – Start Caring!" initiative should above all also be supported by all Deutsche Telekom employees. They are invited to present existing as well as new innovative projects - from large programs to small individual campaigns - on the internal social network You and Me (YAM), share their experiences, learn from each other and let themselves be inspired. In addition, they can join projects across departments in order to develop mutual solutions and pursue their objectives. After all, every individual plays a very important role in the "Stop Wasting – Start Caring!" initiative.

In January 2019, Deutsche Telekom launched the movement „Green Pioneers“. About 80 employess from 25 cities volunteered to take on the role of sustainability ambassadors, Green Pioneers. The proactively develop green ideas for more sustainability at Deutsche Telekom. Further Green Pioneers will join the movement.

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