The way we do things is changing so quickly in this crazy world in which we live. As we navigate the ins and outs of our new normal, I want everyone to remember to keep recycling. To do our part in making the world a better place to live, Nyquist Elementary School is part of the TerraCycle, Plant Green and ColorCycle programs. We are trying to save the planet one brigade at a time. We are slowly getting people to recycle the unique items that can be reused and kept out of the landfills.   TerraCycle is a program that not only recycles those hard to recycle items but also offers fundraising opportunities. While the school has bins in place at their facility, Emily Miller felt a need to make them more accessible to the community to help raise awareness on the importance of recycling. You will find bins for Eos products at Spire Credit Union, Colgate oral care (accepting all brands of toothpaste tubes, floss containers and packaging) at the Isle Dentist office, personal care beauty products (accepting lipstick tubes, mascara tubes, pump tops from lotion bottles, shampoo bottles, etc.) at JJ’s Shear Beauty. Isle Hardware Hank has a bin for Febreze products such as air freshener cartridges, plugins, packaging, and Febreze one trigger spray bottles. On your next stop to Thompson’s Lake Country Drug, be sure to bring your disposable razors to be recycled. They will accept all brands, packaging and disposable razor heads. The following items can be recycled at the school. GoGo Squeez pouches and caps, Contacts blister packs and contacts, Arm & Hammer and Oxiclean Laundry soap pouches, L.O.L. Surprize Packaging, accessories and products, #6 Rigid plastic cups (Solo) and not Solo, Popsockets, Swiffer refills, and Bunch O Balloons packaging, balloons, stem, etc.   The ColorCycle program accepts all brands, sizes and types of markers. You may drop your old, dried up markers in the bin at City Hall.   Plant Green offers recycling for ink cartridges. Those items may be dropped off at First National Bank.   For more information on what products can be recycled, please visit the bin locations. Each bin contains an information sheet on what they accept. I will also add information to my webpage on the district website. I want to thank Emily Miller and the area businesses for partnering with Nyquist Elementary on this project and helping to keep our Earth clean and beautiful. I encourage you to start collecting these highly used items and drop them off on your next trip to town. As one person, you may feel that you cannot make an impact, but as a community, we can start to change the world. Now, imagine if everyone in every community participated. Imagine the impact that would make on our environment. I hope you will get out and help save our planet. Afterall, Earth is for everyone.   Guest columnist Melisa Maxwell is the dean of students at Isle Public Schools.

The way we do things is changing so quickly in this crazy world in which we live. As we navigate the ins and outs of our new normal, I want everyone to remember to keep recycling. To do our part in making the world a better place to live, Nyquist Elementary School is part of the TerraCycle, Plant Green and ColorCycle programs. We are trying to save the planet one brigade at a time. We are slowly getting people to recycle the unique items that can be reused and kept out of the landfills.   TerraCycle is a program that not only recycles those hard to recycle items but also offers fundraising opportunities. While the school has bins in place at their facility, Emily Miller felt a need to make them more accessible to the community to help raise awareness on the importance of recycling. You will find bins for Eos products at Spire Credit Union, Colgate oral care (accepting all brands of toothpaste tubes, floss containers and packaging) at the Isle Dentist office, personal care beauty products (accepting lipstick tubes, mascara tubes, pump tops from lotion bottles, shampoo bottles, etc.) at JJ’s Shear Beauty. Isle Hardware Hank has a bin for Febreze products such as air freshener cartridges, plugins, packaging, and Febreze one trigger spray bottles. On your next stop to Thompson’s Lake Country Drug, be sure to bring your disposable razors to be recycled. They will accept all brands, packaging and disposable razor heads. The following items can be recycled at the school. GoGo Squeez pouches and caps, Contacts blister packs and contacts, Arm & Hammer and Oxiclean Laundry soap pouches, L.O.L. Surprize Packaging, accessories and products, #6 Rigid plastic cups (Solo) and not Solo, Popsockets, Swiffer refills, and Bunch O Balloons packaging, balloons, stem, etc.   The ColorCycle program accepts all brands, sizes and types of markers. You may drop your old, dried up markers in the bin at City Hall.   Plant Green offers recycling for ink cartridges. Those items may be dropped off at First National Bank.   For more information on what products can be recycled, please visit the bin locations. Each bin contains an information sheet on what they accept. I will also add information to my webpage on the district website. I want to thank Emily Miller and the area businesses for partnering with Nyquist Elementary on this project and helping to keep our Earth clean and beautiful. I encourage you to start collecting these highly used items and drop them off on your next trip to town. As one person, you may feel that you cannot make an impact, but as a community, we can start to change the world. Now, imagine if everyone in every community participated. Imagine the impact that would make on our environment. I hope you will get out and help save our planet. Afterall, Earth is for everyone.   Guest columnist Melisa Maxwell is the dean of students at Isle Public Schools.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Earth Day—celebrated annually on April 22.   Does your business honor the environment? Your sustainable business practices can also be an excellent business platform.   In fact, according to a 2019 CGS Retail and Sustainability Survey, nearly 70% of respondents consider sustainability at least somewhat important when making a purchase. Nearly half (47%) would pay more for a sustainable product.   Luckily, the optical industry is serving up an ever-increasing assortment of products that aim to preserve and protect our planet—so you can highlight eco-friendly options daily in your own business.   One big example that has the industry seeing green in more ways than one: Mazzucchelli 1849 has announced an industry-first collaboration with specialty plastics provider Eastman to produce Eastman Acetate Renew, a cellulose diacetate made via Eastman’s carbon renewal technology that contains 60% bio-based and 40% certified recycled content.   “Using Acetate Renew requires no performance sacrifice, meaning we can use it in our full range of premium designs,” says Giovanni Orsi Mazzucchelli, president of Mazzucchelli. Learn more at mazzucchelli1849.it .   Inspired? Turn the page to reveal a dozen more spectacularly sustainable products and initiatives, as we celebrate Earth Month in this special issue. —KERRI ANN RAIMO

