Do You Use Contact Lenses? Great! But Don’t Do This With Them!
When I changed my thick, heavy glasses for contact lenses, my life changed, dramatically and forever. I was in my early 20s when I changed to contacts. I am incredibly short-sighted, so my glasses needed to be very, very thick. I probably looked bookish, and my nose was always sore from the constant weight.
What changed? Well, although there always plenty of boys around, suddenly, I was spoilt for choice – there were swarms of them hovering around.
It doesn’t say a lot for the guys – that appearance was so important, does it? 🙂
But I was delighted with my contact lenses. They were just wonderful – and I still love them!
So what’s the problem?
Disposables
Most lenses sold today are disposable, either daily, weekly or monthly. What happens to them when they are discarded?
Well, a new report shows that 15-20% of US contact lens users put them down the drain via the bathroom sink or the toilet.
And that’s causing problems.
Contact lenses are made of plastic. When you throw them down the drain, they end up in water treatment plants, and from there, they are spread on farmland as sewage sludge, increasing plastic pollution in the environment.
That plastic waste can be eaten by worms which are then eaten by birds. Or it can be washed down to rivers and seas and eaten by small fish which are eaten by bigger fish which are then eaten by – us.
It’s a big ecological problem, allowing persistent toxic pollutants to exist all over the planet.
Is It a BIG Problem?
Contact lenses are often made from a mixture of acrylic glass, silicones and fluoropolymers. They are not generally recycled, although one of the largest manufacturers Bausch + Lomb have a great recycling program .
So, How SHOULD You Dispose of Contact Lenses?
The authors of the study say that lenses should be recycled where this is possible, but if not they should be disposed of by putting them in with other solid, non-recyclable waste.
Just DON’T put them down the sink or shower or toilet, please!
Quality of Life
Without a doubt, contact lenses offer an improvement to life quality – they certainly make a massive difference to me.
We need to remember though that they are plastic, and therefore we need to be aware of how we dispose of them, in order to keep the environment safe.
The researchers recommend that manufacturers provide information on the label, informing people how to properly dispose of their contact lenses. Hopefully, people will read them!
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Do you wear contact lenses? Let me know in the comments below.
Warm regards,
