In focus: Vision of a greener high street

Going green has been a fashionable trend for businesses looking to improve their appeal to ethical consumers.

Green issues can incorporate energy consumption, type of energy used – renewables or non-renewables – water consumption, packaging and waste.

Multiples operating at large scale, such as Specsavers, risk causing a greater collective impact on the environment without setting out sustainability goals. Last year it sold 20 million frames, 425 million contact lenses and 338,000 hearing aids globally, for example, and manufactured 40 million ophthalmic lenses.

On the manufacturing side, Specsavers’ glazing and lens operations are documented in this week’s green issue of Optician (pages 14 to 16), while its annual report outlines wider green credentials.