Did you know that every year, over 290 million contact lenses end up in Canadian landfills and waterways? When contact lenses in Calgary are discarded in the trash, they are sorted at recycling facilities and directed into the waste stream. Unfortunately, municipal recycling centers don’t offer contact lens recycling services in Calgary. Furthermore, up to 20% of contact lens wearers dispose of their lenses in the sink or toilet, contributing to the accumulation of landfill and water waste.
The good news is, Bausch + Lomb offers a contact lens recycling program called ‘Every Contact Counts’ in partnership with TerraCycle. At Doig Optometry, we participate in this program in an effort to help reduce landfill waste associated with contact lenses. Keep reading to learn more!
How do I participate in the Every Contact Counts Recycling Program?
If your question is ‘can you recycle contact lenses’, you absolutely can! Taking part in the Every Contact Counts program is quite simple. Once you’re ready to discard your lenses, place them in any re-usable or single-use bag along with the empty blister packs. Visit us at Doig Optometry to drop off the used contacts and repeat!
The recyclable materials you can place in the bag or container includes:
- Used contact lenses
- Top foil
- Open, dried plastic blister packs
Note: Please don’t place unopened blister packs or bring the cardboard boxes that the contact lenses may come in. Any additional cardboard can be recycled through Calgary’s recycling services.
What are recycled contact lenses used for?
The contact lenses and blister packs are separated and cleaned, then melted into plastic that can be used to make other products. Recycled contact lenses are remoulded and upcycled into:
- Picnic tables
- Playground equipment
- Benches,
- And much more!
Why recycle your contact lenses?
What may seemingly be a small piece of plastic and material can quickly pile up in our landfills and water waste with millions of contact lens wearers in Canada. The efforts to reduce waste are becoming more and more urgent, including the way we dispose of our contact lenses.
The Bausch + Lomb Every Contact Counts Recycling Program is the first of its kind in Canada. Recycling your contact lenses benefits our environment across the country by not only reducing waste but providing recyclable materials to make other valuable products. It’s a win-win!