Proximus : What is Proximus doing to make its packaging more environmentally friendly?

We have made it our clear ambition to be truly circular by 2030 and make a net positive contribution.

The time has come to break away from the consumption and waste model and move towards a sustainable cycle of reuse. The planet's natural resources are gradually being depleted, the linear economic model of "take-make-waste" has reached its limits.

We make our own operations carbon neutral by recycling waste, reusing and composting, collecting mobile phones and refurbishing b-boxes and TV Boxes. The effect? Less waste and pollution. More time for natural resources to recover.

We integrate sustainability into everything we do. We set strict targets, not just for us but also for our suppliers.

Our activities in Belgium generated 8,700 tonnes of waste in 2021 (compared to 10,700 in 2020), 11% of which was transformed into electricity and thermal energy in waste treatment plants. The remaining 89% was recycled, reused or reclaimed. We have set clear targets for the future management of our waste and aim to increase our recycling rate to 100% by 2030.

We make our packaging as environmentally friendly as possible, taking into account all aspects of the production chain and market conditions. In addition, we save a lot of paper with our digital installation and user guides.

Optimized packaging

We now use smaller boxes, made from recycled cardboard. Our sleeves are printed in Belgium, on paper from responsible resources and vegetable-based inks. The manual the customer receives is concise, and he can find the detailed version online at proximus.be via a QR Code or an URL.

Reducing the packaging of the powerline adapter has allowed us to fit 50% more devices on a pallet. And therefore transport 50% less volume!

Avoiding plastic and unnecessary materials

We are eliminating all unnecessary plastics, for example plastic bags around cables, adapters, remote controls, etc.). The same goes for the plastic cable holders in some b-boxes. In the stores, the plastic bags have all been replaced by paper bags, and they are not always used for every purchase.

Again, less plastic means less weight and therefore less CO₂ emissions in the production and transport of our b-boxes, TV Boxes, etc.

The same applies to our TV Boxes. We have even removed the Ethernet cables in our TV Boxes V6. These TV Boxes are only used in the case of exchange, and this means that our customers can reuse the existing Ethernet cable for their new TV Box, without any negative impact on quality.

"Lean & Green 2 stars" label for our distribution center

The Proximus Distribution Center has been awarded the coveted Lean and Green 2 stars label, which stands for a 30% reduction in CO₂ emissions per order sent since 2015. This label was awarded, among other things, thanks to the improvements made to the reduction of packaging.