How much waste do contact lenses generate?
You’ll be surprised! Read on to find out more.
Seeing Clearly
Daily disposables generate so much waste…but do they?
While wearing disposables certainly creates waste, it’s about the same amount as when wearing reusable lenses and using care solution. And it’s much less waste than other regular household waste. Find out more below.
Let’s look at the numbers
1kg
Annual waste produced by daily disposable wear.1
0.35%
Proportion of daily disposable CL waste vs total annual waste.*
*Data for a typical Canadian household
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Frequently Asked Questions
I want to switch my patient from reusable lenses into daily disposables, but my patient is concerned that this may create more waste. Is this true?
It depends on how frequently your patient wears their lenses. If they wear their dailies 3 to 4 times a week, the amount of waste generated is similar to wearing reusable lenses. Full-time wear of daily disposable contact lenses generates ~1.06kg of waste per year, while full-time use of reusable contact lenses and care solution generates ~0.83kg of waste per year.
You can read more on it here or in the peer-reviewed article by Smith et al that these data were sourced from.
My patient wants to start wearing contact lenses but worries that this generates too much waste.
Resources
The environmental impact of contact lens waste (CL spectrum)
Yeung K, Davis R. The environmental impact of contact lens waste. Contact Lens Spectrum 2019 (August).
Addressing core questions about sustainability (Optician)
Ng A, Jones L. CLs: Addressing core questions about sustainability. Optician 2023 (April).
An investigation into disposal and recycling options for daily disposable and monthly replacement soft contact lens modalities (Contact Lens Anterior Eye)
Smith SL, Orsborn GN, Sulley A, et al. An investigation into disposal and recycling options for daily disposable and monthly replacement soft contact lens modalities. Cont Lens Anterior Eye 2022;45(2):101435.
Daily disposable versus reusable contact lenses: a close match when it comes to the impact on the environment (Contact Lens Anterior Eye)
Routhier J, Freitas MD, Hickson-Curran S. Daily disposable versus reusable contact lenses: a close match when it comes to the impact on the environment. Cont Lens Anterior Eye 2012;35:e2.