Many of these patients require some type of refractive correction but aren’t even aware of their contact lens options.

  By Mile Brujic, OD, and David Kading, OD   Presbyopia is a near-certainty for anyone who lives to reach the age at which the eye’s natural accommodative ability begins to fail. By the time patients are 50 years old, nearly 100% require some type of refractive correction. There is no other condition we manage where the same holds true. Yet only a small percentage of these patients wear contact lenses. We have the opportunity to step in and satisfy this unmet need.   Ophthalmic lens and contact lens technologies present solutions for these patients. Unfortunately, many aren’t aware that there are contact lens options available, as they may not have been given the chance to try them. In the near future, there will also be pharmaceutical options to treat the symptoms of presbyopia. It is critical that we help our patients understand all of their options so that we can improve their outcomes and our standard of care.  

Daily Disposables

Historically, daily disposable lenses have been somewhat limited in their parameter availability, making it difficult for some patients to successfully wear them. This should not overshadow their advantages, especially as there has been an expansion in power ranges. These lenses are worn and disposed of on a daily basis, so there is no interaction with cleaning and disinfecting solutions, and patients are guaranteed a clean, fresh lens wearing experience each day. Daily disposables are an ideal option for patients who stand to benefit from contact lenses and prefer part-time wear.   One complaint patients may have about daily disposable lenses is the amount of waste they produce. Fortunately, TerraCycle offers a program for patients to recycle lenses and packaging, and manufacturers like Bausch + Lomb have taken the initiative to encourage recycling.      

Specialty Lenses

  There are currently no daily disposable options available to presbyopic patients who have astigmatic refractive error. Those interested in daily disposables are often limited to best-corrected distance vision in contact lenses and a combination of reading glasses and contact lenses to see at near. Monovision could help reduce the dependency for near glasses over contact lenses.   We have had access to specialty soft contact lens designs for decades. These lenses give patients with multifocal requirements who also need astigmatic refractive correction the opportunity to wear contact lenses. The inherent challenge with these lenses is that they are custom made and come with a wait time for initial access and orders and reorders in the case of modifications.   Presbyopic lenses with astigmatic correction have experienced advances in recent years. There is now a monthly disposable silicone hydrogel lens Ultra Multifocal for Astigmatism (Bausch + Lomb) with toric and multifocal correction. The lens is made of samfilcon A and is 46% water. This lens is unique in that it is available in a diagnostic set to help you avoid much of the wait time in the ordering process.  

