Environmental care

Environmental care in all operations is an integral part of OptoMotive’s commitment to customers and end users, employees and the community. As a supplier of cameras for machine vision we have a responsibility to reduce the environmental impact from our products both under production and during their complete lifetime. Special attention is given to energy efficiency, manufacturing, emissions and noise, material efficiency, technology for the future and environmental management.

Legal standards

The disposal of used electronic devices has been a major issue in the European Union for a number of years. The EU has thus adopted two pieces of legislation to deal with the problem: the WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) and RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) directives. WEEE, which began to take effect on August 13, 2005, will require European manufacturers to accept returns of old equipment. The basic goal is to limit volumes of waste going into landfills by setting up collection schemes and encouraging recycling and reuse of materials. For more detailed and up-to-date information about WEEE and RoHS, see the European Commission website.

Proper Disposal of Electronic Waste

It is important to properly dispose of electronic waste, or e-waste, because of the precious metals and hazardous chemicals contained in the waste material. E-waste includes computers, phones, and anything else that you plug into an outlet, battery or other power source. It also includes the batteries and other power sources themselves. E-waste is sorted to retrieve and recycle precious metals, and to separate the toxic chemicals from other, non-toxic waste, such as plastics.

Instructions

• Store electronic waste safely in your warehouse. When you have an electronic item that has reached the end of its lifecycle, or that you no longer want, keep it in a well-ventilated place with a low fire risk.
• Contact your local government to determine where the nearest public e-waste disposal site is. Often you can bring e-waste to the landfill during certain hours. Certain electronics retailers, including OptoMotive, also accept e-waste.
• Bring electronic waste to the disposal site. At the site, you will usually be asked to sort your waste by type. Sorting enables the recycler to easily determine whether the waste product can be refurbished, or if it needs to be broken down into recyclable components.