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Sunglasses Have a Footprint

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Ryan Pottieger
Environmental Issues 4300
Tait Chirenje
Stockton University
March 6, 2015
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Table of Contents

Abstract..3-4
Introduction....4-5
How Sunglasses Came into Being.....5
The History of Ray-Ban.5-6
Components of Ray-Ban Sunglasses..6-7
Production and Manufacturing of Ray-Ban Sunglasses.7-8
Retail Distribution and Sales..8-9
Plastic Sunglasses and the Footprint they Leave Behind.9-14
a) The Impact of Plastic.9-10
b) Plastic Sunglasses in Society...10-12
c) Disposal of Plastic....12-14
Conclusion..14-15
References..16-18
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Abstract
Plastic sunglasses like the brand Ray-Ban create a large negative footprint on the
environment. Although sunglasses were created to improve the lifestyle of humans, they are
overused like many other products. The materials that they are made of are often not portrayed
as environmentally harmful. However, the extraction, production, and disposal of plastics are
environmentally harmful. The Ray-Ban Brand made sunglasses popular by creating them for
military pilots. The use of them by these hero pilots made them popular in society. This makes
a large impact because a large number of the population own plastic sunglasses. With Ray-Ban
being owned by the industry leading manufacturing company Luxottica, they became available
all over the globe. The global reach of Luxottica creates many point source polluting facilities
on 5 different continents. Plastic materials like cellulose acetate and polycarbonate are derived
from oil. The oil use to produce plastics creates emissions that put harmful pollutants into the
atmosphere. The heating up of plastics to mold them into sunglasses frames and lenses does this.
Not only are the components of the sunglasses polluters but also the production process creates
pollution. Plastic sunglasses like Ray-Ban make up only a small percentage of plastic use in the
world. However, they cause the amount of extracted oil to increase globally. The plastics
themselves pollute the air, soil, and water once they are disposed of because of their nonbiodegradable attributes. The practices used to dispose of plastic takes a long time to occur and
there is often more plastic waste to be disposed of then there is space to responsibly dispose of it.
Ray-Ban is one of the most popular manufactured plastic sunglass brands, which also makes
them one of the leading polluters in the industry. My personal use of plastic sunglasses like RayBan, produce an environmental footprint. The ownership of multiple pairs of glasses adds to this

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footprint. Decreased demand on plastic sunglasses is the only way to decrease the pollution that
sunglass production creates.

Introduction
Sunglasses are a product that has become more popular in todays society than ever
before. They are used to make fashion statements and to protect peoples eyes from UV rays
during the daytime. In 2012, almost 96 million pairs of sunglasses were sold in the United
States. The overall worth of retail sales of sunglasses in the United Sates is 3.49 billion dollars
to this date (Eyewear Industry in the U.S., 2013). The Luxottica Group who is the leading
sunglasses producer in the world is worth 21 Billion dollars and their retail network consists of
over 7,000 stores worldwide (Our Business Model, 2015). Luxottica who is founded in Italy has
manufacturing facilities all over the world and they produce the top brands of sunglasses like
Ray-Ban, Oakley, Coach, and Polo Ralph Lauren and many more (Manufacturing, 2015). RayBan is one of the most recognizable sunglass brands in the world today. Plastic Ray-Ban
sunglasses are very popular and their components and production are examined in this paper to
reveal how their production, use, and disposal leave a footprint on the environment. The
footprint left behind is felt worldwide because of the many manufacturing facilities all over the
world and the popularity of the Ray-Ban Brand. The use of plastics for sunglasses adds to the
footprint because the extraction of oil to produce sunglass plastic in the form of cellulose acetate
and polycarbonate is harmful to the environment. Disposal of sunglasses is also harmful to the
environment as it must be placed in landfills, incinerated, or recycled. In the United States, 31
million tons of plastic found its permanent stay in landfills in 2010 (Disposal of Plastics, 2015).
This does not take into account the worldwide disposal of plastic. Plastic sunglasses like RayBan models are only a small percentage of this total but with large companies like Luxottica
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worth 21 Billion dollars and counting, the amount of plastic that need disposal will only increase.
Plastic sunglasses do leave an environmental footprint because of the components that they are
made of, the production techniques used, and the faulty disposal methods in place.

