Waste Management

AT&T is committed to reducing our consumption, reusing more of the materials we consume, finding more ways to recycle and handling waste safely.

For more information, see our Sustainability Accounting Standards Board Index and Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures Report.

In 2023, AT&T’s work to reduce and manage waste included the following: 

• Expanding our Wireline Operations program to contract with local recycling vendors. Initially launched by our Asset Recovery team as a pilot, this program has been scaled up to become part of our standard operations. It enables AT&T to recycle Wireline Operations waste more quickly and responsibly while also reducing the need for transportation to distant recycling facilities. The program contributed to a 97.63% landfill diversion rate for our Wireline Operations.⁹
• Removing and recycling 6,000 retired plastic reels from our operations in the Southwest. Working cross-functionally and with our transportation and recycling partners, this effort kept 240,000 pounds of plastic out of landfills. 
• To improve data accuracy and compliance in our supply chain, our Environment, Health & Safety (EHS) team supported our mobility and fleet vendors’—and their supporting vendors’—alignment with AT&T processes and practices. We also continue to upload shipping documents from our fleet and mobility vendors into our internal waste tracking system, increasing data availability regarding total waste generated by AT&T. This supports more accurate reporting of our waste data and helps us better identify waste diversion solutions. 

Governance

Our operations generate general solid waste, hazardous waste, regulated waste and e-waste. Our approach to waste management involves reuse and recycling programs and other initiatives to reduce our overall waste footprint. Several organizations across our operating companies lead our waste recycling and management programs, including: 

• Real Estate: Our Global Real Estate organization manages general solid waste at our corporate facilities and works with our waste vendors to measure waste and implement programs that encourage waste reduction, recycling and composting. 
• Environment, Health & Safety: Our EHS team manages hazardous and other regulated waste generated by various AT&T operations, including the Construction and Engineering, Technical Field Services, and Mobility business units. EHS also provides guidance to our various business units regarding the recycling of batteries and e-waste and the management of other regulated wastes. 
• Supply Chain: Two teams address supply-chain-related waste. Our Global Supply Chain team works with several e-waste recyclers to manage electronics recycling. And the Supply Chain Asset Recovery and Sustainability team focuses on the recycling and potential resale of high-volume common materials within our internal network operations. 

Solid Waste

We continually work to reduce the environmental impacts of our waste. It is a challenging endeavor. As our workforce has grown in office occupancy, our solid waste footprint increased by 8.4%, to 134,349 tons of general solid waste in 2023.¹

2023 highlights regarding solid waste include:

• Recycling: Our diversion rates with haulers decreased in 2023 by 0.5%.¹ A total of 20,581 tons was recycled, resulting in a general solid waste diversion rate of 14.3%. 
• Improving Data Accuracy: Accurate and timely data is the first step to effectively managing waste. We continued using our internal waste tracking system to track data. To improve data accuracy and compliance in our supply chain, our EHS team supported our mobility and fleet vendors’—and their supporting vendors’—alignment with AT&T processes and practices. We also continue to upload shipping documents from our fleet and mobility vendors into our internal waste tracking system, increasing data availability regarding total waste generated by AT&T. This effort supports more accurate reporting of our waste data in the future and helps us better identify waste diversion solutions. 
• Minimizing Plastic Waste: AT&T works to reduce the amount of plastic used in our operations. Where plastic waste is identified in our waste stream, we work with our vendors to recycle plastic responsibly and sustainably. For example, in 2023, one of our distribution centers engaged a new recycling vendor that enabled the recycling of over 240,000 pounds of plastic reels. In 2023, plastic waste accounted for 1.3% of our solid waste generation.
• Diverting Office Furniture: In 2023, we continued our Zero Waste Furniture Program, which aims to divert 90% or more of AT&T’s surplus office furniture from landfill, including office desks, tables, file cabinets, chairs, modular panels and office partitions. Our disposition strategy is to reuse, resell, donate or recycle. In 2023, the program achieved a 96.78% diversion rate, including recycling 493.1 tons, reselling 250.1 tons and donating 154.3 tons. 
• Smart Trash Sorting: In 2023, we became the first company in Texas to use a new artificial intelligence (AI) smart trash-sorting system. The system was trialed in the AT&T headquarters cafeteria, where employees engaged with it more than 210,000 times in 2023, helping to increase overall recycling accuracy by 24%. In 2024, we will expand the trial to include a more robust AI system on select headquarters floors.
• Food Waste: Between July and December of 2023, our headquarters cafeteria donated over 500 pounds of food to a local food pantry. 