Other Options

  As a profession, optometry has become increasingly aware of line of sight and how it may affect a patient’s visual performance in soft multifocal designs. This can be seen through the advancements the field has made. We now have a contemporary soft multifocal design and a scleral lens design we can customize to offset the optics nasally to correspond with a patient’s line of sight.   Gas permeable (GP) lenses are a viable option for presbyopes, even though they often are thought of as a secondary option for patients who may experience initial lens awareness. GPs provide optical clarity and are intuitively designed to provide distance vision correction in the center of the lens while progressing to the near powers toward more peripheral portions. Translation of the lens in downgaze allows patients to acquire more near power.   Hybrid lenses provide opportunities for presbyopes as well. These lenses have a GP center that is surrounded by a soft lens skirt. This makes initial lens awareness subtler, similarly to soft lenses, and offers comparable optical quality properties to standard GP lenses.   Although much of the conversation surrounding orthokeratology over the last several years has revolved around managing myopia, we certainly can’t overlook our presbyopic patients as potential candidates who are looking for alternatives to glasses or traditional contact lenses. As such, myopic presbyopes are a logical group to consider with this lens technology. Because of the reverse curve in the lens design, the cornea has a prominent steep curve around the pupil. We could look at orthokeratology as having a similar effect as distance-centered, near periphery soft multifocal lenses (Figure 1). As presbyopia progresses, the appropriate next step would seem to be inducing monovision with the lens by under-correcting the level of myopia in the non-dominant eye.   Hyperopic-correcting ortho-K lenses are also now available. As opposed to placing pressure on the central portion of the cornea, they put pressure on more peripheral portions of the cornea, steepening the central cornea and inducing myopic refractive correction. When done over the non-dominant eye, it can have a monovision effect, promoting better near vision.^1,2  

Pharmaceutical Treatments

  There are several pharmaceutical options on the horizon. It is critical that contact lens practitioners understand how to use these new technologies to supplement the contemporary contact lens practice.   In early presbyopes, this may replace the need for multifocal contact lenses, allowing patients to continue with single vision lenses while using drops. Depending on the efficacy of the drop, it may negate the need for multifocal technologies for more advanced presbyopes as well. Some s may still need presbyopic refractive correction in addition to pharmaceutical assistance, although to a lower degree than what would be expected. This could be achieved with lower add-powered multifocals, which are beneficial because there is less of a discrepancy between the distance and near optics within the lens, maximizing the chances of a patient’s success.   There are several presbyopic drops currently under development to be aware of. EV06 1.5% (UNR844-Cl) by Novartis is a lipoic acid choline ester that breaks disulfide bonds, which are thought to harden the lens over time.^3,4 By disrupting these bonds, the lens becomes more elastic and regains some functionality. PRX-100 by Presbyopia Therapies, CSF-1 by Orasis Pharmaceuticals and AGN-199201 and AGN-190584 by Allergan are miotic treatments that create a pinhole effect to allow for a greater depth of focus.^5-8   Leveraging these technologies to enhance contact lens success will improve the presbyopic experience by giving patients more freedom from spectacle wear.     With current contact lens technologies and the promise of future therapies, we should have no problem helping presbyopic patients achieve clear vision and a comfortable lifestyle and fulfilling a need that has been neglected.  

Even if you’re diligent about cleaning your empty salad containers and rinsing out metal cans before you plunk them in a paper grocery bag (aka your recycling bin), chances are there are plenty of could-be recyclables that make it into your trash regardless. It’s not that you’re being thoughtless; it’s that, if we’re being honest, knowing what can be reused (and what can’t) is kind of confusing. But it turns out that you can recycle way more than just newspapers and bottles.   No, that doesn’t mean you can just leave your empty makeup bottles and old CDs curbside—that’s because recycling policies vary depending on where you live. Thankfully, there are a few nationwide organizations that will accept the things you can’t just leave in that blue bin, either via mail or at drop-off locations. Here are some of the surprising items that they’ll take:  

Plastic Bags

You try to always remember your reusable grocery bags, but sometimes, you still end up collecting a plastic bag here or there—it happens. The good news is that you can easily dispose of them (and other “plastic film” products like Bubble Wrap, shipping bubbles, and produce bags) in recycling receptacles around your neighborhood. Just search for your zip code at PlasticFilmRecycling.org to find a grocery store or major retailer that accepts them. (For example, Target and Whole Foods both participate). But no matter what, don’t put them in with your other recyclables because they can damage recycling equipment.  

Contact Lenses

Even it’s 1 a.m., resist tossing your contact lenses in the sink or toilet—when you do, they can end up polluting the ocean. The trash is okay, but it still brings them to the landfill. Luckily, there’s an even better solution: Send them over to TerraCycle, an organization that collects recyclable waste (all you have to do is bring it to a drop-off location or, for some items, pop it in the mail). Through its partnership with Bausch + Lomb, the company collects both contacts and blister cases from any brand to properly clean and recycle them.  