How Sunglasses Came into Being

The use of tinted lenses to protect human eyes from light sensitivity dates back to
Emperor Nero form the era of the Roman Empire. However, there is evidence that the Chinese
used tinted lenses 2,000 years before Emperor Nero but for a very different reason (Dain, 2003).
The use of tinted lenses for the primary purpose of protecting the eyes from UV rays is credited
to James Ayscough (Dain, 2003). He came up with the idea of putting different color tinted
lenses into eyeglass frames. In the early 1900s workers whose jobs involved electric light glare
in their workplace primarily used tinted glasses. They began to become more popular outside of
factories when coquilles or curved lensed tinted glasses were displayed in an American Optical
Company catalogue in 1912. The catalogue also displayed automotive goggle lenses for eye
protection while driving (Dain, 2003). During this time automobile usage started to become
more common, which created demand for eye protection while operating an automobile.

The History of Ray-Ban

Ray-Ban Sunglasses Company was founded in 1937. When Aviation was expanding in
the 1930s, pilots began to complain that the glare from the sun at high altitudes was giving them
headaches and other impairments. Ray-Ban created a green tinted lens, which reduced glare
without impairing vision. This is where Ray-Ban got its start and the famous aviator glasses
went on sale to the public in 1937 (Ray-Ban, 2012). Ray-Ban continued to update their
protective lenses for pilots through WWII and the public began to buy these glasses to mimic the
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look of pilots. Over the next 50 years Ray-Ban continued to grow as their glasses were displayed
by celebrities. The use of Ray-Ban sunglasses in movies was the launching point of Ray-Ban as
their glasses were viewed as the coolest fashion accessory to the public. The Luxottica Group
bought Ray-Ban from the Bausch & Lomb frames Business in 1999 (Ray-Ban, 2012).
Today Ray-Ban sunglasses are owned and produced by the Luxottica Group. Luxottica
was founded in 1961 by Leonardo Del Vecchio and the company finds its origin in Italy. The
company owns six manufacturing plants all over the world including Italy, China, Brazil, India,
and the United States. Luxottica remains rooted at its origin in the Agordino Valley of Italy.
They gained much of their eyewear producing success by keeping full control of production and
developing high quality efficient manufacturing (Hayton, 2011). House brand products are RayBan, Oakley, and Vogue Eyewear and many more. The company also has licensed brands that
include Prada, Polo Ralph Lauren, Chanel and a large number of other brands (Company Profile,
2015).

Components of Ray-Ban Sunglasses

Ray-Ban sunglasses are made from three main components. First, the frame of Ray-Ban
sunglasses are made from plastic that is mainly composed of cellulose acetate (Wayfarer, 2015).
Acetate is derived from acetic acid that contains multiple hydroxyl groups. In order to create
plastic the acedic acid must be dehydrated to form acetic anhydride, which is the basis for
plastics (Shakhashiri, 2008). Plastic generally gets its origin from oil or gas. It is generally
prepared by polymerization of monomers that come from the oil that is pumped from the ground
(Thompson et al., 2009). The second component of Ray-Ban sunglasses is the sunglass lens.
The majority of sunglass lenses are made from different colored plastic, which is normally made

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from polycarbonate (Sunglasses, 2015). Polycarbonate is a type of plastic whose primary

component is biphenyl A. When it comes to sunglass lenses, the polycarbonate that is used can
contain other elements such as glass fibers to add strength and provide different light
transparency (A Guide to Polycarbonate, 2010). Ray-Ban offers lenses of many different colors
with many different properties. The basis of these lenses is gray in color, which provides the
least amount of color distortion when being worn (Sunglasses, 2015). The final part of Ray-Ban
sunglasses is the small stainless steel screws and plates that connect the front frame to the temple
frames. These screws are composed of iron alloys with a small percentage of chromium. The
main reason behind the screws and plates being made from stainless steel is to eliminate
corrosion of the pieces to provide more durability (The Basics about Stainless Steel, 2007).

