EOE Eyewear Sustainability - SustainabilityTracker.com

EOE Eyewear presents its sustainability work around material use, waste reduction, and circularity in eyewear production. The company says it turns acetate waste from production into new frames, collects used eyewear for regrinding, and uses materials such as biodegradable acetate, recycled steel, titanium, reindeer antler, stone, wood, and gold sourced in Sweden. The brand describes an ambition to be “world-leading” in local production and in using materials that are in harmony with nature. The page focuses on material sourcing, reuse, and recycling in frame design rather than broader corporate ESG reporting.

Turns acetate waste into frames

Normally, when glasses are produced from virgin acetate, approximately 75% of the raw material goes to waste. The acetate that isn’t used ends up on factory floors and is considered useless. EOE takes care of this waste and makes it into new frames. Simply because it can be done.

Collects used eyewear

EOE initiated a collaboration with different partners and could soon offer stations where the customers could return their used eyewear. Together with researchers in northern Sweden, Erik and Emilia set out to develop a process and a product that could create a new acetate material and new frames, made from old eyewear. Through this process, up to 98% of an old frame is recycled. Today, thousands of frames are collected each month and sorted into different color and quality schemes.

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Uses biodegradable acetate

The acetate used in all EOE frames is made out of a mix of wood and cotton pulp. The process for the making of the cellulose acetate includes the treatment of two different fibers; seeds (cotton) and wood (from conifer and broadleaf deciduous trees). Both wood and cotton are renewable resources and available and easily accessible in our very surrounding nature. What separates the EOE biodegradable acetate from the acetate that is normally used for eyewear, is foremost that it doesn’t contain any petroleum or phthalates.

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Uses recycled steel

Steel is one of the most naturally sustainable materials we have. It can be used time and time again without losing any quality or strength. Since Sweden is a country very rich in steel, it’s only natural that EOE uses Swedish and mainly recycled steel in all metal frames. The steel used in EOE frames (AISI301) comes from Sandvik industries.

Uses reindeer antler

The reindeer antlers used in EOE-frames are hand-picked in Swedish Lapland. Each year, reindeer loose their antlers and grow new ones, thus the use of antler is both ethical and fully sustainable. The antlers used in EOE frames comes from reindeer that has grazed on calcareous grounds.

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