Makeup Packaging

Save your mascara wands, and you’ll be saving animals—amazing, right? You can send used, cleaned wands to Wands for Wildlife, an organization that uses them to remove fly eggs and larva from the fur and feathers of animals in wildlife rehabilitation. One thing, though: The group only collects wands during February and October. (Your remaining mascara tubes—and lipstick, eyeshadow, eyeliner, and pretty much any other beauty product packaging—can be recycled through TerraCycle.)  

Toothbrushes and Toothpaste

One billion toothbrushes are thrown away in the U.S. each year—that’s a whole lot of nonbiodegradable plastic. Making the switch to bamboo might be a good thing to consider, but for now, you can send worn-down toothbrushes (and empty toothpaste tubes and empty floss containers) to TerraCycle, which, thanks to a partnership with Colgate, ensures they’re recycled.  

All Kinds of Electronics

You probably already know to trade in or donate old phones and computers, but that’s not all the tech that can be repurposed. Google has its own recycling program for its devices, and Apple will also accept tools like printers, speakers, and keyboards. You can also save those scratched-up CDs and DVDs from the landfill through CD Recycling Center of America. And guess what? Those stacks of VHS tapes in your childhood bedroom can go to Green Disk, too.  

Snack Bags

Can’t knock that afternoon snack habit? Don’t beat yourself up about it. Instead, make a habit of collecting chip bags until you have a good amount to recycle through TerraCycle’s partnership with Sensible Portions, which accepts clean family-size and individual-size bags from any snack brand. See, your Flaming Hot Cheetos obsession can be turned into a good thing after all.

When you think of plastic pollution, you probably imagine discarded straws. And water bottles. And bags. Some folks are also focusing on something smaller — itty-bitty items millions of us use everyday. Contact lenses, when improperly discarded, likely create contaminating microplastics.   To help prevent microplastic pollution, responsible disposal is important. A free program is in place to help you recycle your used contacts.   Don’t Flush Used Contacts   That’s the advice from a trio of scientists at Arizona State University. They teamed up to study the effect of contact lenses that are washed down the drain or flushed down the toilet.   The study reveals that:  

• Fifteen to 20 percent of contact lens wearers dispose of the lenses down the sink or toilet.
• With an estimated 45 million people in the United States wearing contacts, about 1.8 billion to 3.36 billion lenses are flushed per year.
• At wastewater plants, contacts likely are too small to be filtered out and removed.

  “The study showed that wastewater plants fragment them into microplastics, which accumulate in sewage sludge. For about every two pounds of wastewater sludge, a pair of contact lenses typically can be found,” according to an article about the project on Arizona State University’s website.   Tossing used lenses in regular trash is preferable to flushing, explains Charles Rolsky, a Ph.D. candidate who worked on the research project. Even better, recycle.  

ONE by ONE Recycling Program

  Bausch & Lomb, which sells contact lenses, partnered with TerraCycle, which recycles unusual items, to launch the ONE by ONE program. The recycling initiative accepts used lenses from any brand. It also accepts empty blister packs and foils, which most curbside recycling programs do not accept.   Since it was established three years ago, ONE by ONE has received about 16 million items to recycle. That represents more than 95,000 pounds of waste, according to information from Bausch & Lomb.     Contact Lens Recycling Information   Users may drop off their used lenses, blister packs, and top foils at participating optical offices. Or, send a year’s worth via mail with a free shipping label.   For the most efficient and eco-friendly approach, drop off used contacts and blister packs at a recycling station when you see your vision professional or at a participating eye care office in your area. If no recycling drop-off location is near you, save up about a year’s worth of contact lenses to send through the mail.   “[Drop offs are] more environmentally friendly overall as it saves packaging,” according to a Bausch & Lomb representative. “While we do offer free shipping labels to those who do not have recycling centers close by, we do try to limit this where possible since individual shipping can typically translate to more shipments with fewer recyclable materials, which has an impact on sustainability through transportation costs.”   Also, when dropping off your contact lenses and blister packs, do not include paperboard or cardboard packaging. You can usually include these materials with your other clean household paper recycling.   These links will help you get started:  

• Find a recycling location or request a shipping label at the Bausch & Lomb website.
• Find a recycling location on TerraCycle (this same location finder is on the Bausch & Lomb website).
• Encourage your vision professional to participate (downloadable PDF).

