How Ava is pushing its Technology for Good value to the next level

Anne Simpson, February 22 2022

Anne Simpson

Marketing Manager, EMEA

In early 2021, the employees at Ava began to refine their values in order to better pinpoint what we stand for as a company. A taskforce comprised of a diverse set of employees across all departments and regions gathered to create a plan to define our values as a company. Of all the incredible values that spoke to our team, the principle that immediately jumped to the top of the list was “Technology for Good.” In a world of competition and corporate strategy, we wanted to send a clear message that our products and our people stood for something more. Tech for Good became the company’s first value, a unanimous favorite, and a powerful determiner in steering Ava forward. 

But how does this look in action? We wanted to forge a path of growth and accountability, respect for our employees, customers, partners, and the world around us. So the team deliberated and decided that Ava would form a series of partnerships to promote altruism, ethics, and responsibility in technology.

Here are some of the highlights.

A partnership with Cloudforests

In mid-2021, Ava decided to enter a new type of partnership with the Irish organization, Cloudforests. Cloudforests seeks to protect the environment and mitigate climate change by investing in plantable land. Once a suitable plot is found, they saturate it with tree seedlings to regrow native forests. Operating under a strict climate change action plan, Cloudforests continues to be a carbon-negative business with the help of investments from their Cloud Partners. After hearing about their mission, Ava decided to become Cloud Partner 14 and donate a camera for the area where the trees are growing. 

In February of this year, Cloudforests will start the process of planting their first community of trees. The trees will be found at Loophead Peninsula in County Clare, Ireland, and Ava will be sending a team to join the community taking action against the effects of climate change. 

Since we know word of mouth is the best way to spread awareness about a cause, we wanted to share Cloudforests with some of our business partnerships. Each holiday season, we like to thank our top-selling partners with a gift. This year, we added to our commitment to Cloudforests and gifted these partners with a tree in their name. These gifted trees will be part of the new community being planted on February 22nd, 2022 and we are thrilled to watch this partnership flourish and grow along with the trees we have planted together.

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Recyclable packaging for more sustainability

We didn’t just want to limit ourselves to supporting companies doing good. We took a look in the mirror and have taken the initial steps towards more sustainable packaging. The development team at Ava took it upon themselves to not only think about the design and use of our cameras and data platform but also how we deliver those cameras to our customers. 

We needed to see what we could do to improve ourselves. Attention went into all aspects of our packaging, from using organic material to reducing plastic. Ava’s Mechanical Engineer, Fredrick Cappelen, describes the new packaging and its benefits:

In our more recent products, the packaging is made of corrugated cardboard and molded pulp trays. Molded pulp is produced from various paper fibers such as recycled paper, recycled cardboard, and some virgin organic fibers. They are 100% recyclable and biodegradable. Another benefit is that the box and the padding are essentially versions of the same material and can be discarded together, which makes recycling easier to do and more likely to happen.”

Fredrick Cappelen, Mechanical Engineer at Ava Security

Even outside of the packaging, the cameras themselves are made with aluminum and thermoplastics that are also entirely recyclable. We have an ever-increasing focus on reducing plastic usage in our packaging and decluttering new product boxes to eliminate unnecessary waste such as instructions, which can now be found by scanning a provided QR code. Smaller boxes mean more cameras per shipment, resulting in fewer shipments, thereby reducing the carbon footprint of each camera. 

These are some of the early initiatives Ava is taking to proactively address sustainability concerns. Employees are upholding the Technology for Good value every day as they design, develop, and think about how their products are to be used. 

Technology for good

We exist to make solutions for good. We are open and honest about what we do and how we safeguard organizations, individuals, privacy, and the environment.

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