Hazardous & Other Regulated Waste

AT&T’s primary hazardous waste includes compressed gas cylinders, aerosol cans, acidic wastes, batteries, contaminated soils and contaminated liquids. We responsibly manage these materials and aim to comply with applicable environment, health and safety laws and regulations. In 2023, AT&T managed 20,861 tons of regulated waste, which includes hazardous and nonhazardous waste. We recycled 19,888 tons of this waste and sent less than 4% of hazardous waste to landfill.¹

Our approach to hazardous waste and other regulated waste includes:

• Minimization Efforts: To minimize the impacts of hazardous waste, we first look to reduce the amount generated. If hazardous waste is generated, our focus is recycling, and we have implemented recycling programs for batteries and aerosol cans to divert those waste streams from landfill. Where there is no recycling or reuse option, hazardous waste is physically treated, incinerated or disposed of in an appropriate landfill as a last resort.
• Procedures & Tracking: We have procedures for managing and disposing of hazardous waste. We continue to manage our data collection systems and processes so that records for hazardous and other regulated waste disposal are gathered in one place for comprehensive tracking. This helps to ensure compliance and improve the accuracy of waste reporting and metrics for our business units that directly hire vendors to manage this waste. 

Asset Recovery

The AT&T Wireline Transformation and Asset Recovery group establishes practices that minimize the environmental impact of our company-generated waste and e-waste. Scrap materials processed by Asset Recovery include copper and fiber-optic telecommunications wire and central office equipment. Materials are dismantled, sorted and baled by commodity in preparation for sale or recycling.

Asset Recovery’s approach includes:

• R2 Certification: Asset Recovery works with our contracted vendors, who are R2-certified, to recover and recycle network infrastructure assets. The R2 certification is a comprehensive global certification awarded to facilities that adhere to responsible electronics recycling standards. 
• Fiber-Optic Cable & Waste Diversion: As described above, Asset Recovery diverts fiber-optic cable and related waste from landfill by processing it for use in other applications.
• Domestic Waste Diversion: In 2023, Asset Recovery handled 17,814 tons of domestic U.S. operational waste and kept 17,393 tons of these materials from landfill.⁹
• Waste Incineration: Waste Asset Recovery incinerated is done so for energy recovery. 
• Removing Our Waste: When AT&T vacates facilities and outside plant infrastructure, our teams remove regulated materials and coordinate with vendors to recycle and dispose of the materials in an appropriate manner. Our material removal process varies by site to adhere to local waste removal regulations and guidelines.

E-Waste

AT&T seeks to keep more electronic materials out of landfill through reuse programs. We believe electronic devices should be reused, refurbished or recycled, and we encourage our customers to participate in our e-waste reduction efforts. Our internal electronic device waste, as well as assets and materials managed by our Asset Recovery group, are responsibly recycled with R2-certified vendors. We follow the Restriction of Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive and the Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive for electronic waste disposal. 

To learn more about our product recycling and reuse efforts and our sustainable packaging efforts, please visit our Product Life Cycle issue brief. For information about recycling AT&T devices, visit our device recycling website.

Transport & Storage

We continued identifying and contracting with more vendors located closer to our waste streams. This shift has enabled us to recycle more materials while also reducing the need for transportation to distant recycling facilities. We also store recycled batteries and e-waste in nearby warehouses until we can transport them to a U.S.-based smelter, so that we can make maximum-capacity trips to improve efficiency. 

We are committed to managing our waste generation and increasing diversion from landfill. After struggling to make meaningful improvements in waste diversion, we’re now engaging property management specialists who are expected to drive more impactful results across AT&T facilities and operations. Meanwhile, we will continue identifying and contracting with vendors located in closer proximity to our waste streams to reduce emissions resulting from the transportation of AT&T waste. 

• AT&T device recycling website
• Restriction of Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive
• Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive