Actions and Resources in the Area of Resource Use and Circular Economy
The material efficiency and circular economy actions being taken focus both on dealing with customer devices (both for business customers and for consumers), and on the Company’s own internal IT hardware.
United Internet’s various segments perform a number of activities in the area of secondary raw materials.
Part of the Consumer Access Segment’s business involves providing customers with products such as smartphones and routers to use. This is done by the Company’s own logistics center in Montabaur.
The (outer) packaging material consists of 75–80 % recycled material, while the shipping cartons are already made from 100 % recycled material. Work is ongoing at present to switch all packaging and filler material to recyclable variants.
Transporting devices is also a part of business operations in the Business Access Segment. The segment has a long-term partnership with a specialized maintenance and logistics service provider to handle the logistics processes. Raw materials for packaging cartons are fully FSC certified and are sourced from responsibly managed forests. Wrapping paper and recycled cardboard packaging are used as filler material in most cases. In addition, the service provider has been using more environmentally friendly polypropylene adhesive tape since fiscal year 2024. Polypropylene is highly recyclable and its low melting point during manufacture and low material requirements mean that it requires fewer resources than conventional plastics.
United Internet’s various segments also perform a large number of activities in the area of circular business practices. The actions described enable United Internet to contribute to preserving the long-term value of the products sold by the Company or provided to customers for their use. This facilitates resource conservation and reduces waste.
The Consumer Access Segment implements the principle of the circular economy both in its internal business processes and along its entire value chain. A key focus is on the repair, refurbishing, reuse, and recycling of sold products.
The segment has been offering refurbished devices since 2019. The Reverse Logistics and Refurbishment team examines and tests all returned devices in the tablets, mobile devices, and laptops product groups in detail for reusability. Devices that meet all relevant quality criteria at the end of this process – and especially with respect to their working order and data privacy – are equipped with the necessary accessories and can then be reintroduced onto the market with a 24-month guarantee. Recoverable devices that cannot be refurbished by Consumer Access are passed on to an external service provider for repair. Devices that cannot be refurbished, or cannot be refurbished economically, by Consumer Access are sold on to third-party recyclers.
In addition, the segment offers customers a process for returning used smartphones, tablets, and notebooks. In fiscal year 2024, Consumer Access took back over 60,000 old devices, which were then introduced into a refurbishment process.
Where hardware is defective, customers can have the devices repaired and be loaned a device for the duration of the repair, returning it to United Internet afterwards. Alternatively, customers can receive a new device directly from an exchange service. The defective device is returned to the Company or a certified repair service provider. Its functionality is then tested and any defects repaired as far as possible, after which the device may be refurbished. This prolongs the device’s lifetime and delays disposal as far as possible. This process led to a total of 34,267 mobile devices, tablets, and laptops and 124,458 DSL routers being returned to United Internet or a certified repair service provider in fiscal year 2024.
A number of services offered by the Business Access Segment involve installing subscriber devices (customer premises equipment) on site or supplying devices to business customers for their use. These technical devices and equipment generally remain United Internet’s property. They are either deinstalled by the Company at the end of the contract period or handed back or returned independently by the business customers concerned.
The segment has a long-term partnership with a specialized maintenance and logistics service provider to handle the logistics processes. One of this company’s core competencies is maintaining and refurbishing used electronic equipment. End-user devices that business customers return to the segment are stored by the service provider, and their functionality is tested as needed before they are redeployed. Devices whose product life cycles mean they can still be used are refurbished after testing. If it no longer makes sense to refurbish and redeploy them, the components are sent for professional waste disposal. In this case, the logistics service provider works together with certified waste disposal companies. In addition to meeting data protection requirements, the provider also recycles the components.
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