Production and Manufacturing of Ray-Ban Sunglasses

The manufacturing of Ray-Ban sunglasses takes place in Luxotticas primary facilities.
They produce these sunglasses in their Italy, China, India, Brazil, or United States facilities. The
goal behind this is to have manufacturing facilities that make plastic sunglasses all over the
world so Ray-Ban sunglasses can be manufactured and sold faster and more efficiently to
different markets. Initially most plastic sunglasses were manufactured in Italy in the Agordo,
Sedico, Pederobba, and Lauriano facilities. Since opening other facilities the manufacturing of
plastic sunglasses now also takes place in the Dongguan facility in China, Foot Hill Ranch
Facility in California, and Campinas facility in Brazil. Plastic sunglasses such as Ray-Ban brand
sunglasses are 77% of the overall glasses manufactured from Luxottica (Manufacturing, 2015).
Luxottica produces plastic sunglasses directly from their multiple in house manufacturing
facilities. This allows them to decrease the time that it takes to produce functional glasses. They

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use two methods to create these plastic sunglasses. First, a milling process that uses computercontrolled machines that cut out the shapes from plastic sheets and then workers assemble the
pieces together. The second process uses an injection molding process that pours liquefied
plastic into specific moulds to create the desired shapes. The pieces are then assembled coated
and packaged (Luxottica, 2015).
The frames of Ray-Ban sunglasses are produced in a very simple way. Luxottica
manufacturing facilities have templets for the style or type of frame that they want to create. The
company has sheets of cellulose acetate that they heat up slightly to make the plastic less
resistant for the cutting or injection process. They then place sheets of cellulose acetate under
their machines and the machine punches out the front frame or they pour the heated plastic into
moulds (How eyeglass frame is made, 2015). Grooves are then cut to provide a place for the lens
to fit securely into and then holes to attach the earpieces are drilled into place. After the frames
are done being cut they are smoothed out by an abrasive machine (How eyeglass frame is made,
2015).
The process of making sunglass lenses has some similarities and differences to frame
production. There are templates used to cut out the desired shape and then it is grinded and
smoothed. With the gray lenses used by Ray-Ban there is no need to add any color in the
production process. The molten polycarbonate plastic is poured into a cast to create its shape.
After cooling down, the lens is placed into a curve generator. The curve generator grinds the
plastic into the desired curve of the lens in the proper shape to fit into the frame. Lenses are then
dipped into an anti-reflective material after grinding to prevent glare (Sunglasses, 2015).

Retail Distribution and Sales

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Ray-Ban, a brand that is manufactured by The Luxottica Group has a wholesale network
that sells glasses like Ray-Ban in over 150 countries across 5 continents. This company has the
most vast retail network of over 7,000 stores worldwide and own companies like LensCrafters
and Pearl Vision retail brands whom both sell Ray-Ban Plastic sunglasses. Since the acquisition
of Sunglass hut, Luxottica has become the leading sunglasses retailer in the world and added
more then 2,500 more retail stores (Our Business Model, 2015).
The facilities that are based out of Italy are the most active producers of plastic
sunglasses like Ray-Ban. These facilities manage over 13,500 orders per day and ships 187,000
units each day (Our Business Model, 2015). These units are either shipped to individual
customers or to distribution centers all around the world. The facilities in the United States are
one of the most essential airport distribution hubs whose system can move up to 150,000 units
per day (Our Business Model, 2015). The facilities in China take on an even larger role. They
transport around 170,000 units per day to other distribution centers (Our Business Model, 2015).
Luxottica employs over 73,000 people on a global level (Company Profile, 2015). This shows
that there is an enormous amount of sales that are being done on a daily basis. The distribution
by boat or airplane plays a huge role in environmental pollution problems due to gasoline being
used to distribute merchandise. This only adds to the footprint that sunglasses like Ray-Ban have
as not only is oil and gas being used to produce the plastic that the sunglasses are made of but
also to transport the sunglasses globally.

Plastic Sunglasses and the Footprint they Leave Behind

A.) The Impact of Plastic

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As previously stated, the majority of Ray-Ban sunglasses are made of plastic materials.
There are over 200 billion pounds of plastic produced in the world annually, including Ray-Ban
Sunglasses (Silverman, 2015). Frames are made from cellulose acetate and lenses are either
made from cellulose acetate or polycarbonate. Both of these types of plastics find their origin
from oil that is pumped from the ground. Generally, plastics used for sunglasses are made from
liquid petroleum gases (LPG) and natural gas liquids (NGL) or crude oil. In 2010 roughly 191
million barrels of LPG and NGL were used to make plastic products in the United States, which
represents 2.7% of total U.S. petroleum use (How Much Oil is Used to Make Plastic, 2015).
When looking at this on a global scale, the amount of petroleum or crude oil used to make plastic
is about 5% of worldwide oil production (From oil to plastic, 2013). In 2010, the energy used to
manufacture petroleum products like plastic was about 65 billion kilowatt-hours (How Much Oil
is Used to Make Plastic, 2015). Not only are mass portions of petroleum and crude oil being
used for making plastic but the energy used to make the plastics is an extreme amount. Any time
that petroleum or crude oil is being extracted from the ground there is a large amount of energy
used by the machines that extract the oil. It is estimated that by 2020 that the amount of energy
to extract crude oil and petroleum from the ground will be 4% of the total energy needed to
produce the final product like plastic sunglasses (Glanfield, 2002).

