Raise awareness on sustainability: EssilorLuxottica develops first Life Cycle Assessment on bio-acetate

In this context, last year EssilorLuxottica and Mazzucchelli 1849 started a collaboration that includes, among other objectives, an assessment of the sustainability performance of Mazzucchelli's alternative materials offering. Mazzucchelli 1849, an Italian company based in Castiglione Olona, is a worldwide leader in the manufacturing and distribution of sheets made of Cellulose Acetate, polymer of natural origin, traditionally used in the production of optical and sunglass frames.

Recently, EssilorLuxottica and Mazzucchelli developed the first comparative Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) on bio-acetate according to the ISO 14040/14044 standards on LCA. It aims at assessing the environmental performance of the bio-acetate produced by Mazzucchelli, compared to industry standard acetate.

EssilorLuxottica confirms that the bio-acetate in its products produced by Mazzucchelli has a lower environmental impact compared to industry standard acetate. According to the global ASTM D6866 test method, the material contains around 65% of bio-content compared to the average bio-content of 40% of industry standard acetate. The increased percentage of bio-content is obtained from a bio-based plasticizer typically derived from renewable sources like cereals, beet or sugar cane. The bio-plasticizer is used to perfectly substitute traditional fossil-based plastics. According to the LCA, the bio-based acetate shows better environmental performances for all impact categories that were investigated such as acidification, eutrophication and water depletion. Moreover, it is fully biodegradable according to the highest international standards. Finally, the global warming potential of the bio-acetate reports a reduction of around 54% of CO₂ emissions when compared with the production of industry standard acetate.