Australia – For the first time, Australians are being given the opportunity to recycle their contact lenses thanks to a collaboration between US firm TerraCycle and eye health product manufacturer Bausch + Lomb.
Nearly 700 000 people living in Australia use contact lenses which, along with their blister pack-style packaging, can now be recycled free of charge by signing up to the programme online, downloading a prepaid shipping label, and mailing them to TerraCycle.
The lenses and plastic packaging will be melted down and remoulded into recycled products while the metal layers of the blister packs will be recycled separately.
Previously considered ‘too difficult and too expensive’ to recycle, all brands of contact lens are captured by the scheme.
For every kilogramme received by TerraCycle, one Australian dollar will be donated to Optometry Giving Sight – a global organisation that works to prevent blindness and impaired vision.
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