We all start somewhere
You will never know how much you can do to contribute. When we started with contact lens recycling at CORE through Terracycle, we wouldn’t have imagined to have recycled more than 150 lbs of contact lenses, blister packs and foils in just 3 years. And this is not just from study-related contact lens waste – our participants have welcomed the opportunity to recycle their own lens waste at CORE as well.
Seeing Clearly
Do your patients know they can recycle their contact lens waste? No?
To help you with educating your patients on a more sustainable way to dispose of your contact lens products, we have developed infographics for reusable and daily disposable contact lenses, available for Canada, the UK and the USA.
Let’s look at the numbers1
64%
of daily disposable contact lens waste by mass was plastic blister trays
67%
of reusable contact lens waste by mass was plastics, mostly from solution bottles
1 Smith SL, Orsborn GN, Sulley A, et al.
Download country-based infographics
Frequently Asked Questions
I wear reusable contact lenses – what can I recycle?
You can recycle the care solution bottles as well as the cardboard box packaging your lenses and care solution came in via your municipal recycling program. Contact lenses, blister packs and foils can be recycled via specialist recycling. Click on the learn more button above to find out more about how recycling your contact lens waste works.
Make sure to remove the lid of the solution bottle as this must go into the regular household waste. 1
1 Smith et al
I wear daily disposable contact lenses – what can I recycle?
You can recycle everything. The cardboard box packaging your came in can simply be recycled via your municipal household recycling program. Contact lenses, blister packs and foils can be recycled via specialist recycling – visit our recycling page to find a location near you or read more here.
I know I need to replace my lens case when I open a new bottle. What do I do with the old case?
Currently, these can only be recycled by a small number of providers, so if your eye care provider doesn’t have a box that can accept them, you should throw them in a regular waste bin. However, if you live in the USA, Bausch + Lomb have launched Biotrue Eye Care Recycling. Under this initiative, the “difficult-to-recycle” pieces such as the solution bottle cap, contact lens case, and even eyedrop bottles (including single-dose vials) can be recycled, free of charge and all brands are accepted. Simply set up your free TerraCycle account, collect the acceptable waste under the scheme, print off a free shipping label when you’re ready to send your items and ship it off to the address provided.
If you are interested in the science behind it
Bringing Sustainability Into Focus: The Case for Contact Lens Recycling (Eye & Contact Lens)
Bhatnagar P, Devireddy N, Tharp M, Chen SP. Bringing Sustainability Into Focus: The Case for Contact Lens Recycling. Eye Contact Lens. 2024 Dec 1;50(12):527-528
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.
Addressing core questions about sustainability (Optician)
Ng A, Jones L. CLs: Addressing core questions about sustainability. Optician 2023 (April).
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.