Lucy Patchett: How did the team feel winning the Sustainability Optician Award in 2021?
Julie Abel: We honestly could not have been more thrilled and honoured to be the company that won the industry’s first ever sustainability award. Most importantly, this award reflects the global pendulum-swing in changing attitudes towards a greener future, focused on a more circular consumption.
LP: What was key for implementing a sustainable strategy effectively?
JA: The turning point for our board of directors was an uncomfortable and increasing awareness of the unfathomable levels of plastic waste pollution. As business owners, we saw how we could immediately set about making more responsible and sustainable choices.
Evolving our product portfolio was the starting point, but our strategy quickly stretched throughout every level and function of the business, from simply switching to renewable energy suppliers to making a universal company-wide review to reduce our carbon emissions. We appointed chief sustainability officer, Emily Andrews, from our employee base and have appointed sustainability champions in every department.
LP: What has been the company’s biggest overall sustainable product achievement?
JA: Our most prominent product achievement to date would undoubtedly be the ground-breaking introduction of the all-encompassing Eco-Conscious Collection, late in 2019. This launch flagged Eyespace as a passionate and early adopter of eco-initiatives, long before the mainstream, and at the time was the most comprehensive sustainable product launch from a British supplier.
The collection is strictly backed by a long list of eco-credentials, from pure, ecological material choices and utilisation of non-toxic plasticisers through to the vegetable inks used on the collection’s print-work, or our initial partnership with One Tree Planted that allowed us to support reforestation across Australia and the Amazon following the devastating 2020 fires.
LP: What do you believe made Eyespace stand out for this award?
JA: As a business, we believe there is no place for greenwashing and it’s no longer enough for companies to pay lip-service to insubstantial eco-commitments. The unprecedented response we received to the launch of our Eco-Conscious Collection re-enforced our belief that it was the right time to transition our entire portfolio of house and designer brands – Aspinal of London, Land Rover and Range Rover – to be as sustainable as it possibly could be, and not just the frames themselves.
We believe we were the first British supplier to switch to the exclusive use of biodegradable frame bags throughout our entire portfolio, with the exception of the Eco-Conscious collection, which is provided in plastic-free, biodegradable card-based packaging, and were one of the first optical suppliers globally to introduce biodegradable demo lenses.
We are ISO14001 accredited and are also in the process of becoming a certified B-Corporation, which is expected to take 12 months. In the past 15 months alone, we have introduced a series of new bio-acetates, Econyl, G850 Rnew, recycled stainless steels, recycled ocean waste from sea bottle plastics and most recently, Greenline Grilamid TR to our product portfolio, as well as transitioning to cases made entirely of recyclable or renewables.
LP: How has Eyespace worked with its supply chain to drive change?
JA: Our supply chain is beyond important in upholding our corporate social responsibility objectives and in promoting good practice. We only partner with manufacturers committed to a rigorous code of conduct, complying with the Modern Slavery Act (2015), safeguarding workers’ rights and most are compliant with several environmental certifications. Each frame is also subject to internal and external audits.
Where possible, they also commit to using clean energy and/or renewable energy, the highest quality machinery, reducing electricity consumption and automating manufacturing processes, negating a high quantity of waste product. As standard, strict quality management controls are in place in all suppliers to avoid over-procurement or over-production of frames to improve manufacturing rejection rates. Most suppliers hold internal recycling facilities and sell waste acetates to material suppliers to be recycled back into new forms of raw product, or reuse waste.
LP: How does Eyespace get practices and customers engaged in sustainability?
JA: To support our friends and colleagues within the industry in becoming more aware of the sustainability initiatives and opportunities open to them, we have invested heavily in developing CPD to support their learning-journey, while also hosting several of our own virtual ‘green summits’. For practitioners, we invested in the CPD-accredited ‘Eco innovations in frame technology’ training to help opticians understand the rapid developments and innovations being made within the optical area.
Additionally, co-founder Jayne Abel was instrumental in the creation of – and now chairs – the Optical Suppliers Association Sustainability Committee.
