Using sustainable materials in our stores is an elementary component of our shop concept. In an initiative entitled “Green Point of Sale,” we have brought together sustainability-oriented measures that we are gradually rolling out at our 1 600 shops in Europe.
To make the sustainability aspects of the products in our stores visible to our customers, we use our #GreenMagenta sustainability label and demonstrate our sustainability strategy through various communication campaigns. Also, we carry out sustainability training events for our shop employees to enable them to provide more-specific sustainability-oriented advice to customers. More than 4 000 employees have participated in such training to date.
Under the Green Point of Sale scheme, 100 percent of the electricity used by our shops in all national companies comes from renewable energies. We are also fitting out our shops in a more sustainable manner. Since 2019, all new or renovated major shops in Europe use recyclable LED lamps. We also use sustainable, ecologically certified, organically sourced flooring in our stores that has earned our #GreenMagenta label. Since 2019, green walls covered with living plants have been a firm feature of our international shop concept. As of the end of 2022, we have installed over 70 green walls in various shops around Europe, with more set to be put up in 2023. Our green walls are also marked with the #GreenMagenta label. In addition, we have introduced energy-saving screens, and have banned all single-use plastic from stores across Europe since 2020. For example, we have replaced all of the plastic cups for our coffee machines with more sustainable alternatives. In Austria alone, this policy is saving around 6 000 plastic cups per month. In Germany, shops have introduced bags made of recycled PET plastic. Five recycled PET bottles go into the making of each bag. Plus, we are reducing our paper consumption, and have already introduced paperless stores in Austria, Slovakia, and the Netherlands. We have cut our paper usage in Germany, Poland, and Hungary by 85 percent since 2021, achieved in part by opting not to offer printed brochures and flyers in our shops. Digital invoices and online payment methods are offered across the board at all national companies. In some shops in Europe, we offer what we call repair bars, where we repair or replace displays, rechargeable batteries and back covers of Apple, Samsung, and Huawei devices.
Overall, we are aiming to apply sustainability criteria in the design and decor of our shops throughout Europe. At the beginning of 2021, we established a Europe-wide Green Point of Sale community to drive sustainability issues forward in regular virtual meetings. The topics included local green initiatives in the national companies, the visibility of our sustainability activities in the stores, and our sustainable cell-phone recycling scheme. The #GreenMagenta initiative is already being promoted in over 80 percent of our shops in Germany and Austria, with stores in Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland, and Croatia to follow in 2023. In 2023, we also aim to make the furniture inventory and design of our stores even more sustainable and to have our shop furniture manufactured using recycled wood.
As with our shop design, we have also attached great importance to sustainability in the production of our company uniforms, not least in regard to the new uniform for Telekom Shop employees, released in January 2023. We set out to create more sustainable company uniforms for the 3 700 or so staff in our shops. Manufactured from organic wool and recycled polyester, most of these items have now been certified in accordance with the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS). The GOTS defines internationally recognized requirements for organic textiles, from raw-material harvesting to environmentally-friendly and socially-responsible manufacture. Old company uniforms that are no longer required are recycled and turned into new items such as bags and hair bands.
Using sustainable materials in our stores is an elementary component of our shop concept. In an initiative entitled “Green Point of Sale,” we have brought together sustainability-oriented measures that we are gradually rolling out at our 1 600 shops in Europe.
To make the sustainability aspects of the products in our stores visible to our customers, we use our #GreenMagenta sustainability label and demonstrate our sustainability strategy through various communication campaigns. Also, we carry out sustainability training events for our shop employees to enable them to provide more-specific sustainability-oriented advice to customers. More than 4 000 employees have participated in such training to date.
Under the Green Point of Sale scheme, 100 percent of the electricity used by our shops in all national companies comes from renewable energies. We are also fitting out our shops in a more sustainable manner. Since 2019, all new or renovated major shops in Europe use recyclable LED lamps. We also use sustainable, ecologically certified, organically sourced flooring in our stores that has earned our #GreenMagenta label. Since 2019, green walls covered with living plants have been a firm feature of our international shop concept. As of the end of 2022, we have installed over 70 green walls in various shops around Europe, with more set to be put up in 2023. Our green walls are also marked with the #GreenMagenta label. In addition, we have introduced energy-saving screens, and have banned all single-use plastic from stores across Europe since 2020. For example, we have replaced all of the plastic cups for our coffee machines with more sustainable alternatives. In Austria alone, this policy is saving around 6 000 plastic cups per month. In Germany, shops have introduced bags made of recycled PET plastic. Five recycled PET bottles go into the making of each bag. Plus, we are reducing our paper consumption, and have already introduced paperless stores in Austria, Slovakia, and the Netherlands. We have cut our paper usage in Germany, Poland, and Hungary by 85 percent since 2021, achieved in part by opting not to offer printed brochures and flyers in our shops. Digital invoices and online payment methods are offered across the board at all national companies. In some shops in Europe, we offer what we call repair bars, where we repair or replace displays, rechargeable batteries and back covers of Apple, Samsung, and Huawei devices.
Overall, we are aiming to apply sustainability criteria in the design and decor of our shops throughout Europe. At the beginning of 2021, we established a Europe-wide Green Point of Sale community to drive sustainability issues forward in regular virtual meetings. The topics included local green initiatives in the national companies, the visibility of our sustainability activities in the stores, and our sustainable cell-phone recycling scheme. The #GreenMagenta initiative is already being promoted in over 80 percent of our shops in Germany and Austria, with stores in Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland, and Croatia to follow in 2023. In 2023, we also aim to make the furniture inventory and design of our stores even more sustainable and to have our shop furniture manufactured using recycled wood.
As with our shop design, we have also attached great importance to sustainability in the production of our company uniforms, not least in regard to the new uniform for Telekom Shop employees, released in January 2023. We set out to create more sustainable company uniforms for the 3 700 or so staff in our shops. Manufactured from organic wool and recycled polyester, most of these items have now been certified in accordance with the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS). The GOTS defines internationally recognized requirements for organic textiles, from raw-material harvesting to environmentally-friendly and socially-responsible manufacture. Old company uniforms that are no longer required are recycled and turned into new items such as bags and hair bands.