Suppliers and procurement

Q. Would you consider recycling your old mobile phone?

A. Nothing should go to waste. I use my kids' old phones when they buy new ones. Philip, Butcher, Slough, Berkshire, UK.

Read more about the 'O2 in society' photography.

At O2, we seek to interact with our suppliers - and industry at large - in a fair and ethical way and to promote corporate responsibility deep into our supply chain.

We award business solely on merit, without favouritism, and seek to secure products and services at the best overall value to O2. And we state to suppliers and potential suppliers our ethical and environmental procurement policies, which describe what we expect in their standards of conduct.

We aim to understand  the social and environmental impact of our business and the role that our suppliers play in this. We do this by continually benchmarking and improving our purchasing approach and by seeking to attain the highest standards in ethical trading.

We track progress internally via our regular audits and we measure our suppliers against the requirements of our policies and contracts.

Our approach includes:

• educating and raising the awareness of our buyers in the key ethical and environmental issues that affect our sourcing activity
  
• implementing our ethical and environmental supply-chain policies across all O2 operations
  
• raising the awareness of our suppliers
  
• developing joint activities with suppliers and other telecoms operators, for example through the Global e-Sustainability Initiative.

This agenda aims to help us promote corporate responsibility and positive change in the communities we affect. It also enables us to meet the demands of our own Business Principles and to develop well-managed supplier relationships.