C O M PA N Y P R O F I L E
Plastic neutrality: CooperVision's latest step in sustainability CooperVision’s recently-announced plastic neutrality initiative in the UK and Ireland is just one part of the company’s global sustainability efforts...
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n January, CooperVision announced that all its one-day contact lenses distributed in the UK and Ireland were now plastic neutral, thanks to a partnership with social enterprise, Plastic Bank1,2. The plastic neutrality initiative means that for every box of CooperVision one-day contact lenses distributed in the UK and Ireland, CooperVision purchases credits that fund the collection, processing and reuse of general plastic waste that is equal to the weight of the plastic used in its one-day contact lenses, the blister and the outer carton packaging2.
partnering with Plastic Bank empowers these communities, with collectors receiving a premium for the materials they gather. This helps them provide basic family necessities such as groceries, cooking fuel, school tuition and health insurance (Figure 2). “Plastic Bank is empowering the regenerative society while improving the lives of collector communities. Together with CooperVision, we’re offering the eye care industry the opportunity to make meaningful environmental, social and economic impact," says David Katz, founder and CEO of Plastic Bank.
HOW THE INITIATIVE HELPS OUR OCEANS Through its global partnership with Plastic Bank, CooperVision is helping to stop plastic reaching oceans through Plastic Bank collector communities in Brazil, Indonesia, the Philippines and Egypt (Figure 1). Plastic Bank carefully builds ethical recycling ecosystems in these underserved locations, and the plastic collected is reprocessed for reintroduction into the global manufacturing supply chain as Social Plastic. As well as stopping ocean-bound plastic,
WHY GO PLASTIC NEUTRAL? Plastic plays a critical role in the hygienic delivery and sterile protection of CooperVision's contact lenses. Because contact lenses are classed as medical devices and, by law, must have CE, UKCA or CE UKNI marking to be sold in the UK or Ireland, virgin plastic is needed during the manufacture of contact lens products in order to comply with medical device protocols. Although contact lens waste is small compared to all household waste3, as part
24 Vision Now March 2022
(Figure 1) A Plastic Bank collector on the beach
of its sustainability journey CooperVision recognised that how that plastic is managed is important. “Plastic is really important in keeping the manufacture of our contact lenses hygienic and safe. But we have to balance that with sustainability," explains Doug Bairner, CooperVision country manager for the UK and Ireland (Figure 3). WIDER SUSTAINABILITY STRATEGY Sustainability refers to something’s ability to maintain or ‘sustain’ itself over time, namely meeting our own needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs. CooperVision is committed to minimising its environmental impact and operating more sustainably in the many places it does business around the world. CooperVision is prioritising environmentallyresponsible practices across four key areas: water, energy, recycling and people. Initiatives to reduce overall water usage, re-purpose rainwater and reuse water in manufacturing processes has saved millions of gallons of water globally each year. To improve energy efficiency, 100 per cent renewable energy has been introduced at CooperVision’s Mountpark site in the UK, and there is an ongoing commitment to use clean energy sources wherever possible. Waste of all kinds is minimised and on average more than 95 per cent of the materials in CooperVision’s production processes are recycled – including cardboard, wood, paper and oil4. As well as supporting underserved communities through its Plastic Bank
