A New Form Of Pollution: Contact Lenses

Following on from my last post on contact lenses and how most people I know aren’t aware that they can be recycled, I did some research.

Searching on Google, I found a fascinating study by Charles Rolsky, a PhD student at Arizona State University who conducts research into plastic pollution and is a science advisor for Plastic Oceans. He has undertaken a project on the environmental impact of contact lenses.

The results are shocking – it’s estimated that billions of contact lenses are used and disposed of incorrectly in America each year, with one in five people incorrectly disposing of their contact lenses by throwing them down the sink or the toilet. 

The lack of information on the environmental impact of contact lenses is frustrating. 

Presently, no contact lens manufacturer includes information on the environmental impact of contact lenses on their packaging and as a result, there’s not enough of a spotlight on this growing environmental concern. The research undertaken can be found here: https://asunow.asu.edu/20180819-discoveries-asu-scientists-1st-nationwide-study-environmental-costs-contact-lenses

45 million Americans rely on contact lenses to see clearly and it’s estimated that in the US alone, 1.8 to 3.36 billion lenses are flushed away every year, around 20 to 23 tonnes of waste every year.

The UK statistics are eye-opening too:

• There are 4.2m contact lens wearers in the UK. (ABDO 2016 ) 
• 780 million plastic contact lenses are used per year in the UK. ( ABDO, 2016 )
• 1 in 3 contact lens wearers isn't aware they can be recycled. ( Johnson and Johnson, 2019 ).

I suspect that the figures for people who aren't recycling used contact lenses and packaging is much, much higher. The unhelpful part is that none of the contact lens manufacturers displays recycling messages on their packaging.

Plastic bags, straws, coffee cups, coffee stirrers, cotton buds, next up on the agenda I'm sure it will be contact lens pollution.

What can be done?

Environmental messaging on packaging: Maybe it’s time for all manufacturers of single-use plastics to start being more responsible and articulate clearly to consumers whether and how their products can be recycled. And maybe the government needs to play a part in making this happen.

Biodegradable lenses: There are no biodegradable contact lenses currently in development, whether this will be in the future is unknown.

Deposit Scheme: Should this be considered to encourage consumers to responsibly dispose of used contact lenses in the same way Zero Waste Scotland have the return scheme for drinks packaging.

These are just some of the suggestions that could be opened up for discussion. Are you aware of contact lens pollution? Have you worn lenses and flushed them down the loo? Or discarded them in the bin?

I'll be sharing more on contact lens pollution in the coming weeks and would love your feedback on this.