Eco friendly eyewear
From the food we eat, to the clothes we wear & the beauty products we use, more & more people are thinking about the environment & making eco-friendly choices. Making sustainable choices with your eyewear is also a great opportunity to help you see clearly whilst doing your bit for the environment.
The environment & eyewear
While there’s questions over the eco-friendliness of glass (some claim glass is a sustainable, fully-recyclable material, while others argue the use of non-renewable natural materials & Co2 emissions are damaging), there are opportunities for the eyewear industry to do more when it comes to the use of plastics.
Used to craft frames, disposable contact lenses & single-use packaging, these plastics can later end up in landfill where they can take up to 500 years to decompose, as well as leak toxic pollutants into the ground in the meantime. If thrown down the drain, plastic lenses can break down into smaller particles to form microplastics that pollute the oceans.
Recently, the industry has already started to address this issue & have started to offer more eco-conscious alternatives & planet-friendly solutions to disposing of old eyewear.
How can I make more sustainable choices
Firstly, investing in good quality, stylish frames that you enjoy wearing & make you feel good is a great step forward to minimising waste as you will be less inclined to throw them away or not wear them. Many brands now also produce frames made from recycled & recyclable materials & bio-based plastics which will also help reduce your plastic consumption.
You can also look for contact lens recycling schemes or brands that offer more eco-conscious solutions for their packaging.
Want to know more? Boots Opticians have a great range of frames, contact lenses & accessories that keep an extra eye out for the planet:
Stylish, eco-conscious frames
• Stylish frames available in on trend colours & shapes
• Made from materials that are recycled/recyclable or come from natural & sustainable sources
• Recycle your old glasses with BOTANIQ® & Terracycle® Zero Waste Box™
The BOTANIQ® eyewear range is designed with the planet in mind, offering frames made from materials that are either recycled or recyclable, or that come from natural & sustainable sources – this includes wood, cork, bamboo, bio-based acetate & 60% recycled stainless steel.
Once you have finished with your old frames you can give them a second life by returning them to BOTANIQ® who are working with TerraCycle® & their Zero Waste Box Scheme™ to be recycled or reused.
BOTANIQ® have also partnered with One Tree Planted who will plant a new tree for every BOTANIQ® frame sold.
Sustainable luxury with Mulberry
Mulberry eyewear is committed to making a more positive impact on the environment and using significantly less energy and resources during the manufacturing process. Explore the collection made from innovative materials.
Recycle your contact lenses
• Since January 2019, Boots Opticians have collected & recycled an estimated 5.2m contact lenses, blister packs & foil covers in the ACUVUE® Contact Lens Recycling Programme
• In 2021 they recycled more than 2.2m contact lenses, diverting 12 tons of waste from landfill
This year Boots Opticians have partnered with ACUVUE® & TerraCycle® Zero Waste Boxes™ to increase recycling capacity by 25%, which would equate to a total of around 2.5m contact lenses! A Zero Waste Box™ is a complete & convenient solution to store, ship & recycle your contact lenses, blister packs & foil covers. You can find a Zero Waste Box™ in all Boots Opticians stores where you can dispose of your used contact lenses, blister packs, & foil covers, making it easy for you to play your part.
Choose plastic neutral contact lenses
Boots 1-day* & MiSight 1-day contact lenses are now certified plastic neutral by Plastic Bank
Keeping plastics out of the ocean may be a particular concern if you’re a regular contact lens wearer. Credits are purchased equal to the weight of plastic used in our Boots 1-day* & MiSight® 1-day contact lenses, the blister pack & the outer carton** so an equal amount of plastic can be collected by Plastic Bank to help prevent it from reaching the ocean. They expect to direct 890,000 plastic bottles from Boots 1-day & MiSight contact lenses alone from reaching the ocean this year!
Reduced packaging waste
• 80% less waste compared to conventional packaging
• Eight-times thinner than a standard lens pack
The Menicon Miru 1-day flat pack is a daily disposable hydrogel contact lens that has many fantastic features designed with the wearer & environment in mind. Not only does the unique packaging use 99% recycled plastics, but it’s ultra-slim & lightweight too. Thanks to innovative design, you’ll only need to touch the outer surface of the lens, meaning the risk of contamination is also three-times lower.
Boots Opticians Glasses Case & Lens Cloth
Made from 100% recycled material, the case is not only compact but is produced in three sizes & in flat form, meaning they occupy approximately 30% of the space of a standard clamshell case, for more efficient transportation & storage.
When you buy a pair of Boots brand frames, you'll also receive a slim-line case & lens cloth crafted from 100% recycled material, which has replaced the 20,000 square metres of polyester that was previously used. This helps us reduce carbon emissions thanks to more efficient transportation & storage.
*Excludes Boots Protect Plus & Boots Protect products.
**Plastic neutrality is established by purchasing credits from Plastic Bank. A credit represents the collection and conversion of one kilogram of plastic that may reach or bedestined for waterways. CooperVision purchases credits equal to the weight of plastic in our-one day contact lens orders in a specified time period. One-day contact lensplastic is determined by the weight of plastic in the blister, the lens and the secondary (outer) package, including laminates, adhesives, and auxiliary inputs (e.g. ink).
