Vodafone Group Plc Annual Report 2025 37
Strategic report
Governance
Financials
Other information
Protecting the Planet continued
Waste and circularity The UN estimates that as much as 50 million tonnes of electrical waste (‘e-waste’) is produced globally each year, with only 20% being formally recycled. Vodafone has a goal to minimise the generation of e-waste from our business operations and from the devices we sell by implementing our waste and circularity strategy, a key part of our purpose strategy. Our waste and circularity strategy focuses on two areas of e-waste: the network equipment used to run our fixed and mobile access networks and the electronic devices that we provide or sell to customers. Network equipment e-waste and circularity At Vodafone, we maintain and enhance our network to provide connectivity. Improper disposal of our network equipment can contribute to environmental pollution. In FY25, we conducted a major capital expenditure project to procure the next generation of radio equipment for our network. Our tender specification and supplier evaluation processes included specific ESG criteria that improve energy efficiency over the five-year lifecycle and ensure effective end of life management. Integrating circularity into our procurement practices helps us move towards a future network that generates less equipment e-waste. For the equipment that is already part of our existing network, the most significant driver of preventing e-waste is the reuse of network equipment within our operating companies. This year, we continued to use our asset management systems and processes to redeploy decommissioned equipment to other parts of our network, where feasible. Reusing equipment helps reduce e-waste and generates cost savings. In addition, we continue to operate our asset marketplace. This is a platform that enables used network equipment from one of our operating companies to be reused by another; or resold to resellers, ultimately for reuse by third-parties.
recovered during the recycling process. Therefore, although we have reached an important milestone, we recognise that there is more work to do to build a fully circular system for network equipment. We also recognise that further work is needed to improve circularity for hazardous e-waste, which requires specialist waste management processes and has not been included in our targets to date. Our next step is to consider the role we play in this transition, working with others across the e-waste management system, which will inform how we set our future targets. To meet our target to reuse, resell or send for recycling 100% of our network equipment e-waste by 2025, we scrutinised our network e-waste data to identify instances where equipment was not being reused, resold or sent for recycling. Our investigations led to improvements in operational and data reporting processes, enabling us to achieve our target. However, they also provided further insights into some of the barriers we continue to face when reusing and recycling electronic and electrical equipment. For example, the complexities of waste transfer regulations constrain the extent to which we can scale up global reuse of network equipment via our asset marketplace. Similarly, in some countries where we operate, limited capabilities in e-waste recycling at a national and industry level continue to constrain the ultimate rate of material recovery from e-waste recycling. This year, we actively engaged with some of our strategic suppliers to improve data insights into their e-waste management processes and deepen our understanding of how network equipment e-waste is managed after it leaves our own operations. These insights will shape the next stage of our journey as we strive to influence action beyond our own operations, working with others in the electronics value chain, towards a more circular system for network equipment.
This year, we generated an estimated 6,679 metric tonnes of e-waste from network equipment or components needed to operate our network (including hazardous e-waste) (FY24: 6,205 metric tonnes), of which 3,258 metric tonnes was non-hazardous e-waste. Of the non-hazardous e-waste, 100 % from our network operations was reused (via resale between our markets or via resale to external third-parties) or sent to an authorised third-party waste management partners for recycling. FY25 network e-waste equipment management (excluding hazardous e-waste) 1 2025 2024 Reused 2 4% 2% Recycled 3 96% 94% Disposed 4 0% 4% Total network equipment e-waste (metric tonnes) 3,258 3,831 Notes: 1. Excludes our discontinued operations in Italy. 2. Includes network equipment resold between markets where we operate, or to external third parties, for reuse for the same purpose. 3. Includes network equipment sent to third-party waste management partners for recycling (rather than landfill or incineration). 4. Disposed network equipment e-waste includes used network equipment that is disposed to landfill or incineration. Device e-waste and circularity Vodafone retails mobile devices and Customer Premise Equipment (‘CPE’) devices to consumers and enterprise customers. The production of these electronic devices requires the extraction and use of natural resources, such as tin, tungsten, tantalum and gold. Improper disposal of these devices can contribute to environmental pollution. Vodafone’s circularity strategy aims to minimise electronic waste generated from the mobile devices (including mobile handsets, electrical mobile accessories, IoT devices and other mobile devices) and CPE devices (routers, TVs, set-top boxes) that Vodafone sells, and promote a circular economy model for our customers. When devices reach the end-of-life, our aim is for them to be
Our network equipment circularity strategy comprises three priority areas of action: 1. Sustainable procurement: We seek to engage with suppliers who share our ambition of building a more circular economy for network equipment. We plan to increasingly source equipment with circular design features when replacing or upgrading our network infrastructure. 2. Network planning, operations and asset management: Where possible, we reuse or resell network equipment that we have decommissioned from our network. We seek to manage our network assets smartly and minimise the requirement to buy new equipment, by extending the useful economic life of each asset and optimising opportunities for its reuse. 3. End-of-life management: Where reuse or resale of decommissioned network equipment is not possible, we seek to responsibly recycle it. We have established operational processes to avoid network e-waste being sent direct to landfill or incineration without first being sent for recycling. We seek to partner with recyclers that maximise the recovery of materials from e-waste, so that more of the valuable materials within used network equipment are recovered as part of a more circular economy. In FY25, we supported the Global System for Mobile Communications Association (‘GSMA’) in scaling this solution into an industry-wide cloud-based platform that provides a global view of assets and equipment. This year, we are proud to announce that we have achieved our 2025 target to reuse, resell or send for recycling 100% of our decommissioned network equipment. To date, we focused our efforts on ensuring that non-hazardous e-waste is reused, resold or sent for recycling by third-party waste management partners. Even where our network equipment e-waste is sent to our third-party waste management partners for recycling, we understand that not all materials are
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