2018 Optoro
Impact Report

Explore our efforts to improve our environment, our community and our workplace.
plants

Our Mission to Make Retail
More Sustainable

At Optoro, we’re transforming retail by eliminating waste from returns. Whether building great returns technology or supporting our community, recycling or cycling to work, we’re dedicated to having a meaningful impact.

Retail, We Have a Problem...

Returns are a large and growing problem, and in many instances are managed in wasteful and unsustainable ways.

Each year in the United States alone…

$0390B
worth of merchandise returned
05B Ibs
of waste are sent to landfill
015M tons
of CO2 emitted in the returns process

Transforming Retail Through Technology

Our technology platform uses data science and machine learning to route returned goods to their next best home, reducing financial, operational, and environmental waste.

tech (22)

Environmental Impact

Here’s the positive impact our technology made in 2018.

01.4M Ibs
diverted from landfill by giving retailers a solution to manage
and resell inventory in the most effective way
08.3M Ibs
of carbon emissions prevented by reducing transportation and increasing
efficiency in the reverse supply chain
0179K Ibs
of products recycled at end of life through our national network of certified recyclers

Giving Back to Our Community

We’d be nothing without the strength and support of our community. Not only did we help our retail partners donate millions of goods to charities in 2018, we also made a company-wide pledge to spend 1% of our time giving back to the community.

Community Impact

Here are highlights from some of our favorite volunteer and community engagement initiatives in 2018:

$8.1M

worth of goods donated to charity

211

charities impacted across the U.S. in 36 states and Canada

“Good360’s relationship with Optoro allows us to transform the lives of those in need through the distribution of large-scale donations from leading retailers across the country. Products of all kinds are given a new life and put in the hands of those who can really use them.”- Shari Rudolph, Chief Marketing Officer, Good360

100

truckloads of donated product routed to Good360 to help charities nationwide

250

toys donated to disadvantaged families by partnering with the Last Minute Toy Store

“The donations you sent our way kept our friends well and fed, and kept our pets happy. They kept the smallest of our loved ones supplied with diapers, food and other critical items. Our families could never have afforded these quality products without your help.”- Stacy Downey, Director, The Little Pantry That Could

70,351

food products and diapers to the Little Pantry that Could

5,500

single shoes sent to Soles4Souls to support small businesses in over 127 countries

2,947

hours volunteered

2,250

hot meals served at S.O.M.E (So Others Might Eat)

46K lbs

of healthy groceries provided to students with Martha’s Market

1,000

items exchanged at our 2nd Annual Swap Shop event, a free clothing swap for local residents

54

Meetups hosted by Optorians serving and supporting our community

Our People & Workplace:

We pride ourselves on our team. Optoro is comprised of brilliant minds who are committed to making the world a more efficient and sustainable place to live.


We hire people, not resumes and we invest in building and strengthening our workplace in a number of ways.

We’re grateful for the recognition we received.
In 2018, Optoro and its employees won the following awards:

In 2018,

here's how we supported employee health and well‑being.

Wellness

Fostering healthy habits among our employees is important to us. We host bi-annual Wellness Weeks with 15 events related to nutrition, fitness, relaxation and mental wellness.

Green Practices

We continuously strive to create a green workplace that inspires environmentally friendly practices. In 2018, we made huge strides towards our 2019 goal of a 90% company-wide recycling rate. Educating employees on recycling, performing regular waste audits, and creating a Green Purchasing Policy were critical to our success to date.

Company Recycling Rate 100% 75% 50% 25% 0% 2016 2017 2018 2019 Goal

Growth and work life balance

Our professional development stipends for every employee and unlimited PTO policy encourage a healthy work-life balance.

Bryan Dombrowski

TestBash in San Francisco

“This conference was a great confidence booster as it allowed me to come on stage and give a talk for up to 99 seconds. There were no rules or requirements as long as it was relevant - in my case, I chose Testing and Quality Engineering.”

Santiago Rodriguez,

CAST 2018

“Attending CAST 2018 was great and encouraged me to continue learning more about my career. It really helped think of myself as part of a larger community. Plus, in order to keep people from feeling cramped in the hotel they offered a chance to go to the Kennedy Space Center since it was nearby and mingle with fellow testers.”

Diversity & Inclusion

Optoro is committed to recruiting and retaining employees of diverse backgrounds. We are proud of the strides we have made this year signing Founders for Change, proactively recruiting for more diverse candidates, and hosting community sessions on diversity and inclusion.

We launched a number of new diversity and inclusion initiatives in 2018, but there is still work to be done in 2019. We strive to continue to create a business that celebrates differences, supports its community, and empowers teams.

Tobin Moore, CEO

037.6%

of Optoro employees are female

033.3%

of Optoro leadership (Director title and above) is female

028.4%

of our Tech team is female

028%

of Optoro employees are people of color

Perks for Parks

We love the great outdoors. Every time one of our employees visits and takes a picture of themselves at a national park, Optoro makes a donation to the National Parks Conservation Association to support conservation. In 2018, our team made 28 national park visits!

Join Us In Making Retail More Sustainable

To learn more about our solutions, contact us. To apply for one of our open positions, visit our careers page.