Moving beyond platitudes and putting green processes into practice often requires thoughtful investment and innovation, particularly in manufacturing. But as one Australian ophthalmic supplier has found, the effort is worth it, and not just for the environment.
Mr Adam Fletcher, CEO at CR Labs, happily credits his daughter.
He credits her for part of the motivation behind the Australian lens manufacturer’s move into more sustainable practices at its Melbourne factory and, latterly, its Green Looks Good on You campaign.
“About seven years ago I was helping my daughter do a school project about recycling,” he says.
“It was about water in particular, and water in the United States and how, as a commodity, water has become more expensive.”
That made him think of his own manufacturing plant, which was using more than a million litres of water a year.
“So we invested nearly a million dollars in a water recycling plant to recycle all our water, and we are now saving half a million litres of water every year, rather than pumping it out or putting it into waste.”
That’s a win for a planet increasingly dealing with water scarcity and an improvement in operation efficiency.
But Fletcher and his colleagues at CR Labs realised they could go further.
Now it’s not just the water that is reused – all of the company’s packaging is recycled.
That involved a bit of research and working with a number of companies to find the right solutions, including biodegradable plastics for product sent around the country; product needing to arrive in “good order”.
But still they weren’t satisfied.
The next step was to ensure that the very product being shipped was itself sustainable and better for the planet.
This year’s ODMAFair25, to be held in Sydney in June, will see the unveiling of the company’s Eco7 lens, the latest development in its range of eco-friendly lenses made of plant-based material.
Conventional lenses are made of plastic involving some element of petro-chemicals.
CR Labs crafts lenses using an eco-conscious biomass material certified by leading environmental standards, which supports its mission to deliver sustainable, Australia-made lenses.
Fletcher acknowledges the purchase of the raw material is more costly internally, against conventional product used to form ophthalmic lenses.
But as his company discovered after installing the water-recycling plant, there can be plenty of commercial advantages in going green.
Which was why CR Labs was prepared to subsidise any additional costs as part of improving its processes and reducing its carbon footprint..
Beyond the feel-good factor of doing something good for the planet, Fletcher says the plant-based material has many advantages compared with conventional lenses.
Tinting is one of those, he says.
“Sometimes it can be difficult to tint conventional lenses, depending on the lens material, thickness and quality of dye.”
Tinting the plant-based lenses takes just 10 minutes. The dye adheres uniformly to the lens material and holds for the life of the prescription with a smaller number of retints.
While the raw materials come at a higher cost, the result is a premium lens that delivers long-term value – both in performance and sustainability.
There are other savings in the manufacturing process.
“Its softer composition is not only better for the environment but also gentler on our manufacturing equipment, extending the life of our machinery and reducing maintenance demands across production,” says Fletcher.
Despite a higher cost of production, CR Labs has maintained its pricing, ensuring practices and patients continue to access premium lenses without compromise.
“With its combination of high performance and environmental benefits, Eco6 is now the go-to lens across most of our portfolio,” he says.
“It is delivered as standard, with only select exceptions like polarised products.”
Fletcher is particularly excited about the unveiling of the Eco7 lens at ODMAFair25.
Up to now, the Eco6 has been sold as a 1.6 index lens. In June it will be unveiling a 1.74 index biomass version.
This will be a thinner lens for people with higher prescriptions, and one “designed with innovative tinting qualities expected to set a new benchmark in the market”.
And all with a visual clarity that matches lenses made of traditional materials.
Fletcher says CR Labs can back that up with its own testing and plenty of evidence.
Initiative well supported by practices
Which is where Ms Fiona Om gets involved.
The qualified optometrist and professional services manager at CR Labs leads a team that, among other things, provides the research to support the products the company sells.
Om’s team in Professional Services supports internal stakeholders and the many practices that CR Labs works with in providing this valuable information.
The research has helped the company better understand its own carbon footprint and how the biomass lenses and other initiatives are helping to reduce emissions.
They have also developed technical information to support the performance of the lens for practices and their patients.
“The visual clarity is very similar to other 1.6 lenses made of conventional material,” says Om. “Sometimes people can’t really even tell the difference between them.”
Her team also supports the Green Looks Good on You campaign with plenty of information for participating practices.
Fletcher says the campaign has been well supported by those businesses.
“We are seeing a positive return in terms of people getting on board and we have a lot of practices that actually have the Green Looks Good on You window and point-of-sale material.”
He believes the campaign and products like the biomass lenses offer independent practices a key point-of-difference in a competitive market while also encouraging them to think about sustainability.
“CR Labs has the exclusive right for the biomass product in the Australian market, and we only supply to the independents.
“You cannot buy it from a corporate, you can only buy it from independents who support CR Labs.”
He hopes businesses will support the company and the eco-friendly campaign, which encourages the ophthalmic community to consider sustainability and other greener practices.
Fletcher is also hopeful that his company’s success in greening its manufacturing process and the introduction of eco-friendly products will inspire other Aussie manufacturers.
“When we look at manufacturing in Australia, there’s less of it,” he says.
“We’re shifting the narrative that lens manufacturing must be wasteful or environmentally harmful.
“By embedding sustainability into every stage of our process, we’re proving that manufacturing can be both responsible and commercially viable, and we’re setting a new standard for what the industry should expect moving forward.”
More reading
CR Labs promoting sustainability in its Green Looks Good on You campaign
CR Labs introduces a new entry-level progressive lens: Australis Grad
CR Labs: Crafting lenses, creating legacies
