It is our duty to maintain sustainability and reduce plastic waste, which causes irreversible damage to our planet. We now use twenty times more plastic than we did fifty years ago. There is no denying that climate change and global pollution are genuine threats that can no longer be ignored. The rescue mission to save our planet starts at home and, in our case, at our two practices in Edinburgh.

Sustainable Frames

It’s encouraging to see new manufacturers innovating and producing frames that are made from sustainable materials. First up is Coral Eyewear, co-founded by George Bailey who started researching sustainable materials for eyewear whilst studying at East Anglia university. George came up with the innovative idea to create eyewear from rescued fishing nets and recycled plastic. The otherwise harmful waste found at sea and in landfill is sorted and cleaned to recover the nylon. They make the optical frames and sunglasses from a material called Econyl, which is just as strong as virgin plastic but without damaging our planet. In addition, there are no environmentally damaging lacquers, gloss or varnish added. The range of eyewear is designed in London and in Edinburgh and is made by a small team in the North of Italy. Not only do the frames come in sustainable packaging, the impact-free delivery offsets environmentally shipping cost too. If you want to hear Coral Eyewear investor, Jack Humphrey, talk about the brand, you can find a short video here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=me3AcYwin_4.

Sea2See is another manufacturer who utilises plastic waste and discarded fishing nets from the ocean. They make a single frame from one kilogram of collected and recycled marine plastic. The waste is collected by fishers in different parts of the world such as Spain, France and West Africa. In return, Sea2See will provide the fishing communities with free eyewear every year. The optical frames and sunglasses are handmade in Italy by a family firm who have been in the optical business for over fifty years. See2Sea do not use any products of animal origin and their entire collection is Peta-Approved Vegan. You can hear founder and CEO François van den Abeele talk about the entire process in this short video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1doecueREDI.

It's encouraging to see an increased number of manufacturers using marine waste to create optical frames and sunglasses. Eco is another manufacturer that makes their eyewear from 95% recycled plastic, bio-based castor seed oil, and recycled ocean plastic. Their sunglasses range, Eco Ocean, are made from ocean waste. The Eco optical frames can be supplied with a very stylish and modern clip-on. Eco is also about giving something back and formed a partnership with Trees for the Future. For every frame Eco sells, they will plant a tree.

'Wear-love-give,' is the tagline from Pala, another inspiring manufacturer that doesn’t only focus on sustainable eyewear but also on funding eyewear projects in Africa. Pala’s founder, John Pritchard, is dedicated to developing sustainable sunglasses and frames while also giving something back to eye-care programmes in Africa by providing grants to vision centres, dispensaries and screening programmes. On his website, Pritchard says: “Sadly over 640 million people are unable to access the eye-care they need. Crucially, a pair of spectacles can be an invaluable economic tool providing empowerment for the wearer. They enable reading, learning and access to better education, plus provide a chance to operate a machine, or to thread a needle and improve overall job prospects. Access to this is vital.” Pala is also passionate about empowering local African communities. They work alongside Ghanaian-based NGO (non-governmental association) to support local weaving communities. The beautifully weaved eyewear cases are made from recycled plastic and are handmade by a traditional weaver. The case is labelled by hand with the name of the weaver who created it, which is pretty special. If you want to see the full process, check out this short video: https://vimeo.com/324138009.

Hemp Fibre Frames

Based in Edinburgh, Hemp Eyewear have come up with the world’s first hemp fibre frames, which are all handcrafted. Plant fibres form their own unique patterns, making each frame bespoke and one-of-a kind. The great advantage of hemp is that it can be grown very easily and quickly using very little water, with no need for pesticides or herbicides. It is more sustainable than other materials such as wood as four times the amount of hemp can be produced in the time it takes to produce one crop of wood.

Glasklar Lens Cleaner

What about the products to clean spectacles? Disposable wipes might be convenient, but they tend not to be environmentally friendly. At our two practices in Edinburgh, we offer a way to reduce plastic waste with the Glasklar Lens Cleaner, their slogan: ‘Refillable, Natural, Sustainable,’ tells you pretty much all you need to know. Rather than throwing the bottle away once empty, it can refilled in our practice at no extra cost. The cleaning solution is completely natural and does not contain any chemical additives, and therefore can be used on all types of spectacle lens materials, coatings and surfaces.

Lens Disposal Solution

If you use disposable contact lenses, you might not have thought twice about throwing them in the bin (they should never be flushed down the drain or toilet), but unfortunately most of them are not biodegradable. The small size of the lenses makes it almost impossible for most recycling facilities’ machinery to process. The outer cardboard boxes that the lenses come in can be recycled, but the blister packs that contain the lenses are more of an issue as different plastics are used and the foil seals are generally not recyclable. Luckily there is a solution; you can now dispose of your used lenses and the blister packs by handing them in at one of our two practices in Edinburgh where we have a Terracycle collection bin.

We all have a responsibility to take care of our planet for current and future generations. Together we can increase and improve sustainability, reduce plastic waste and raise environmental awareness. We only have one planet, let’s look after it.

Article written by Veronique Kootstra | Head Receptionist