Vtech 2010 Annual Report Download - page 26

24 VTech Holdings Ltd Annual Report 2010
Corporate Affairs
VTech and the
Environment
We regard care for the environment
and making a positive contribution
to efforts to tackle climate change as
an important part of our corporate
social responsibility. We focus our
efforts on three areas: “Sustainable
Manufacturing”, “Safe and Green
Products” and “Environmentally-
Friendly Packaging”.
Our operations worldwide invest in
waste reduction, environmentally
sound processes, energy efficiency
and recycling. Our products aim
to conform to the best global
environmental legislation and
guidelines.
Sustainable Manufacturing
We aim to reduce environmental
impacts in our manufacturing
process by adopting international
environmentally appropriate practices
in our operations.
The manufacturing facilities of both
our TEL and CMS operations are
ISO14001 certified, while the ELP
operation abides by the International
Council of Toy Industries (ICTI) CARE
(Caring, Awareness, Responsible,
Ethical) Process. Annual audits are
conducted to ensure we meet the
national standards for air quality, noise
pollution and waste water disposal.
We adopt a strict classification system
for waste and toxic waste, based
on international norms, which are
disposed by a specialist contractor.
Stringent procedures are in place to
handle hazardous materials.
Electricity usage is benchmarked
against production to ensure that we
make continuous improvements in
energy intensity, through installing
new equipment or changing
processes. In offices and factories,
we encourage reduced use of paper
and recycling of materials. We also
encourage our vendors to take
environmental considerations into
account when supplying parts and
raw materials.
Safe & Green Products
In designing a new product, or
upgrading an existing one, our
intention is to improve it – not just
how it looks and functions, but how it
impacts the environment. We always
try to make our products more energy
efficient. We also aim to use fewer
components. This reduces our cost of
materials, waste and the impact on
the environment. At the same time,
consumers get the direct benefit of
energy savings.
As a result, all of our products comply
with the strictest international safety
and environmental regulations.
Notably, all VTech TEL products and
ELPs sold in the US and Europe are
RoHS compliant. All VTech cordless
phones delivered to the US have the
Energy Star® certification. An Energy
Star qualified cordless phone uses
less energy than a conventional
unit when it is charging, and VTech
cordless telephones are much more
energy efficient than their rivals.
In Europe, an increasing number
of our cordless phones include an
“Eco Mode” function which reduces
power consumption.
Environmentally-Friendly
Packaging
Packaging is another area where
we try to make a difference on
the environment. In the US, we
introduced new club store packaging
for our 2009 spring cordless phone
line up. This is 100 percent recyclable
and has reduced gift box size by 41
percent. This smaller sized packaging
also uses 99 percent less plastic, with
a total of 14 ounces less plastic used
in each box.
Increasingly, we have adopted
environmentally-friendly printing
processes, such as through the use of
vegetable oil based inks for printing.
We design smart structures for
packaging that reduce box sizes and
our packaging uses environmentally-
friendly papers.