Environmentally Sound Optical Glass (Eco-glass)

Lenses and prisms made using Eco-glass

Development of Eco-glass

Since its foundation in 1917 as the first optical glass manufacturer in Japan, Nikon has always attributed special importance to the development and manufacture of optical glass for use in optical equipment. In the 1970s, in order to tackle emerging pollution problems, we reviewed the compositions of various types of optical glass used for our products and discontinued the use of cadmium in them.
Subsequently in the 1990s, we developed "Eco-glass" that does not contain lead or arsenic, because we regarded our use of lead and arsenic in about 100 types of optical glass up to then as a serious environmental problem for our business activities and products. We thought that the problem should be solved before the arrival of the age of the global environment in the 21st century. Accordingly, over about five years from 1996, we invested nearly 400 million yen in R&D for Eco-glass. Furthermore, we started to use Eco-glass in the optical systems of all our products, including cameras, steppers and scanners, microscopes, and binoculars through close cooperation between the optical glass development/manufacturing department and the optical design department, while ensuring that our products retain higher optical performance than conventional products.
Nikon delivers a wide spectrum of optical devices, which are all expected to constantly provide the highest optical performance in their respective fields. While meeting these expectations, we now use Eco-glass in nearly 100% of our products, excluding some with special optical specifications that Eco-glass cannot meet.
Nikon will continue to minimize the risk of pollution (air, water and soil pollution, and contamination of waste disposal sites) caused by optical glass containing lead and arsenic throughout the lifecycle of its products, including the exploitation of materials and the manufacture, use, and disposal of products.