Turning Business Phone Purchases into Circular Action
KPMG Netherlands is part of the global network of KPMG firms, providing audit, tax, and advisory services. The company has demonstrated a strong focus on innovation and compliance both within its own operations and in the solutions it offers to clients. As part of its internal circular IT strategy, the company partnered with Closing the Loop to turn phone procurement into measurable impact.
The Ambition
Circularity plays a central role in KPMG’s purpose-driven approach and is seen as a key enabler of the company’s broader efforts to reach its net-zero targets. The company’s ambition is to embed circularity into every layer of its operations, from strategy to the tools people use every day. To support this goal, KPMG developed a cross-functional action plan guided by a company-wide circularity scan.
By bringing together IT, Facilities, Corporate Responsibility, and Sustainability teams, the company ensured that strategic sustainability goals were translated into practical steps across the organization. As part of this process, KPMG reviewed everyday workplace tools to identify high-impact opportunities. Mobile phones quickly stood out: though small, they carry a significant material footprint. With more than 3,000 employees using business phones daily, they offered a clear chance to apply circular thinking into a practical and visible part of the company’s operations.
The Solution
Through Closing the Loop’s One for One service, every new business phone purchased by KPMG is matched by the collection and responsible recycling of a scrap phone sourced from emerging African markets. The process requires no changes to existing operations: KPMG simply buys phones as usual, while Closing the Loop handles the equivalent collection and recycling behind the scenes.
This practical compensation model turns phone procurement into a meaningful circular action, offering a simple and tangible way to embed circularity into IT procurement without disrupting existing processes.
The Result
Over the past years, Closing the Loop has compensated more than 9,500 phones for KPMG, based on a standard three-year device lifespan that reflects typical business usage cycles.
The collaboration keeps delivering measurable social and environmental benefits, helping prevent electronic waste in the areas where it is most needed, and generating income and safer working conditions for thousands of local waste collectors in emerging markets.
Now embedded in the company’s circularity efforts, the partnership has been featured in corporate responsibility reports and internal communications and serves as a clear demonstration of KPMG’s commitment to becoming a more circular organization.