Bausch + Lomb announced the US launch of expanded parameters for Biotrue ONEday for Astigmatism daily disposable contact lenses. The expansion will increase the toric parameter range by more than 60%, offering eye care professionals and their astigmatic patients the largest parameter offering of any daily disposable toric lens.   “Our full family of Biotrue ONEday lenses, including Biotrue ONEday for Astigmatism, provide eye care professionals with the lens that has the most moisture of any daily disposable lens on the market. Now, with this parameter expansion, eye care professionals can also fit more of their astigmatic patients than ever before with the lens that has the most toric parameters of any other daily disposable lens,” said John Ferris, general manager, US Vision Care, Bausch + Lomb. “We are dedicated to building upon and enhancing our portfolio so that eye care professionals have the tools they need to address the unique vision needs of more of their patients.”   The expanded parameters, which are now available for eye care professionals and their patients, include 30 new axes.   “With the additional parameters of Biotrue ONEday for Astigmatism lenses, more of my patients will be able to experience the benefits that this toric lens offers, including all-day comfort and convenience,” said Mile Brujic, OD, Premier Vision Group, Bowling Green, OH. “Finding a solution for patients with astigmatism was once a barrier. However, given the advancements in technology and the expansion of parameters such as those seen in Biotrue ONEday for Astigmatism lenses, we can now provide patients the comfort and quality of vision they expect and deserve with a daily disposable toric lens.”   Similar to the other products in the Biotrue ONEday brand family, Biotrue ONEday for Astigmatism lenses are formulated with a patented dehydration barrier, which allows the lens to maintain nearly 100% of its moisture for a full 16 hours. Biotrue ONEday for Astigmatism contact lenses also offer an evolved peri-ballast design, featuring a tapered edge to limit lid interaction, and spherical aberration control to help reduce halos and glare, particularly in low light conditions.

INDUSTRY BRIEFS

Bausch + Lomb (B+L), in collaboration with TerraCycle, donated custom training modules to the Guide Dog Foundation. The training modules—including benches, tables, waste stations, and an agility ramp—were made from used contact lens materials collected through the Bausch + Lomb One by One Recycling Program as well as other recycled material. The donation was funded through the Bausch Foundation.

In response to the August 2019 article by Drs. Karen K. Yeung and Robert Davis titled “The Environmental Impact of Contact Lens Waste,” I want to commend the authors for raising awareness about this important environmental issue. While the article is correct that “all of the waste related to contact lenses is now recyclable,” the chart on page 29, which categorizes the types of plastics used in contact lenses, bottles, and packaging, incorrectly states that contact lens materials are recyclable through municipal recycling programs.   As an active fitter of primarily daily disposable lenses, I have heard concern from patients about the waste associated with contact lenses. An incorrect assumption on my part, which many others share, was that you can recycle used lenses and their packaging (e.g., blister packs and top foils) in standard recycling bins.   However, I have since learned that even though these used contact lens materials are made from recyclable material (via the #5 polypropylene symbol), their small size can cause them to either contaminate other recyclable materials or get diverted to landfills when they are recycled through standard recycling bins. In fact, The Association of Plastic Recyclers states that the recycling industry’s standard screen size, which identifies and removes unrecyclable plastics, filters out materials that measure less than two inches in diameter (https://plasticsrecycling.org/200-apr-design-guide/quick-links/pla-tabs/834-dimensions ). This means that standard recycling facilities often fail to process these small items.   While this may be shocking, there is a program available in which eyecare practitioners and their patients can participate to prevent these materials from ending up in our environment: the Bausch + Lomb One by One Recycling program. This program, currently the only contact lens recycling program in the United States, is conducted in collaboration with TerraCycle, a global leader in collecting and repurposing hard-to-recycle waste. Used contact lens waste from any contact lens manufacturer is accepted through the program.   My practice participates in the program as part of our overall goal to become more environmentally responsible, and this has been embraced by both my patients and staff. We have several bins (provided by Bausch + Lomb) throughout the office that we fill with our own lenses, blister packs, and top foils used during the fitting process. We strongly encourage our patients to bring their used materials to recycle in our bins as well. These bins are separate from the municipal recycling bins that we have in our practice, which we use for recycling paper, water bottles, etc. Once the bins are full, we download the program’s free shipping label and ship all of the used items to TerraCycle, where they are processed.   Given the vast amount of plastic waste that is generated by contact lenses and lens packaging each year, it’s crucial for us all to understand the importance of recycling and the way in which we can properly recycle these used contact lens materials, especially because many patients are still unaware that their lenses can be recycled. It’s one way that we can together ensure that these materials don’t end up impacting us in the future.   Gina Wesley, OD, MS, Complete Eyecare of Medina, Medina, MN. Dr. Wesley has received remuneration and travel funding from Bausch + Lomb.   Response from Drs. Yeung and Davis   We thank Dr. Wesley for her comments regarding our August 2019 article. This is an important endeavor to preserve our environment for future generations. We can only reduce pollution by recycling contact lens blister packages and their foils as well as contact lens solution bottles. The contact lens blister packages have the number 5 recycle symbol, as noted in Dr. Wesley’s letter to the editor. This can be interpreted by consumers as a freely recyclable material. Dr. Wesley correctly points out that due to the filtering process at normal recycling plants, these small plastic blister packs cannot be sorted; they fall through and are not recycled. Only TerraCycle has created a process in which these contact lens materials can be correctly recycled.   Another option is to take the plastic blister packs and place them in a number 5 recyclable plastic bottle that can be recycled as one unit. The foils would need to be pulled from the blister pack to be recycled separately.   Contact lens blister packs are just one example of the need to educate consumers on how to properly recycle these products. Another example is plastic bottle caps that fall through the sorting process. It is recommended in some communities that bottles are recycled with the caps left on. By recycling these materials properly, they can be melted into plastic that can be remolded to make recycled products.   We want to thank Dr. Wesley for her statement to the editor, adding to the body of knowledge for recycling contact lenses and their related materials properly. CLS

