CooperVision has earned zero-waste facility programme certification for six of its global contact lens manufacturing and distribution sites. Demonstrating the degree to which operations prevent or divert waste from landfills, the accolade was given to facilities in Costa Rica, the US and the UK.
Each site was evaluated by SCS Global Services, an international leader in third-party environmental and sustainability certifications. CooperVision facilities, which have varying diversion percentages, achieved certification through a combination of recycling, composting, waste-to-energy, resale and reuse, said Rolando Torres, CooperVision’s chief operations officer. “This is not only a celebration of our current efforts but serves as another significant benchmark of progress in our sustainability journey. We won’t stop here.”
CooperVision also pioneered a plastic-neutral contact lenses initiative with Plastic Bank, through which it purchases credits to fund the collection, processing and reuse of general ocean-bound plastic waste equal to the weight of plastic in the product. This initiative has had an impact equivalent to more than 466 million plastic bottles recovered since its inception in 2021. CooperVision said it is continuously working to minimise environmental impact around the globe as part of broader efforts across the Cooper companies to contribute to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.
