Sustainable Design
HTC has reduced the consumption of raw material, packaging, and related substances by improved methods and more efficient management. We have set about optimizing product design by improving energy efficiency, reducing hazardous substances, refining packaging design, and ensuring product recyclability. We work with our R&D team, customers, material suppliers, and technical service providers to set up a systematic platform that ensures smooth communication. We stress innovative thinking and strive to develop sustainable products that pose the least threat to the environment.
HTC starts from the product life cycle, analyzes the product process in detail, and adopts different measures at various stages through innovative thinking, especially in the product design and development stage, it uses the concept of The Precautionary Principle to carefully select the ones with lower environmental risks. The material confirms that it complies with the internationally Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive, reduces the environmental impact of products, and develops sustainable products that are more environmentally friendly.
HTC proactively seeks to reduce the use of environmentally harmful substances, through a design concept that can increase the recycling rate, increase resource reuse, and reduce its negative impact on the environment. At present, HTC's actual practice of sustainable design of products mainly focuses on the three major directions of improving energy efficiency, product recyclability design and hazardous substance management to enhance the green competitiveness of products.
Enhancement of Energy Efficiency
We concentrate on energy saving from the early design and research and R&D phase. All power supply devices used for HTC products must comply with the relevant international energy consumption specifications: Energy Star (U.S.), California Energy Commission (U.S.), Energy-related Products Energy-related Products and are approved with energy efficiency verification by third-party verification companies, and the energy efficiency has reached the highest level of Level VI requirements (standby power less than 0.1W), and the currently used chargers are lower than 0.04W, which has greatly exceeded the standard requirements.
For the energy consumption during battery charging, we follow the regulations of the US Department of Energy (DOE) and Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) as standards to try our best to improve the efficiency of charging and reduce the loss of energy consumption when the battery keeps fully charged to minimize the overall energy consumption. All VIVE Focus series fully follow regulations. The new VIVE Focus 3 launched in 2021 has a higher battery capacity and charging efficiency to reduce energy consumption. The power management technology featured in the new VIVE Tracker 3.0 improves use time by 75% while minimizing energy consumption and power loss during charging.
Product Recyclability Design
evaluate the product design of recycling thoroughly through product breakdown and material simulation, and estimate the material composition and relative recycling rate of products. The third-party authorities verify the material recycling rate by disassembling and analyzing the products. And the recycling rate of all our products, including VR and smartphones, is largely exceeding to the standard of the product category set by the EU WEEE regulations (55%). In the future, as a principle, we will continue to design our new products in the direction of decreasing the weight and increasing the recycling rate.
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The VIVE Tracker 3.0, the new generation of the HTC VR series, is another innovation. Compared to the previous version, the product has an improved size, weight, and 3R percentage, allowing an even better recycle rate when the product enters the recycle system after use, promoting the circular economy.
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Compared to the previous version, the new VIVE Pro 2 VR headset has improved specification and features, and is made with more recyclable materials, which though add weight to the headset, have a higher recycle percentage rate. Equipped with the VIVE Tracker 3.0 and facial expression detection kits, the environmentally-friendly VIVE Pro 2.0 has extensive applications and a long product life cycle.
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The new Desire 21 pro 5G phone product still features a design with a high recycle rate. Although the new version is slightly heavier than previously models, the recycle percentage remains the same. In fact, it’s recyclability is even better than before, tested and validated by an independent body. In relation to legal compliance, the product received a 7.2/10 green label in the most recent Repairability Index for France 2021, where HTC smartphones scored high in the ratings of five criteria: manufacturing documentation, disassembly, availability of spare parts, price of spare parts, and repairs. The product has a longer life span and a highly rated repair service.
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Hazardous Substance Management
During the initial product design stage, HTC considers the impact of the production process on the environment and whether it is harmful to users. Therefore, all the used parts, modules, and materials are compliant with the HTC’s specifications of hazardous substance management list. The list covers not only the ten items restricted by the Restriction of the use of Certain Hazardous Substances Directives, RoHS, but also those flagged by international environment protection regulations and international customers. For instance, we ensure to enforce the ban of PVC, halogen-free of brominated flame retardant, and pollution-free gas, and waste that contaminates the environment and ecosystem is not produced during the production process. We uphold the goal of being pollution-free, environmentally friendly, and sustainable in operation. We also request that our upstream and downstream suppliers to work together to comply with relevant regulations, to ensure that our consumers are free from hazardous substances.
Active in Compliance with Standards
All HTC products are verified by international public certification companies, such as SGS, TUV, and ITS. Chemical analysis is carried out to ensure compliance with the EU environmental directives. In addition, a brand new international product safety standard IEC62368, entered into effect on December 20th 2020. This new standard aims at mandating manufacturers to build a safer environment for product design on the basis of known hazards. HTC has updated to the latest version of IEC62368 for all products in the market with CB certificates provide.
