Sustainability Magazine April 2026 Issue 69 | Page 28

THE SUSTAINABILITY INTERVIEW

across data centres which will see over 40,000 IT assets being sustainably processed, 33.5 + tonnes of equipment handled in 2025 alone, 322 tonnes of CO₂e avoided through reuse, refurbishment and low-impact recycling, and importantly, nothing goes to landfill.

Connecting circularity and digital inclusion Dana and her team are determined to treat unused devices as assets, not waste. That principle underpins Community Calling, a long‐running programme with environmental charity, Hubbub, that rehomes smartphones with people who lack access to a device.

Working with charity partners, Virgin Media O2 has donated more than 30,000 refurbished devices to organisations across the UK, from domestic violence services to refugee support and NHS trusts. The company has also partnered with Coventry City Council on a local device bank, part of the # CovConnects digital inclusion initiative. The scheme takes surplus devices from businesses and public bodies, wipes and refurbishes them, then redistributes them to residents who need them. In Coventry alone, more than 5,000 devices have already been rehomed through the partnership. Dana calls this a“ reuse‐first model of circularity” that can be replicated nationwide.

“ Our ambition is a circular model, enabled by local device banks, that can be rolled out across the UK,” she says. Virgin Media O2 is also a founding partner of the National Databank,

28 April 2026