11/09/2025
Increasingly, savvy customers have quite rightly been asking about the sustainability of contact lenses. The team from the Optometry Today journal have been looking in to this too and have interviewed two key industry figures to find out the facts.
You can watch the whole video on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5O4IUGudQNo
It's only 11 minutes long but if you would like the highlights, I have summarised below.
1) There are no extremely hazardous materials used in CL manufacturing. The most hazardous is alcohol.
2) There is use of water in the production and the manufacturers go to great lengths to clear the water before it is allowed back to the environment.
3) The main components used are plastic, aluminium and silicone.
4) A typical user of daily disposable CLs produces 1.06kg of waste annually, all of which can be recycled. A reusable (monthly or two-weekly replacement) produces 0.83kg pf waste, most of which can be recycled. The average UK citizen throws away 377kg of waste per year. Of course occasional use of daily disposable means much lower waste.
5) Lens waste - the foil, the plastic and the lenses themselves can be recycled. Solution bottles can be mostly recycled (though the caps and tamper-rings can not be).
Want to know more about sustainability in eye care? See www.sustainableeyecare.com
So what should you be doing as a spectacle wearer or a contact lens wearer.
At Richard Fantom Eyecare we collect in old spectacles for the Lions Club International.
Contact Lenses should be saved up and returned to us. Collect the plastic "blister packs", the foils and the contact lenses themselves. NEVER put lenses down the sink or toilet as this can eventually work its way in to the rivers and sea. The contact lens waste is collected periodically by our partners at Johnson & Johnson.
There is a greater and greater emphasis on sustainability in the manufacturing of contact lenses, spectacle frames and spectacles lenses, and ever better plans for end of use recycling.
Sustainable Eyecare What YOU can do! Explore our resources to learn what you can do to make contact lens wear and eye care more sustainable. Find out more about proper disposal of contact lens and eye care products, how it affects the environment, along with many more recycling facts! EYE CARE PRACT...