B.) Plastic Sunglasses in Society

Sunglasses are very common and popular in todays society all over the world. It is
estimated that 85% of only the American population wear sunglasses for either UV protection or
to enhance eyesight (What Percentage of the Population Wears Sunglasses, 2015). As of the
current day, the United States has a population of over 320 million people (U.S. Census Bureau,
2015). This means that over 272 million people use or own sunglasses in the United States.
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When looking on a bigger scale, the world population is over 7.2 billion people (U.S. Census
Bureau, 2015). The United States has the largest economy with a per capita GDP of $47,084
(McMullen, 2014). This means that the average person has more money then people of most
other counties. With the U.S. having the largest economy, people are able to buy accessories like
sunglasses so it is not realistic to say that 85% of people worldwide wear sunglasses. A more
realistic percentage of the world population that uses sunglasses is 40%. If 40% of the total
population wears sunglasses then over 2.8 billion people wear or use sunglasses, with the
majority of these people owning more then one pair at a time. Recent studies have shown that
40% of all women own more then one pair of sunglasses and 13% percent of all men own 3 or
more pairs of sunglasses at a time. The same study suggests that the average male will own 88
pairs of sunglasses in his lifetime, while the average woman will own 42 pairs (Simpson, 2010).
In 2010, the United States male to female ratio was 96.7 males to every 100 females. According
to the statistic that 85% of Americans use sunglasses then 81 out of 100 males and 85 out of
every 100 females have sunglasses (U.S. Census Bureau, 2011). This shows that the 81 males
that own sunglasses will obtain a total of 7,128 pairs of sunglasses collectively and the 85
women who own sunglasses will collectively own 3,570 pairs. These statistics show the
astronomical amount of sunglasses that are used in the United States and the world with the
majority of these sunglasses being made primarily of plastic.
When I look at my sunglasses use, I realize that at this rate I will be one of the males that will
probably own 88 pairs of sunglasses in my life. I currently own 6 pairs of sunglasses and they
are all made of plastic along with two pairs of Ray-Ban Brand. I would guess that I have already
had over 20 pairs of sunglasses at the age of 23. The act of wearing sunglasses does not have
any significant environmental impact. It is the extraction of oil and production of sunglasses that

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creates a footprint. They best solution for myself and other people would be to own as few pairs
of sunglasses as possible. If the population of people who own sunglasses own only one pair
then the demand of sunglasses will decrease. This would result in the decrease of plastic being
used to make sunglasses, which will help decrease the environmental footprint of plastics. This
would also decrease the amount of plastic waste that needs to be recycled or stored in landfill
sites. I believe that the best way that I can decrease my personal footprint with sunglasses at this
point is to dispose of them correctly by making sure they are put into a recycling bin or delivered
to a recycling facility. In the future I plan on only owning one pair of sunglasses so that I am
personally helping to decrease the demand of plastics. Even though my change in action will not
really affect the footprint of plastic sunglasses, if I apply this change to other plastic products or
replace my use of plastics as much as possible with other more environmentally friendly
materials then I would reduce my overall footprint.

