Beamax

How green is Beamax?

By: Otto Tromm, Managing Director

There’s a lot of talk about "green" these days. So you might be wondering –
when buying a projection screen – what Beamax is doing for the environment.

Well, as with our products, I look at the details. But also at what matters and what doesn't.

In the office, it's simple. All paper is recycled. That means it goes into separate
containers. Toners for printers and the fax are sent back to the suppliers. These are refilled and resold by the manufacturers.

Plastic bottles are recycled through the local community's program, where
bottles are collected in special bags every 2 weeks.

It's remarkable how little else is left after that.

In production, there are more materials. Stuff like aluminium, steel, plastic and paper. Yet even there, there's limited real waste. All left-overs are separated and recycled. But what happens to returned projection screens?

With returned screens, we first try to re-use it. That's because the value of the material is at its highest, when used
for a specific goal.In practice, it means the following: Recycling as scrap is the last resort. If we can find another use, we'll do that. If there really is no way to repurpose the material, whether as a whole, or in parts, only then will we put it in the
recycling process.

Here’s a flowchart of the process.

So if your projection screen is returned for recycling, we'll first see if we can still sell it as an ex-demo. Maybe with a few parts repaired. When that's not an option, we’ll look at repurposing parts. As an example, if the projection screen fabric can't be re-used, because of stains for example, we cut them to smaller pieces.

These smaller pieces are perfect canvasses for the kids in my daughters class.

This saves us from turning material into scrap and saves the school from having to spend money on materials. Plus, the kids
love feeling like real artists!

Metal or aluminium parts that are damaged and really can not be used for anything else, are recycled and turned into raw material for different products. This is something that we don't do ourselves. We just bring the material to the local recycling centres.

So there you have it, our story when it comes to recycling. If you have any suggestions, especially when it comes to repurposing parts, please let me know.

You can reach me at otto @ Beamax.com

Thanks!

Otto