Beautiful and sustainable

What can an individual person, or an optician’s, do for our environment? At Salme Optic, recently we have been thinking a lot about environmental issues and the choices we make. We have emphasized products that are in line with the principles of sustainable development in our recent procurements. We use renewable electricity and in future renovations we will take into account, for example, the replacement of old fluorescent tubes with more energy-efficient alternatives.

We challenge our frame manufacturers to use recycled materials and look for new frame manufacturers that take ecological values into account. For example, the use of 3D technology results in less material loss. Some frame manufacturers promise to take care of the further recycling of the frames once the frame has come to the end of its lifecycle with the user. Our frames come mainly from Europe, so it is possible to find out about their manufacturing processes.

One of our lens manufacturers recently said that they have reduced the weight of their raw lenses by almost a half. This significantly reduces waste material. It is important to us that the glasses are as repairable and serviceable as possible. When it’s time to replace your glasses with new ones, we take in the old glasses, and give them to Annantalo Arts Centre to be used as art and craft materials.

We have also not forgotten about the small things we can do everyday: we use cloth towels instead of disposable paper towels, and our waste is sorted carefully. We send mail less often by collecting larger quantities to send at one go. Our staff travel on foot, by bike or by public transport.

We will continue to actively review our own operations in terms of the environment. Together with various partners, we are looking into more sustainable, material-efficient and more environmentally friendly solutions. From the beginning of 2020, we will compensate for the remaining carbon footprint through the Atmosfair Association.

We wish you a beautiful and sustainable spring!

Photos: Pixabay