NEW Sustainability Self-Assessment Tool

NEW Sustainability Self-Assessment Tool

All the talk is about sustainability in the run up to the SEE Summit on the environment for the optical community, but what’s the step YOU should take to become more sustainable? Whether you are an employee, locum, business owner or manufacturer, you can use the NEW Sustainability Self-Assessment Tool was lunched at the event on 4 October.

Developed by ABDO’s Working Group on the Environment, in collaboration with organisations across optical community, the Sustainability Self-Assessment Tool is an easy-to-use way to assess where you are right now and find key activities to make your working life, your practice and/or your business more sustainable.

Daryl Newsome is chair of the working group and ABDO Vice President. He says, “Everyone working in the optical industry has a part to play. If you are an employee you can work towards saving energy and water in practice every day as you go about your job. You can make sure you reuse items which would otherwise have been thrown away, such as saving scrap paper for notes. If you are a manager or business owner the tool gives you plenty of ideas too, and could be the first step towards your own sustainability strategy.”

The Sustainability Self-Assessment Tool starts with a questionnaire, and you then receive weekly emails outlining changes you can make, focussing on themes such as recycling, saving energy, travel, and how to reuse, refill, repair and recycle. All the tips are focussed on the optical industry, making this a unique and useful way for optical professionals and their teams to make a real difference.

Once you have worked through the weekly tips you can go back to the questionnaire and see how much progress you have made. Daryl Newsome adds, “Sustainability is a journey, and we know that the Sustainability Self-Assessment Tool will help everyone move closer to a truly sustainable optical industry, something that will benefit the planet now and long into the future.”