Sustainability

As a company with over 400 employees, we lead by example and make sure we don't lose sight of sustainability.
In our day-to-day work, our production and management teams focus on three key aspects:

 Economic sustainability
Short distances are important to us here too. As far as possible, our purchasing policy prioritises regional suppliers and service providers to procure our materials.
Continuous investment in efficient and modern production technologies for our facility in Langen has a two-fold positive effect: not only does this ensure economic sustainability, but it also helps optimize ecological sustainability.

Social sustainability
In terms of social sustainability, we focus on the health and qualifications of our employees. This includes lease-a-bike offers and charging stations for e-bikes as well as employee discounts at local fitness studios. In addition, we offer various health-related courses and events.
Furthermore, optovision provides vocational training for technical professions as well as in the commercial field.

Ecological sustainability
With our production site in Germany, our lens manufacturing process is subject to the most stringent requirements. These include environmentally sound use of water and energy. In addition, we use environmentally friendly materials wherever possible. We also pay attention to seemingly minor details in our day-to-day business, such as saving paper by sending invoices and delivery bills by email. As part of our energy management system in accordance with ISO 50001, we are committed to, among other things, continually improving our energy efficiency. For further information on our energy policy click here: Energy management system according to ISO 50001

We are of course always open to suggestions on how we can optimise our efforts in ecological, economic and social sustainability. Feel free to contact us here.
Following, a few of the current projects we are undertaking to reduce our ecological footprint:

Environmentally friendly shipping envelopes

optoVision uses shipping envelopes which are 100% climate-neutral. They are offset elsewhere by the manufacturer based on the principle described above. Furthermore, glazing orders are shipped in a secure organic shipping envelope. This envelope is made entirely of paper and is fully biodegradable.

Energy-saving alternatives

To minimise the emissions generated through energy production, optoVision is increasingly turning to energy-saving alternatives. For example, we have switched 40% of our lighting in the production area to LEDs to date. This has reduced our energy consumption by 100,000 kWh. As a comparison: with the amount of energy saved, you could brew 1,700,000 cups of coffee.*

 

* www.verivox.de/strom/themen/1-kilowattstunde/

Responsible forest management

We use raw materials from controlled, FSC-certified sources for our product catalogue. The FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) is a non-governmental, non-profit organisation with a primary focus on forest usage that takes three aspects into account:
- environmental justice
- social compatibility
- economic viability

 You can find out more on the FSC website.

Recycling

By recycling and reusing transport-protecting plastic shells, we save 125,000 kWh per year or 50t of CO 2. A local provider is responsible for transport and recycling. They arrange to have the shells sorted by workshops for the disabled. Beyond the scope of this project, we saved the equivalent of 131 tons of resources in 2021 (compared to 91,774 kilogrammes in 2020) and an additional 12,502 kilogrammes of greenhouse gases by recycling paper, cardboard, cartons, and lightweight packaging.*

* Source: Calculation methodology by Fraunhofer UMSICHT, based on data for 2020

Environmentally sound mobility offers

All optoVision employees have the option of purchasing bicycles and e-bikes on favourable leasing terms, enabling them to commute to work in a climate-friendly way.
With the same idea in mind, optoVision trainees can use public transport for free with the Hesse student ticket.