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.
Standout initiatives included harvesting rainwater, the re-use of plastic frame bags and elastic bands, and the launch of an environmental awareness e-Learning module.
However, the multiple has identified that, with thousands of stores globally, its retail operations accounted for the largest share of carbon footprint, followed by manufacturing and distribution, then support services such as IT.
Therefore, the environmental cost of retailing within optics is worth deeper investment.
In response, Specsavers has moved practices to energy suppliers under the Renewable Energy Guarantees of Origin (REGOs) scheme.
Meanwhile plans for the year ahead included the roll-out of automated meter reader installations for its UK retail portfolio to provide half-hourly consumption data, and expanding its paperless operations. It means environmental considerations for high street retailers start with choice of supplier and end with responsible waste management.
For smaller independents, this might be easier to manage, but controlling waste and building materials is often outside the retailer’s grasp.
Taking control
Alice Ellison, environmental policy adviser for the British Retail Consortium (BRC), told Optician that practices on the high street or in shopping centres cannot always have total control on the green measures in place at their premises.
She said: ‘If you are operating in a shopping centre, what you can recycle might be determined by the shopping centre operator.’
LED lighting was one efficiency measure practices could implement though, while a campaign called Close the Door has been set up to prevent shops wasting energy by keeping their doors open when using heating or air-conditioning. The voluntary organisation has signed up 500 shops so far.
Ellison said retailers stood to use less energy by simply closing their doors and would no longer need an indoor heater by the door. While BRC members had signed up, there was no consensus on the adverse impact it might have on shopper footfall. Automatic doors were another alternative.
Where does optics stand?
The Specsavers case study suggests optics is unique in expending more energy at a retail level than in manufacturing.
‘If you look across retail in general the operational footprint is far less than the supply chain footprint,’ said Ellison.
In finding a green supplier, there was often more to consider than the distance travelled, she said, using parallels from the food industry.
‘Food miles can be a bit of a red herring. You have to look at the whole life-cycle analysis, and the resources that have gone into growing that food in the first place,’ she added.
In optics, being able to concentrate on sourcing vision products only should give the professional a sourcing advantage compared to more general retailers. ‘An optician sells a very specific product so you have got a simpler supply chain that may be easier to control,’ she said.
Another measure the high street has taken to become greener is the introduction of a 5p charge for all single-use plastic carrier bags in October 2015. However, Ellison said carrier bags represented less than 1% of household waste and pointed to research showing cotton cloth bags must be used hundreds of times before becoming energy efficient.
‘There are bigger environmental issues to think about,’ she added.
The Carbon Trust has published a guide to green retailing, available online, stressing the importance of low level lighting, heating and ventilation.
However, while individual retail sectors have benefited from new organisations such as WRAP, set up to improve the efficiency of food production and design of packaging, there is no standout reference point for optical practices.
Instead, independent practices look to their high street partners and peers for best practice.
Observatory the Opticians and Wardale Williams the Opticians MD Jonathan Foreman said: ‘We are not much greener than most really. However, we are making more effort in this regard. For example, the new branding we are working on will use clearly recycled materials. We had a very successful refit in Muswell Hill a couple years ago which used a lot of reclaimed material and that has inspired us to continue that theme into other shops . It is nice that the fashion is that way at the moment and so we have been taking advantage of it.’
He too noted the battle leaseholders sometimes have in protecting the green credentials of their practice, especially when it came to heating and cooling devices in listed buildings.
Foreman added: ‘One thing we are adamant about is that we don't have open doors, in winter or summer , so we don't waste energy that way and the experience is improved inside for the customer.'
Marc Bennett, director of entrepreneurial services at AEL Markhams,pointed out the financial benefits of being green.
He said: ‘Aside from the positive public relations & marketing aspects of being a business that supports the environment, there are a number of tax reliefs available to encourage practices to be greener. These tax reliefs reduce the amount of tax practices pay on their profits and therefore enable a practice to reinvest the tax savings back into eyecare.’
Resources for green retail
- Carbon Trust Retail Guidance
- Close the Door retail campaign
www.carbontrust.com/media/ 39228/ctv001_retail.pdf