In 2025, the world is generating more than 460 million tons of plastic waste each year.
While the vast majority comes from consumer goods or packaging, there is a spotlight across all industries to play their part in reducing plastic waste.
Even the smallest goods, such as SIM cards, become significant when billions are manufactured and replaced each year.
Kevin van Staden is Head of Sales for Northern Europe at Giesecke+Devrient.
Plastic-sourced SIM cards have long been the enablers of global connectivity, supporting numerous applications from mobile banking to the connected car.
Although the adoption of eSIMs, which are embedded chips in devices, is driving a gradual decline in physical SIM volumes, the number of physical cards in circulation will remain substantial for the foreseeable future.
According to the Trusted Connectivity Alliance, 3.7 billion physical SIM card units were produced in 2024 alone.
Companies leveraging SIM technology have a clear opportunity to adopt more sustainable approaches, from design and materials to production and distribution with considerations for the wider logistics chain. But where to start?
Smarter materials, sustainable design
Sustainable SIM design is being made more urgent by an evolving set of environment-focused regulations, with the EU at the forefront.
The EU Waste Framework Directive has set out stringent targets for the re-use and recycling of municipal waste to be increased to a minimum of 60% by weight in 2030 and 65% by weight in 2035.
It’s just one example of how regulatory pressure is mounting on industries to take accountability for environmental footprint, urging the manufacturing sector to rethink material use, waste management and product lifecycle.
Opting for recycled material, as opposed to single-use plastic, is a good place to start. For example, 100% recycled ABS material can be recycled again when the card reaches the end-of-life stage.
This can help prevent the production of new ABS plastic and therefore reduce landfill waste. And another way in which environmental impact can be lessened is by making SIM card bodies smaller, with the latest innovations enabling them to be as much as 50% of their original size.
While this requires initial investment and time to make the change, smaller SIM cards can save on valuable resources, reduce CO2 emissions and waste and ensure lower amounts of fuel are being used on logistics, as the overall weight of shipments are lower.
Local production and efficient logistics
As SIM cards become more environmentally friendly through the use of recyclable materials and reduced sizes, attention must also turn to the wider logistics chain, specifically the transportation of SIM cards.
SIM card manufacturing in a distant location and shipping across the globe might be cheaper for organizations, but is often not very sustainable.
Local production can lessen the environmental impact by reducing the distance products need to travel and thereby cutting CO2 emissions across the logistics cycle, especially when paired with renewable energy sources during manufacture.
Recent advances in technology, particularly AI, have also made logistics smarter in the consolidation of transport routes and minimization of inventories.
For example, the shortest possible routes can be identified to reduce emissions, and even enable avoidance of traffic in real-time.
Lastly, the industry can also introduce circular practices, requiring mobile network operators to collect unused cards and send them back to the manufacturer. These cards can then be recycled and used again.
The digital revolution
Another more sustainable option for the industry is to make the entire SIM process digital. The explosion of IoT devices, such as connected cars and sensors, has created a need for a SIM card to support smaller designs and an increased battery life, while maintaining flexibility.
As very small chips embedded into devices, eSIMs meet that need. Connectivity profiles are either provisioned in the factory for their specific destination (IFPP) or provisioned in the field with the specific mobile network operator profile for their location.
eSIM management solutions are now offering the industry a way to save on materials, waste and logistics by eliminating the need for extra plastic.
And looking ahead, iSIMs are the next evolution to eSIMs. An iSIM is essentially an operating system incorporated onto an existing chipset within a device and then has a profile incorporated on to it, requiring much lower power.
However, iSIMs are currently limited in terms of battery life and restricted to NB-IoT and LTE-M networks, so can only be used for certain IoT use cases, and there needs to be more buy-in from device manufacturers and awareness among consumers about the benefits of eSIMs and iSIMs.
Reducing waste for a more sustainable future
Physical SIMs remain crucial to connectivity, particularly as many popular mobile devices, especially Android, remain incompatible with eSIMs, while eSIMs themselves are heavily restricted in places such as China.
The industry can now grasp the opportunity to reduce environmental impact of physical SIMs and play a role in reducing plastic pollution. In a wider sense, buy-in will be needed among device manufacturers and businesses, with raised awareness among consumers to drive a more sustainable future.
From the plastic used in their production to the emissions generated throughout their lifecycle, change is both vital and possible. By following the steps of adopting recycled materials, reducing card size and optimizing the logistics process, the industry can take meaningful progress towards lowering its environmental footprint.
And beyond these incremental improvements to physical SIMs, digital innovations such as eSIM and iSIM are offering an opportunity to reimagine SIM technology entirely. These emerging technologies are further helping to cut waste, reduce emissions and support more efficient global connectivity.
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