Sustainability is a word that’s talked about often today, but in reality it’s a complex concept that touches upon many aspects of daily living. Perhaps the most-often quoted definition of sustainability comes from the U.N. World Commission on Environment and Development: “Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”   In addition, most agree that sustainable practices are those that support ecological, human, and economic health and vitality. “Sustainability presumes that resources are finite, and should be used conservatively and wisely with a view to long-term priorities and consequences of the ways in which resources are used,” according to the UCLA Sustainability committee. Many companies in the optical industry follow this philosophy. Among the companies at the forefront of this effort is Bausch + Lomb, which for the past few years has been collaborating with TerraCycle on a popular contact lens recycling program. “Before the ONE by ONE Recycling program, we would routinely hear from doctors and patients of the concern they had for the waste that contact lenses and their packaging created, particularly daily disposable lenses,” B+L senior director, professional strategy, Jill Saxon, OD, said during a recent joint event with TerraCycle.   “Coupling the continued demand and growth of daily disposable lenses, and our continuous effort to become a more environmentally sustainable company, we recognized this opportunity and quickly sought a solution.”   Saxon noted that early in the process of working with TerraCycle, B+L learned that contact lenses are part of what is considered a forgotten waste stream—items many people never thought about in terms of recyclability. “We also learned that, surprisingly, even though the material used to manufacture contact lenses, blister packs and top foils are recyclable, the materials don’t end up being recycled if placed in standard municipality recycling bins due to their small size.” Another company that has incorporated recycling and environmental protection into its DNA is SOLO Eyewear. Each pair of SOLO sunglasses is constructed using repurposed bamboo or recycled plastic, which the company noted reduces the carbon footprint and prevents hundreds of pounds of virgin materials from being produced each year.   SOLO said it repurposes packing materials and defective sunglasses for parts in new production. In addition, SOLO donates 10 percent of profits to the funding of eye exams, eyeglasses and cataract surgeries, which it believes has led to restored vision for 13,000-plus people in need. SOLO has partnerships with Aravind Eye Care System and Restoring Vision, and has worked to improve vision for people in 32 countries to date. Multi-national vision care companies such as Johnson & Johnson Vision also are active in the area of sustainability across an array of programs. J&J Vision said that, working with its employees and external partners, it has achieved a “strong record of protecting the planet” and is committed to further reducing its environmental impact. J&J Vision is focusing on three specific areas in this effort: climate, waste reduction and protection of natural resources. “We have significantly reduced our carbon footprint over the past 10 years by prioritizing energy efficiency in our production technology and harnessing renewable energy with wind turbines and solar power in the U.S. and the United Kingdom,” the company said. “By further reducing secondary packaging for our all of products, we have made significant headway in reducing the impact of shipping, distribution, energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.”   Today, 90 percent of J&J’s raw materials are recycled, and it continues to explore better solutions to drive single-use plastic recycling and packaging material optimization. The company also created Earthwards, a program dedicated to designing more sustainable products and brainstorming innovative product improvements. One of the most intensive optical company efforts around the idea of sustainability are the programs undertaken by CooperVision, which is working diligently to increase its efforts around environmental initiatives in specific key areas—saving water, conserving energy, and reducing, reusing and recycling resources. CooperVision’s parent company, The Cooper Companies, earlier this year announced its alignment with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It subsequently, published a series of short videos relating to these sustainability programs. The company noted that it believes providing access to the videos, even in their short form, will resonate more meaningfully with eyecare professionals, partners and others around the world. “Our support for the SDGs represents our long-term view of what it means to be a global medical device company in the world today,” Cooper Companies president and chief executive Albert White said at the time. “Through our efforts to contribute to achievement of the SDGs, Cooper is helping to address the needs of the planet and of people around the world.” CooperVision also was recently recognized for a contact lens rebate donation program that permits consumers to designate a portion of their CL rebates as a donation to Optometry Giving Sight (OGS). In the past eight years, donations to the program has resulted in more than $800,000 donated to OGS. CooperVision’s Melissa Kiewe, senior director of customer marketing, told Vision Monday she believes the rebate program and partnership with OGS dovetails nicely with CooperVision’s own corporate responsibility efforts. “It’s an actual fit with what CooperVision cares about and really gives the patients an option of ‘paying forward’ the improvement in how they see to help improve how other people see around the world. We’re definitely very proud of [this program].”   