They might be small, but contact lenses can create a big waste problem.
Guelph eye doctors are helping the planet and the community by reducing waste to keep traditionally unrecyclable disposable contact lenses and their packaging out of landfills.
Through the Bausch + Lomb Every Contact Counts Free Recycling Program, contact lens users are encouraged to bring all brands of disposable contact lenses and their blister pack packaging to participating eye doctor locations to be recycled, at no cost.
Once collected, the contact lenses and blister packs are cleaned and separated by material type. The materials are recycled into raw formats that manufacturers use to make new products.
With over 290 million contacts ending up in landfills every year, TerraCycle, a recycling company leading the program, aims to help reduce waste and keep disposable contact lenses out of landfills, incinerators and the environment.
“Contact lenses may be a forgotten waste stream due to their small size, but the amount of waste flushed into the environment is substantial,” said Tom Szaky, founder and CEO of TerraCycle.
“The Bausch + Lomb Every Contact Counts Free Recycling Program allows eye doctors to take an active role by working within their community to recycle eyecare waste.”
Communities are able to recycle through a national network of public drop-off locations, all with the goal to increase the number of recycled contact lenses and reduce their impact on the environment.
Bausch Health Companies Inc. is a global company whose mission is to improve people's lives with its health care products.
The program, which launched in 2020, has hundreds of optometry clinics across Canada taking part, including over 250 locations in Ontario.
Since contact lenses are not accepted by curbside recycling throughout Canada, eye doctors in Guelph want to do their part.
Local eye doctors participating in the program, are Royal City Optometry, Edinburgh Optometry, Cardow Optical & Dr Main Optometry, and Dr. Lukito and Associates Optometry.
Tammy Dickinson, practice coordinator at Edinburgh Optometry, said there isn’t enough awareness when it comes to the impact contact lenses have on landfills and the environment.
“I don’t think people realize. They flush lenses down their toilet, or throw them into the garbage,” Dickinson said.
“We wanted to join this program to help. It’s one small step that we can take as an office, in our community, to keep contact lenses out of the landfill.”
Dickinson said it’s wonderful to be a part of the program, to recycle and bring awareness to the community.
“A lot of people don’t want to wear contacts because of the waste that they can create,” she said.
“This is a great way for them to do their part in recycling and to acknowledge that they should not be going into the flushing system.”
The owner of Royal City Optometry, Tiffany Tang, said people often think there really is no other way to dispose of their contact lenses without having to throw them in the garbage.
“Worse yet, some people have flushed them into the toilet and then they go into the waterways as well,” Tang said.
Royal City Optometry has been part of the The Bausch + Lomb Every Contact Counts Free Recycling Program for about five years.
“We are a pretty big contact lens practice and we are in Guelph which is a very environmentally conscious city,” Tang said.
“We felt it was really important to give people, who choose contact lenses, whether it's for convenience, or health reasons, a way to dispose of the waste properly.”
To learn more about the Bausch + Lomb Every Contact Counts Free Recycling Program, become a public drop-off location, or to search for the nearest participating location, visit this link.
“It’s easy. It doesn't really require anything extra for the patients to do. They just put the waste into a zip lock bag, and bring it into the office. We then ship it out," Tang explained.
"When you think after a month, a few months, or even after a year, that’s a lot of garbage that’s generated,” Tang added.
“I have patients who say they might not want to choose that option because of all of the waste. But because they are environmentally cautious, they are really excited to hear about this program.”
