(Credit: TXO)Nine in ten telco operators (90%) believe the circular economy is important to their organization and 89% say it’s part of their current business strategy, yet only 44% plan to buy pre-owned equipment over the next five years, according to research conducted by TXO, a provider of telecom network hardware and asset management services. The reason for this disparity is largely down to four industry barriers:
The circular economy is a model that keeps products in the economic system for as long as possible, reducing the environmental impact by creating fewer new products. But despite the benefits, only 8.6% of the world economy is circular, which means that less than 10% of materials used in a year are reused. This comes at a time when environmental pollution is at the highest it’s ever been.
But while 75% of operators TXO spoke to say they’ll recycle equipment over the next five years, only 52% say they’ll be repairing equipment, 49% say they will resell it, and 44% of operators say they will buy refurbished equipment. This shows that operators are not committing to a full circular economy.
The majority of operators (72%) think the main benefit of joining the circular economy is lowering carbon emissions, and 67% of operators expect to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2040, 44% by 2030, and 23% this decade.
While operators in many developed countries are under pressure to upgrade their networks to 4G, 5G and fiber to the X, they need to do it cost-effectively. Fifty-seven percent of operators believe that joining the circular economy can help reduce costs. This is also a priority for alternative network operators (Altnets), who are emerging as an alternative to the major operators but don’t have the same purse strings.
Seventy percent of operators believe joining the circular economy offers huge advantages by minimizing waste. The GSMA estimates that around 50 million tons of e-waste is produced every year, a figure that continues to rise.
Twenty-six percent of operators consider "market differentiation" as an advantage to joining the circular economy, with 25% saying "knock-on benefits for customers/retention," and the same number saying "shareholder value." This indicates that some believe joining the circular economy improves their reputation among customers and gives them a competitive advantage.
Darren Pearce, Group CEO of TXO, comments on the research: “It’s clear telecom operators understand the benefits of the circular economy, yet penetration is still fairly low due to four industry barriers which are in fact myths. Debunking these myths are key steps we need to take to encourage more operators to give pre-owned equipment the same consideration as new, as well as refurbish, resell or recycle their existing equipment.”
Companies are consistently focusing on circularity: Ball Corporation and Novelis, both of which recently joined the World Economic Forum’s newly formed aluminum branch of the First Movers Coalition (FMC), are calling on industry peers to prioritize circularity.
And a new group focused on advancing circular textile policy in the US was also recently announced. The American Circular Textiles policy group was spearheaded by Circular Services Group, Resource Recycling Systems, and 11 founding organizations. ACT aims to align fashion’s circularity community on the development of policy to address the challenges to improving domestic textile recovery and end-of-life solutions, the nation’s fastest-growing waste stream. Their initial focus is on textile reuse.