Costa is a frame company which has long been committed to environmental causes, particularly water-related ones. In fact, the company calls protecting the watery world “one of Costa’s main brand values.” In 2019, Costa kicked off their Kick Plastic Lens Recycling program at Vision Expo East, an effort that encourages ECPs to collect, recycle and repurpose plastic lenses, both clear and sun. At Vision Expo West, Costa expanded the program, allowing optical labs to send both their plastic waste and dry plastic finishing, or swarf, to select Piedmont Plastics locations for recycling and repurposing. This is an expansion from two to 13 labs that accept optical discarded plastic in the continental U.S. To date, Costa told Vision Monday, “the Kick Plastic Lens Recycling Program has facilitated the recycling and repurposing of over 2,200 pounds of discarded plastic lenses, with the number growing every day. This is in addition to over 22 tons (approximately 44,000 pounds) of plastic lenses processed from Costa’s Daytona Beach labs.” In addition, Costa is dedicated to a Kick Plastic initiative to reduce the amount of single use plastic the company uses. As part of this program, the company has onboarded over 700 ECPs into the Kick Plastic Ambassador program: a commitment from the ECPs to ask their patients to be part of the movement, Kick Plastic Ambassadors receive a special designation on the Costa dealer locator website, as well as Kick Plastic water bottles for their staff and communication materials. These initiatives are just the tip of the iceberg for Costa. The company’s vice president of marketing, TJ McMeniman, explained, “Sustainability initiatives are not just ‘important’ to Costa—they are an integral part of our DNA. That is why we are not only working to improve our own practices as a company but also believe firmly in using our resources to help others build out their own sustainability practices to protect our waterways.”   Thema Optical is another company that has partnered with TerraCycle to further their sustainability efforts. Under the company’s new recycling program, Thema is able to recycle the excess acetate created in their production methods. The acetate is then processed into sheets and used to make new acetate products. Giulia Valmassoi, CEO of Thema Optical’s North American division explained, “Thema is a global company that respects the importance of social responsibility. Vowing to be a sustainable company through our eco-friendly production process and recycling program was an easy decision when we knew the significant impact it would make.” For Marcolin, sustainability comes into play both on a corporate level and within their brand portfolio. Marcolin Group collaborates with Positive Luxury, which awards their Butterfly Mark, “a symbol of trust earned by brands that have adopted sustainability as a business strategy,” explained CEO Massimo Renon. In February, Positive Luxury will host their first-ever Positive Luxury Awards, with the Innovation of the Year award sponsored by Marcolin Group. On the brand level, Marcolin USA’s Timberland is particularly dedicated to sustainable initiatives. Timberland in particular, Marcolin USA CEO Davide Rettore said, “aims to be the largest, most sustainable outdoor lifestyle brand on the planet.” The brand’s Earthkeepers collection frames are made with bio-based plastic obtained from the bean seeds of a castor plant, and the accompanying cases are comprised of 70 percent recycled material, Rettore explained. In addition, Marcolin’s suppliers and factory supply chains are audited routinely to ensure they meet guidelines to reduce environmental hazards for both the employees and the local community. In addition, Rettore said, Marcolin USA partners with Timberland internally for in-office initiatives including “recycling, plastic bottle elimination in the cafeteria, community service and cleaning, and seminars for the employees to raise awareness, with the final objective to be guided by a higher purpose.” Much of the sustainability work at Modo is channeled through their brand Eco, which produces eyewear made of 95 percent recycled or biobased materials. In addition, Modo plants a tree with D.C. based nonprofit, Trees for the Future, for every Eco frame sold. To date, Modo said, they’ve planted more than 2 million trees. Modo describes the Eco One Frame—One Tree program as an answer to the question, “how to do good with our