Waste Management

AT&T is committed to measuring and reducing our GHG emissions.

Key Performance Indicators (KPI)

Nonhazardous Waste

Hazardous Waste

We are committed to reducing waste in our operations and responsibly handling the waste that we produce.

Waste Overview

AT&T manages the waste generated by our business operations through numerous channels. Our total waste and recycling figures represent waste accounted for through AT&T’s domestic U.S. e-waste, general solid waste, furniture recycling, paper shredding, pallet recycling, investment recovery and regulated (hazardous and nonhazardous) waste programs, including select WarnerMedia and Xandr locations. ¹⁰

Our company sends more than 100,000 metric tons of waste to landfill each year.¹¹ While we strive to reduce the amount of material going to landfill and are making progress, the financials and unintended environmental impacts associated with recycling can make it challenging. For example, in some locations, recyclable material may be located far from a recycling facility so that the carbon footprint associated with transporting the material to the recycling facility exceeds the benefit of recycling. Additionally, we’re dependent on facility occupants to accurately separate material by recycling categories. Improperly sorted waste can result in expensive contamination fines and the diversion of an entire load of recyclable material to landfill.

Despite these challenges, we continually work to expand our scope of waste reporting and to reduce the environmental impacts of our waste.

Several organizations across our operating companies, including Global Connections and Supply Chain (GCSC); Environment, Health and Safety (EHS); and Real Estate, lead our waste recycling and management programs.

• Our GCSC team works with several e-waste recyclers to manage electronics recycling. The Supply Chain Investment Recovery (IR) group focuses on the recycling and potential resale of high-volume common materials within our internal network operations.
• EHS manages 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 AT&T’s various business units regarding the recycling of batteries and e-waste and the management of other regulated wastes.
• Our real estate teams manage general solid waste at our corporate facilities and work with our waste vendors to measure waste and implement programs to encourage waste reduction, recycling and composting.
• WarnerMedia teams focus on managing and reducing various waste streams from WarnerMedia productions and administrative facilities.¹⁰

AT&T also proactively seeks to keep electronic materials out of the landfill through reuse programs. In total, AT&T managed over 190,000 metric tons (MT) of waste¹¹ and recovered more than 21 million consumer devices¹² in 2021.

Investment Recovery

The AT&T Global Connections and Supply Chain IR group leads the way in establishing practices that minimize the environmental impact of our internal waste and e-waste. IR works with our contracted R2-certified vendors 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. Materials are dismantled, sorted and baled by commodity in preparation for sale or recycling. Scrap materials processed by IR include copper and fiber-optic telecommunications wire and central office equipment.

In 2021, IR continued to focus on diverting fiber-optic cable and trash – such as contaminated plastic, cardboard and wood deemed unrecyclable – from landfill. Scrap fiber-optic cable can be shredded and milled to become components of roofing materials or burned for resalable steam energy. Our focus in these areas led to improvement in IR’s landfill diversion rate from 97.63% in 2020 to 98.76% in 2021.¹³

In 2021, IR handled more than 18.3 thousand MT of domestic U.S. operational waste and kept more than 18.1 thousand MT of these materials from landfills.¹³

When AT&T vacates facilities and outside plant infrastructure, our teams remove all regulated materials and coordinate with vendors to recycle and dispose of the materials in an appropriate manner. We remove aerial cables and process underground cables based on municipality-specific rules. Our material removal process varies by site to adhere to specific local waste removal regulations and guidelines.

General Solid Waste

The COVID-19 pandemic has continued to impact AT&T’s overall waste generation. As office occupancy remained low throughout 2021, our year-over-year solid waste footprint declined by 4.8%.¹² Our diversion rates with haulers improved by 1.3%.⁹ Additionally, in 2021, AT&T managed more than 150,000 MT of general solid waste.¹² Of that total, more than 39,000 MT was recycled, resulting in a general solid waste diversion rate of 25.8%. More than 18,000 MT of recycled waste consisted of corrugated material and paper.¹²

In 2021, as part of an Internet of Things collaboration with multiple third-party waste vendors, we expanded our pilot of smart dumpster monitoring systems to reduce costs and carbon footprint while improving workflows. The expansion has revealed additional opportunities to optimize AT&T’s waste services and reduce miles traveled for haulers, which helps to decrease fuel use and associated carbon emissions.

Solid Waste Goals

In 2021, AT&T established our “30x30” goal to reduce the amount of waste our haulers send to landfill by 30% by 2030 from our 2019 base year. In 2021, our landfill footprint was down 26.5% compared to 2019. 2021 waste sent to landfill was 112,116 MT. This represents a reduction of 40,541 MT from our 2019 base year (152,707 metric tons).⁹ We will continue monitoring performance to determine whether COVID-19 related impacts are temporarily speeding our progress.

We are also continuing our Zero Waste Furniture Program, which aims to divert from landfill 90% of AT&T’s surplus office furniture – including office desks, tables, file cabinets, chairs, modular panels and office partitions. Our disposition strategy is to 1) reuse, 2) resell, 3) donate or 4) recycle. The pandemic-related closure of many charities through 2021 presented fewer donation options. In response, we amplified recycling efforts. In 2021, the program recycled more than 1,500 tons, resold over 91 tons and donated approximately 218 tons.

Hazardous and Other Regulated Waste

AT&T is committed to complying with all applicable environment, health and safety laws and regulations and to promoting pollution prevention through strategies like recycling and minimizing the generation of hazardous waste.

In 2021, AT&T managed more than 30 MT of regulated waste, which includes hazardous and nonhazardous waste. We recycled 23 MT of this waste, and only 0.59% of hazardous waste was sent to landfill.¹⁴

We have formalized a set of procedures for managing and disposing of hazardous waste, applicable to all operating companies. To ensure compliance and improve the accuracy of waste reporting and metrics for those business units that directly hire vendors to manage their hazardous and other regulated waste, we enhanced systems and processes to ensure that records for all hazardous and other regulated waste disposal are gathered in one place for comprehensive tracking.

AT&T’s primary hazardous waste includes compressed gas cylinders, aerosol cans, acidic wastes, batteries, contaminated soils and contaminated liquids. To minimize the impacts of hazardous waste, we first look to reduce the amount generated. Once hazardous waste is generated, our highest priority is always recycling, and we have implemented recycling programs for batteries and aerosol cans to divert those waste streams from landfills. 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.

E-Waste

At AT&T, we believe all electronic devices should be reused, refurbished or recycled, and we encourage our customers to participate in this ongoing initiative. For information about recycling AT&T devices, visit our device recycling website.

AT&T is also committed to managing our internal electronic waste in a responsible manner. AT&T’s internal electronic device waste, as well as assets and materials managed by our AT&T Global Connections & Supply Chain Investment Recovery group, is responsibly recycled with R2-certified vendors. We follow the Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive and the Waste and Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive for electronic waste disposal. AT&T is also collaborating with peers through wireless industry group GSMA workgroups focused on consumer device and network equipment recycling.