Mio is constantly striving to produce thinner and lighter devices, whilst increasing product performance and quality. Although this is partly because of improved manufacturing techniques and technologies, it is also a concerted effort to reduce the amount of materials that are used and therefore the amount of CO2 emissions produced during transportation.

For example, the Mio Moov 380, manufactured in 2008, is 50% thinner and 29% lighter than a Mio 269 manufactured in 2005. As a result, Mio has managed to reduce the amount shipped globally by 170 tons a year. This equates to a reduction of 545 tons of CO2e being expelled into the atmosphere for shipments to Europe, which is equivalent to the amount that 496 trees absorb.

Through continual research and redesign, Mio has reduced the size of its windscreen/dashboard mounts by 71% since 2006.

These reductions save over 220 tons of material a year which is equivalent to 44 five-ton elephants. This saving also helps reduce CO2e emissions expelled into the atmosphere by 706 tons when shipping to Europe, that’s equivalent to the amount that 642 trees absorb.

Conductive paint is used to prevent electromagnetic interference between electronic products, but during the manufacturing process, it causes environmental problems because the paint has a high level of VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) that vaporize under normal pressure. This vaporization can cause problems with the atmosphere and peoples’ health. Conductive paint also reduces the recycling rate of the product it’s been applied to because it is difficult to scrape off and plastics must be 100% pure in order to be recycled.

Mio’s solution to this environmental problem was to replace the conductive paint with an EMI shielding gasket which reduces VOC emissions by 10~15 tons a year and increases the recycling of PC/ABS plastic by 5 tons a year, that’s an additional 5% of material that can be recycled.

Electroplating was used on many of Mio’s devices to give the appearance of metal, however, there are several environmental problems associated with the electroplating process: It can cause sewage treatment works to fail and it uses a huge amount of energy and water whilst also increasing the amount of wastewater produced. During the recycling process, it also causes problems because the electroplating needs to be scraped off, therefore reducing the purity of the plastic and the amount that can be recycled.

To further reduce the impact that Mio devices have on the environment, we have stopped using electroplating and moved to the far less hazardous Non-Conductive Vacuum Metallization (NCVM) process. This reduces the amount of electroplated wastewater used by 36.8 million liter per year or the equivalent of 131,487 bath tubes. It also increases plastic recycling by 80 tons a year or the equivalent of 16 five-ton elephants which is an improvement of 80% on the amount that can be recycled.

To help drivers save fuel and therefore pollute the atmosphere a little less, Mio has introduced an Economical Routing mode to their navigation devices. This mode determines routes that have less turns and fewer traffic lights therefore ensuring that the brakes are applied less often, which is a major cause of excessive fuel usage.

Toxicants can cause problems during manufacture and disposal. During production and recycling, heavy metals and flame retardants can leech into the environment, causing problems to humans and the earth’s ecosystem.

The way in which people dispose of our products is important to us. We ensure that our devices have a high recycle rate and by using the crossed-out wheelie bin symbol on the back of our devices we are encouraging our customers to dispose of their devices correctly. (WEEE directive)