A score in used kit

Green lifestyles, recycling and product reuse may be in vogue now but 20 years ago, Tim Baker had already hit upon an idea to reduce the amount of optical instrumentation destined for landfill.

Using his 15 years of experience within the optical instrumentation industry, he launched a used instrument business as a way of selling on unwanted optical practice kit. ‘I just thought rather than dispose or scrap, why not recycle and reuse,’ says the BIB chief executive. From that idea, a business refurbishing and reselling equipment was born.

Baker says from the outset the plan was to use this starting point as a stepping stone towards the creation of a new independently-owned ophthalmic instrument supplier. One of the first iterations of the business saw the capital from selling refurbished equipment being re-invested to develop a UK instrument brokerage business under the title Bakers Instrument Brokers. Through this, BIB offers a way for practices to resell equipment and dispose of in a financially and ecologically sound way.