Sustainable product innovation

Responsible products

We create valuable and loveable product experiences by educating and empowering the world on how the air we breathe affects our lives.

Responsible products = circular design, fair sourcing, and quality manufacturing

We are aware that it is key for any business to address the social and environmental issues of our time. This is why our internal actions for responsible products, will empower you to make sustainable decisions.

Circular principles

These principles structure Airthing's product design processes!

They are 3 key decision elements to discuss in the beginning, during, and at the end of the design phases of the products, to decrease our negative impact and increase our positive impact on the people and the planet.

Focus on responsible materials and manufacturing

Ensuring fair working conditions by having suppliers follow the Code of Conduct
>10 year lifetime, durable products and conflict-free materials
Keep waste and hazardous chemicals out of the product life cycle

Dare to reduce energy and carbon footprint

Giving value to effective and renewable energy
Minimize the size/volume/weight of the PCB, and product housing plastics and packaging
Design for minimum energy consumption
Minimize the transportation environmental burden

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Love the product experience and its end of life

Create such an awesome experience that the clients will use it for 10 years
Inclusive products for our customer segment
A simple dismantle experience (to properly maintain, repair, reuse, refurbish, recycle)

Lifecycle assessment

We identified the pressure points through a life cycle assessment (LCA) to make more environmentally responsible products. An LCA traces all the components that go into the product, from their creation (cradle) to their disposal (grave). This includes everything from the raw materials that was mined to create the printed circuit boards (PCBs) to how the batteries are disposed of (recycled) once they no longer work, to the power consumption of the cloud servers that store the data.

End: Grave

Finally, what happens at the end of our product’s life? How much can be recycled? Can we close the loop? What are the negative environmental effects of batteries if disposed of incorrectly?

Software

We analyzed the power consumption needed to enable the transfer of data to the cloud servers as well as, the energy used by the cloud servers. We also analyzed the energy used by the developers to actually create the code.

Use phase

Since our products are battery-powered, their GHG emissions during their use are small. We are still working to increase their lifespan.

Start: Cradle

We start by gathering data on all the raw materials included in our products.

Production

Then we look at the production process. How are our products put together? What impacts do these processes have on the environment? How much waste is created in these stages?

Logistics

Our products are shipped all over the world. By planes, trains, and trucks, multiple means are used to reach our customers.

Finding

Description

Improving scope 3

The manufacturing of the Printed Circuit Boards (PCB) and Integrated Circuits (ICTs) account for >70% of the total emissions of our products. We have now begun working on maximizing panel utilization and reducing the size of the PCB to avoid waste.

Our advantage in the use phase

As our devices are not plugged into the energy grid, their energy consumption level is very low compared to other electronics pulling power from the energy grid 24hrs a day. Batteries have low CO₂ emissions, although they have other environmental recycling and social impacts in manufacturing and disposal.

Our main cloud service provider is AWS, which is rapidly shifting towards 100% renewable energy, which will help us decrease our indirect emissions during the use phase.

Understanding logistics

Our second-highest emissions come from our distribution channels, primarily from our air freight shipments to the U.S. This is a long-term challenge we want to address in the years to come. We will work on carbon offset programs to start with compensation while we decrease our logistics emissions.

Commitment and actions in the supply chain - Transparency Act (Åpenhetsloven)

At Airthings we are committed to complying with the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the ten principles of the United Nations Global Compact. We seek suppliers committed to transparency and continuous improvement, who are moving forward on their sustainability and quality journey.

We expect our suppliers to share this commitment, thus all suppliers must commit to adhering to the Airthings Suppliers Code of Conduct (click here).

What we assess in our supplier's code of conduct