Shure outlines sustainability upgrades and initiatives
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Through energy efficiency improvements, Shure’s Eppingen, Germany, office has reduced its energy use from January to May 2023 by more than 25,000kW hours over the same period last year. That is enough energy saved to power seven homes in Germany for an entire year, according to a German energy association.
Shure has already implemented ways to reduce energy on lower-occupancy days at the headquarters, such as reducing available elevator cars and office lighting as more employees are working from home on Fridays.
The company’s offices in Asia are also implementing sustainability efforts, including battery recharging for associates, renewable energy programmes and recyclable carton exchanges with vendors.
Facilities in Mexico utilise skylights for illumination, along with photocells, to reduce energy use.
New products will be packaged using 75% recyclable and/or renewable materials in 2023.
Shure has joined the Sustainable Packaging Coalition as it improves product packaging to be more sustainable. With more than 1,500 different packaging pieces for a variety of different products, this is a significant undertaking. Some of the highlights include: Shure placing thermoform trays with more sustainable, recyclable alternatives such as moulded pulp, reducing overall plastic materials in packaging, reducing the amount of literature that accompanies products, right-sizing packaging for greater efficiency and reduced CO2 footprint from shipping and storage.
By 2027, more than 100m AA batteries will have been saved from landfills. With previous technology, disposable batteries were used to power microphones and transmitter packs. And audio engineers would frequently replace batteries - even when those batteries still had power - to ensure an uninterrupted performance with fresh batteries.
However, new innovation from Shure has converted those products to rechargeable options, creating significantly less waste. In fact, for David’s Byrne’s America Utopia Broadway show, the monitor engineer estimated they saved about 21,000 AA batteries from being disposed of in landfills because they used Shure’s rechargeable system over the course of the run.
In the past five years, Shure estimates that it has already eliminated more than 20m AA batteries from ending up in landfills.
Shure works with suppliers who take action on sustainability, including suppliers who use solar power and recycled water in their operations. The company is also working to approve water-based paints in the finishing process, which is friendlier for the environment.
Shure products are also engineered to last - from a durability and adaptive technology standpoint - avoiding costly replacements and unnecessary disposal of electronics, even as technology evolves.
The company has also engineered its products to help with overall power consumption, using less energy in ‘down’ modes and allowing remote monitoring of power use with Wireless Workbench software.
Shure supports a number of global and locally-based organisations dedicated to sustainability efforts and ecology.
A cross-functional Shure team regularly reviews international regulations, directives, and standards to ensure environmental compliance with regulations like RoHS, REACH, and WEEE. The nature of these regulations promotes sustainable electronics and electronics manufacturing.
