Happy Earth Day!
The American Optometric Association has published several interesting facts in the spirit of Earth Day:
- 15 to 20 percent of contact wearers flush lenses down the sink or toilet
- An estimated 6 – 10 metric tons of plastic lenses end up in wastewater in the U.S. each year
- In wastewater treatment, contact lenses likely breakdown to form microplastics
- Microplastics pose a risk to aquatic organisms, marine animals, and eventually the entire food supply
- Most contact lens packs are stamped with number 5 for recycling through your municipal service, where available. However, Plastic #5 or small items (like the contact lens basin) are often excluded.
- There are recycling programs available especially for contact lenses and their packaging.
Visit the joint venture from TerraCycle and a prominent contact lens manufacturer Bausch+Lomb to learn about their "One By One" contact lens recycling program - every bit of the contact lens package (*including the used contacts!) can be recycled.