Telstra’s branded packaging will be fully recyclable by next year. Credit: Wpcpey / Wikimedia Commons.

Australian telecommunications firm Telstra has set a target to make all its packaging fully recyclable by next year.

The company aims to use renewable or recycled material to pack its products.

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Telstra will initially use the materials for its Smart Modem Gen II product packaging before expanding it to other products, including pre-paid devices and 5G Home Internet.

Telstra environment head Tom Penny said: “Packaging for the Telstra Smart Modem Gen II has been reduced from two sheets of paper across separate boxes to a single half-sheet, which folds in an origami-like way to protect the modem and safely store related cables and accessories.

“We’ve also reduced the use of any plastic beyond the Smart Modem, its cables, the wi-fi password fridge magnet we include and the protective film, and we’ll no longer use inks or print finishes that could impact the ability to recycle the packaging afterwards.

“These changes are together driving a 75% reduction in packaging materials for the Smart Modem Gen II. In fact, we’re using around 258,000 fewer kilos of packaging across the 1.1 million Smart Modems we ship each year.

With these changes, Telstra is planning to reduce its use of packaging materials for the Smart Modem Gen 2 by 75%.

The company will also use the Australasian Recycling Label to guide customers on how to recycle each component of a packaging.

Telstra has started replacing plastic courier satchels that are used in products deliveries with recycled paper packaging alternative.

Over the coming months, the company aims to reduce the amount of wasted material in its packaging with the use of automation.

As well as its packaging commitments, Telstra plans to increase its network waste recycling rate to 85% by 2025.

Over the next four years, the company aims to recycle or reuse more than 500,000 phones, modems and other devices a year.