Sustainability is at the heart of operations at Carl Zeiss Vision with the lens company’s Green, Safe, Responsible project combining over 250 initiatives worldwide for Zeiss Vision Care.
‘As a company owned by the Carl Zeiss Foundation, sustainability and business success are inextricably linked at Zeiss,’ says Lindsay Filmer, marketing director at Carl Zeiss Vision. ‘Zeiss Group has set ambitious goals to deliver our social responsibility and to anchor sustainable actions within the whole company.’
Over the past 10 years, Carl Zeiss Vision has achieved a reduction of 31% in waste volume, 48% in water consumption, 50% in carbon emissions and 51% in energy consumption. It is also using only green power at all sites worldwide, making packaging more sustainable and aiming to operate in a carbon-neutral way in all global activities by 2025.
‘Zeiss Group is proud to have delivered a 72% reduction in carbon emissions compared to the 2018/19 fiscal year and we are progressing numerous sustainable packaging solutions across our markets,’ says Filmer.
‘This has included a pilot to change all lens packets to be made out of recycled material. As well as recent changes to our UK operations where we have removed unnecessary packaging, introduced packaging solutions that delivers full green credentials, and digitalised our processes to go paperless,’ she adds.
It was the group’s focus on sustainability and environmental impact that stood out to the judges for the Optician Awards 2023 Lens category, along with the introduction of new ‘innovative lenses’ and accessible technology.
‘We were absolutely thrilled to win the Optician Award for Lens of the Year 2023 with our innovation, Zeiss ClearView. We had so much fun, catching up with fellow optical experts and celebrating such a splendid array of achievements across the industry,’ says Filmer.
‘And what a buzz to go back to the office the following day and share the news of the award win with all our colleagues in the UK and in Germany, many of which who had been part of the development and launch of this latest Zeiss lens addition,’ she adds.
ClearView single vision lenses, introduced in October 2023, are described as thinner, flatter and more attractive than conventional stock lens designs, featuring full UV protection up to 400nm, premium anti-reflective coating and BlueGuard blue light filtration technology.
This year, as part of its Always On marketing activity, Zeiss has promoted ClearView across its social channels in partnership with an influencer, Oliver Proudlock. ‘The focus of this activity was to drive consumer awareness and consideration of Zeiss ClearView and, critically, to drive consumers to take action by finding their nearest Zeiss partner optician and book their next appointment,’ says Filmer.
Filmer adds that Zeiss ensures the 10,000 plus consumers visiting its website each month are navigated to search and find their nearest Zeiss optician, thereby driving footfall for its partners.
Serving retail optical businesses is the company’s mission, working in partnership to create tailored, holistic business solutions, premium products, providing training and CPD events and on-hand customer care.
‘Our pledge to our customers is we will never sell direct to their customers,’ Filmer adds.
As part of ongoing efforts to develop innovative, patient-oriented products, Zeiss launched the MyoCare Stock lens in June in a drive to make myopia management accessible and affordable for all.
‘This recent launch expanded our MyoCare portfolio and provided the market with the first major ophthalmic lens supplier to offer a myopia management solution in a stock lens,’ says Filmer.
MyoCare lenses are a hard variant with a small clear zone and strong mean addition power, suitable for younger children where myopia progression is more rapid, while MyoCare S lenses have a larger central clear zone and softer mean addition power for older children and adolescents where progression is slower.
According to the company, the MyoCare designs show an average emmetropic progression ratio for axial length of up to 86% for children aged 10-12 years and up to 63% for children aged seven to nine years.
‘We are now busy working with the teams in Zeiss HQ on next year’s product launch initiatives. Watch this space,’ says Filmer.
Carl Zeiss Vision has entered the Optician Awards Lens category again this year for its MyoCare Stock lens launch and Filmer is hopeful for further success.
‘We will keep our fingers firmly crossed, as it is always such an honour to be recognised at the annual Optician Awards,’ she says.
Shortlisted:
Hoya Lens UK | Shamir UK | Younger Optics Europe
