How Vodafone’s suppliers are going green, too

To minimise their impact on the environment while working towards net zero, Vodafone and its suppliers are revamping every part of their operations, from engineering waste to IT operations.

Vodafone has been striving to minimise its environmental impact for many years – switching its European networks to 100% renewable energy in 2021, for example. And the Group aims to reach net zero across 21 countries by 2040.

But the company is also committed to reducing the carbon emissions produced by its suppliers, with a target of halving their emissions by 2030. With that in mind, Vodafone lauded two companies – Tech Mahindra and ByBox – at its Supplier Health, Safety & Environment Awards event recently.

While both are independent companies, their Vodafone-related activities still count as part of Vodafone’s carbon footprint under Scope 3 of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. But both have made great strides in ‘greening’ their activities.

ByBox delivers parts and equipment to a network of secure storage lockers dotted across the UK, so they can be picked up by Vodafone engineers on their way to work on a mast or customer property. These secure lockers now have a second life as drop-off points for any recyclable waste brought back by Vodafone engineers from their work sites, with the recyclables collected by the next ByBox equipment delivery truck.

This reuse of an existing resource not only cuts down on journeys made by dedicated refuse lorries, it also ensures waste is neatly separated and bagged for easier, more efficient recycling. This then gives insights into how much waste is generated and how much of it is recyclable.

Carl Rudge, Senior Manager, Field Delivery, Vodafone, said: “On a daily basis, our Field Engineers around the country unpack a lot of network equipment to install in our network and customer sites. Disposing of the associated packaging in a way that it all gets recycled has been a long-standing logistical problem for us, but the solution that Bybox have worked with us on has thankfully solved this problem.

“Throughout the project, from concept to full execution, the Bybox team have been a pleasure to work with and are fully deserving of this award.”

Tech Mahindra, which provides Vodafone with various strategic IT services, has been recognised for its ambitious carbon reduction targets, ranking highly in indices such as the Carbon Disclosure Project and the Dow Jones Sustainability Index.

Sandeep Phadke, SVP and Head of Europe (Communications Media, Entertainment and Technology Business) at Tech Mahindra, said: “We realise that a lot of world issues cannot be overcome if we neglect the environment and we are honoured to have our strong commitment and initiatives towards a sustainable environment being recognised.

“We will continue to have sustainability the fulcrum of all our activities.”

Vodafone has already reached several milestones on its path to reaching net zero across its full carbon footprint by 2040.

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