Royal KPN, the Dutch landline and mobile telecommunications company, published a "Circular Manifesto" calling on networking equipment suppliers to make infrastructure and customer premise equipment more durable and longer lasting using fewer virgin raw materials and built in such a way that by 2025 close to 100% of the parts and resources can be reused or recycled.
KPN aims to transition to "a circular economy" based on these principles by 2050.
The announcement was made at the Layer 123 SDN World Congress occurring this week in The Hague, Netherlands.
Seven supplies have signed the KPN Circular Manifesto: ARRIS, Ericsson, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Huawei and ZTE; and recycling and refurbishing specialists Drake & Farrell and Teleplan. These companies will work with KPN to produce by 2025 hardware that is circular by design and implement processes that are more energy efficient for both KPN and its customers.
“Climate change is one of the most pressing challenges in our society and it’s time for action, not words. As the Netherland’s largest ICT-provider, we recognize that we have a leading role to play to enable the necessary transition towards a sustainable and increasingly circular economy. That’s why we’re implementing our own circular economy target with a demanding timeline,” said Eelco Blok, CEO of KPN. “We’re very pleased that such important partners have accepted this challenge and share our determination. After all, it’s only by working together that we can realize the innovation necessary to become circular. Their support is key and the knowledge we develop together can also benefit other stakeholders who seek to reduce their own environmental impact.”