C.) Disposal of Plastic

The disposal of plastic is a complicated activity and it ultimately relies on how much
money is available for disposal. The main ways that plastics are disposed of are either,
recycling, landfills, or incinerators. The ideal scenario for the disposal of plastic is to have it all
recycled. This is almost impossible to accomplish due to the fact that 32 million tons of plastic
waste was generated in 2012 with only 9% of plastic waste recovered and recycled (Plastics,
2015). There is a long process that has to take place when plastic is being recycled in recycling
facilities. These facilities do not have the capacity or funding to keep up with all of the plastic
waste disposal. This could be improved if manufacturing facilities invest in compactors or other
plastic disposal machines to recycle their own plastic scraps but very few do this (Disposal of
Plastics, 2015).
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The incineration process only takes about 14% of plastic waste annually and the ash still
ends up in landfills. Plastic Incineration is the most expensive and the greatest polluter of all the
plastic disposal methods. Incineration releases things like acid gases, particulate matter, carbon
monoxide, nitrogen oxide, metals, and at least 190 different VOCs into the environment
(Disposal of Plastics, 2015). These compounds highly pollute the atmosphere and often are the
causes of many human diseases. These facilities are very expensive to fund and the pollutants
that are produced are not tightly regulated.
Landfills are the most common places where most plastics end up after they are disposed
of. Landfills are areas that are lined with plastic or clay layers where solid waste is dumped for
decomposition and cover. Unfortunately, plastic is not biodegradable, which means that it can
sit in landfill for decades before plastic materials start to naturally decompose. In 2010, 31
million tons of plastic arrived in U.S. solid waste facilities (Disposal or Plastics, 2015). These
landfills have taken the place of many local dumps and there are much fewer landfill sites then
previous local dumps. This makes it difficult to have enough space to dispose plastic waste.
This means that not only are these plastic materials polluting the ground surrounding landfills,
but they are also increasing the amount of travel needed to reach these landfills. In 2009, the
recorded number of regional landfill sites was roughly 1900 in the U.S. There are nearly
180,000 trucks that transport solid waste like plastic and they burn 1.5 billion gallons of fuel
annually (Disposal of Plastics, 2015). These trucks produce more pollution as they travel, which
ultimately encourages the implementation of more landfill sites to diminish miles traveled.
Unfortunately, landfills do not even completely prevent the pollution of plastic disposal. In
2000, there was a survey done to see how many active landfills were leaking pollutants through
its liner. The survey showed that 80% of these active landfills had cracks or leaks in their liners

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(Disposal of Plastics, 2015). These leaking pollutants are very dangerous and often end up
seeping into ground water.
The largest landfill in the world is called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. It is located in
the Pacific Ocean and is considered to be a gyre. This area in the Pacific Ocean does not have
much fish or mammal life because its currents have a continuous swirl that creates an
underwater landfill for waste. The Pacific Garbage Patch is believed to be twice the size of
Texas and the current that fuels it is the 6,000-mile long Subtropical Convergence Zone
(Silverman, 2007). It collects millions of tons of trash and most of it is plastic material. In 2006,
the United Nations Environmental Program estimated that there are 46,000 pieces of floating
plastic per every square mile of ocean (Allsopp et al, n.d.). There are more then 200 billion
pounds of plastic produced in the world each year and 10% of that plastic ends up as waste in the
ocean. Out of the 20 Billion pounds of plastic that finds itself in the ocean, 70% of it sinks to the
bottom of the ocean (Silverman, 2015). This is extremely damaging to marine environments
around the world. Smaller pieces of plastic that are in the Pacific Garbage Patch are eaten by the
fish and wildlife and often lead to their demise. This landfill is not an environmentally friendly
place to dispose of plastics. Unfortunately, no landfill assures total pollution control of the
plastics that are in them. The majority of landfills actually fail to prevent pollution but the
plastic has to go somewhere.

Conclusion
Although Ray-Ban sunglasses are an extremely small portion of the 200 billion pounds of
plastic produced annually in the world, they still have an affect. With the largest sunglass

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manufacturing company producing 77% of their products as plastic sunglasses, it is clear that
sunglasses have an impact. Ray-Ban is one the most sought after sunglasses brand in the world.
The use of these plastic sunglasses by famous people makes them desired more by the general
public. With the way that global economies are improving, it is easy to predict that the demand
for sunglasses will increase because people can afford them. As demand increases for sunglasses
like Ray-Ban, there will be a greater demand for plastics to make them. This will result in more
plastic waste and the increased demand of plastic disposal facilities. The increased amount of
landfill and incinerator facilities only spreads the areas of pollution. This shows how a simple
product like plastic sunglasses leaves a large environmental footprint on the world. Hopefully
the future will provide alternative materials to make sunglasses out of that are more
environmentally friendly. If not, we will eventually run out of places where disposal can be
controlled and pollution will continue to spread.

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