The Vision Center at Seaside Farms strives to be as environmentally friendly as possible.  We are currently working towards our small business green certification issued by the US Green Business Certification program – becoming the first eye care practice in the Charleston area to be certified.  Here are some of the ways The Vision Center is being green:

  • We run a “paperless” office.  This means we employ an electronic medical records system to store medical charts and documents as well as process many transactions and insurance claims electronically without the need for printed materials
  • We recycle the small amount of paper that has to be used
  • We only use paper products that are made from recycled materials, including tissues and paper towels
  • Many building materials were chosen that contain different amounts of recycled products, including our wood flooring which is 100% recycled
  • We have a programmable thermostat allowing us to reduce our heating and cooling needs
  • We have a ceiling fan in our reception area to cool the room, demanding less from our AC unit
  • We have added insulation above our ceilings to reduce heating and cooling loss
  • Energy efficient lighting is used
  • Office electronics are energy star approved
  • Recycling bins are provided for customer and employee use
  • There is a bus stop around the corner allowing patients to use more eco friendly mass transit
  • We only use environmentally friendly cleaning products
  • We batch our contact lens and frame orders to cut down on shipping supplies
  • Our faxes are submitted and received electronically, cutting down on needless fax printouts
  • Customer bags are made of recycled materials
  • Marketing materials are printed on recycled paper and use vegetable and soy based inks
  • The majority of our marketing is electronic, including patient communications, reducing our need for printed material and decreasing the need for delivered mail
  • Our building has many large windows to allow natural light into the office, thus reducing our need for interior lighting
  • We have living plants in our optical and reception area to offset our carbon dioxide output
  • We work with eye wear vendors who are environmentally responsible: IC! Berlin offers an organic line of eye glasses and produces their catalog on 100% recycled paper as well as in a manner that uses 60% fewer pages.  Maui Jim is a company very commited to the environment.  They only use 100% recycled paper for all of their paper needs and are very active in the green awareness campaigns across the country.  Safilo reduces their printing/paper needs by having their collections catalog exclusively online -no more printed catalogs.
  • We recycle old glasses through VSP Global who refurbishes them and distributes them to people in need.  We offer our patients 20% off their new eye glasses purchase when they donate their old pairs.
  • One of our lens suppliers, Transitions, is taking steps to become carbon neutral in 2010.