eyewear?” A spokesperson for the brand explained, “Planting one tree for every frame sold seemed to be the best way to connect our social mission to the brand core message. To make this happen, we started our partnership with the NGO Trees for the Future. Since then we planted more than 2 million trees—and that number just keeps growing.” This year, Modo has also worked to raise the volume on this initiative, after hearing feedback that they haven’t been “loud enough” in the past. Now, Modo offers marketing materials focused on their social purpose initiatives, which help ECPs tell their story. Modo Global CEO Alessandro Lanaro told Vision Monday, “We have a responsibility to leave the world a better place than how we found it. Together with Trees for the Future, One Frame, One Tree is making a positive impact not only on the environment, but for the people.”   Silhouette’s neubau also aims to set “high environmental standards,” a company spokesperson told Vision Monday. The brand’s motto, SEE & DO GOOD, encapsulates these efforts, and so do the company’s sustainable practices, which include “the conscious use of resources,” regional production in Austria, and support of “nonprofit projects revitalizing nature in urban environments.” neubau eyewear is constructed of naturalPX, an eco-friendly material made from organically sourced and renewable primary products (mostly oil extracted from the seeds of castor oil plants) and neubau aims for sustainability in their packaging, printed and in-store materials as well. A company spokesperson explained, “We strive to treat our environment with the utmost consideration, knowing that there are already many accomplishments to look back on—but even more that lie ahead. It is our continuous effort to improve and our ambitious goals that define us.” Sustainable eyewear is also at the core of what Proof Eyewear, an Idaho based company founded in 2011, does. All Proof frames are created using eco-friendly materials, including sustainably sourced wood, biodegradable cotton-based acetate, and recycled aluminum. In addition, $10 of each frame purchase goes directly to the company’s Do Good Program, which gives back to various local and global projects.   March 2020 will mark Proof’s ninth annual Do Good project—right now, Proof customers can go online to vote between Morocco, Samoa, and Cambodia. Once a country is chosen, Proof will partner with HELP International and Art of Visuals to develop a project that will allow them to support and give back to people in need. A company spokesperson explained, “We dedicate ourselves to creating sustainable change related to economic development, environmental conservation, education, and visual health. Working together with the people of the country we have chosen, the projects are designed to help to co-create change and empower the people… Just like our glasses, our Do Good projects are not one-size-fits-all, our efforts specifically catered to the needs of individuals and communities of each country.” Flint, Michigan-based Genusee makes their eyewear from recycled single-use plastic water bottles. Genusee is focused on effecting change in three main ways, a company spokesperson told Vision Monday. These are: reducing plastic waste, creating living-wage jobs, and establishing a new circular economy for the future of Flint. As part of that commitment, Genusee designed a buy-back program through which the company buys back used eyewear for a credit toward the customers’ next pair of glasses. Within the luxury sector, Kering Group, including Kering Eyewear, have also shown a dedication toward building a more sustainable future. This year, Kering’s chairman and CEO François-Henri Pinault was one of the 32 original signatories of The Fashion Pact, a movement led by French president Emmanuel Macron to align the fashion industry with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. The signatories will report on their progress in September 2020. In addition, Kering was also part of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services’ (PPBES) first-ever private sector partnership. The partnership includes a “significant non-earmarked contribution to the IPBES Trust Fund by Kering,” Kering reported on its website. And, at Shanghai Fashion Week, Kering held a “K Generation Talk & Award Ceremony” to recognize sustainable innovation in China. The ceremony was in partnership with Plug and Play, and recognized three Chinese startups, Melephant, Heyuan and FeiLiu Technology “for their disruptive innovations addressing sustainability challenges in the textile value chain,” said Kering on their website. This is just a small sampling of Kering’s sustainability initiatives—the brand’s sustainability officer and head of international institutional affairs, Marie-Claire Daveu, heads up the company’s commitment to sustainability, which has three pillars: care, collaborate, and create. In 2019, Kering was ranked the second most sustainable company in the world across all sectors in the 2019 Corporate Knights Global 100 ranking. The company also runs the Kering Foundation, which aims to combat violence against women.