Lighting the Way to Sustainability

Light and Motion Industries, Inc. is a manufacturing company located in a converted building on Monterey’s famous Cannery Row. They design, market, and manufacture two product lines: high performance bike headlights and high quality underwater video and digital camera housing and lighting. Light and Motion Industries, Inc. has demonstrated its commitment to sustainability by aggressively incorporating recycled materials into their products, purchasing ENERGY STAR® equipment and using green cleaners and solvents.

Light and Motion Industries has streamlined their inventory, adhering to a “product platform.” They strive to design products that utilize shared parts across multiple products. For example, their new bike lighting products are charged via USB (Universal Series Bus) interface rather than a dedicated charger. This concept results in less materials consumed and eventually disposed of, while reducing energy and costs required to ship and replace additional components. It also reduces the potential for obsolete inventory when products are changed over. In 2011, more than 75 percent of the company’s bike products sold were micro-USB rechargeable, compared to only 28 percent in 2010. In 2012, they anticipate to increase this amount to 90 percent.

Light & Motion Industries continues to pursue materials and components sourced from U.S. suppliers, reducing the energy required to transport materials and finished products to their customers. They encourage customers to return discharged components for safe recycling, sponsor events that help to protect the environment and reach out to their community, both electronically (website, blogs and social media) and at events discussing relevant environmental issues.

How does Light and Motion Industries reach out to the community and their employees?

Light & Motion Industries has numerous channels to promote its focus on recycling and environmental issues, as well as engage employees and the community. They are corporate sponsors of various academies and research entities, sustainability organizations and environmental initiatives. They also utilize Facebook and Twitter while sponsoring an excellent blog site to advocate for the environment.

Being in the bicycle parts business, Light and Motion Industries is a huge proponent of alternative transportation, particularly biking. They support a variety of bicycle events, such as sponsoring the Monterey County Transportation Agency’s “Bike Week” and serving free breakfast to participants of San Francisco Bay Area’s “Bike to Work Day.” Light and Motion Industries also houses an advocacy section on their website, where they promote events like the World Car Free Day, Mass Commuter Challenge and National Bike to Work Week. Additionally, Light and Motion Industries maintains a formal policy of offering employee incentives to commute or cycle to work, which includes an indoor bike parking area.

What has Light and Motion Industries done to reduce waste?

As well as maintaining recycling bins throughout their facility and work spaces, Light and Motion Industries has gone the extra mile to reduce waste generation and disposal. All of their products are manufactured with rechargeable batteries to reduce disposal. Additionally, the company maintains a battery recycling program and actively encourages their customers to return discharged batteries for safe recycling. They have also found creative ways to re-use obsolete product packaging, using stickers or art stamps. The repurposed packaging can then be used as new product packaging, thereby avoiding disposal of excess materials into landfills.

Light and Motion Industries actively works with vendors to reuse “upstream” scrap materials and through these efforts, were able to save approximately $10,000 in electronics costs in 2011. Over the past couple years, they have also made significant effort to reuse non-faulty components from warranty and recall products.