Contact lenses are a convenient vision correction tool, but their disposal presents a unique challenge. They are made from plastics that require special handling, and confusion often leads to improper methods. This significantly contributes to the growing issue of microplastic pollution in global waterways. Understanding the correct disposal procedure is an important step every lens wearer can take to protect the environment.
Why Contact Lenses Cannot Be Flushed
Contact lenses should never be rinsed down the sink or flushed down the toilet because they are not biodegradable and can pass through wastewater treatment facilities. These small plastic items are not fully captured by the filtration systems at treatment plants, allowing them to enter rivers, lakes, and oceans. The unique oxygen-permeable polymers that make up the lenses, such as poly(methylmethacrylate) and silicones, break down into microplastics under the conditions of a treatment plant. These minuscule plastic fragments, which are smaller than five millimeters, then contaminate aquatic environments. Once in the water, these microplastics can be ingested by marine life, potentially allowing them to enter the food chain and posing a threat to entire ecosystems. Studies estimate that between six and ten metric tons of plastic lenses end up in U.S. wastewater each year due to improper flushing.
Standard Disposal of Used Lenses
The safest and most accessible method for disposal, when specialized recycling is not available, is to place the used lenses directly into your household trash. This prevents them from entering the water system and ensures they are safely contained within a landfill. To perform this properly, securely contain the lenses first to prevent them from being lost during collection and transportation. Placing the used lens into a small, sealed container, a non-recyclable plastic bag, or a securely folded piece of paper or tissue before disposal is recommended. While this method does not recycle the plastic, it effectively mitigates the immediate environmental harm of microplastic pollution associated with flushing.
Dedicated Recycling Programs
The most environmentally responsible way to dispose of contact lenses is through specialized recycling programs, often sponsored by manufacturers or third-party organizations. Standard municipal recycling facilities cannot process lenses and their blister packs because they are too small and made from specific plastic blends, which contaminate the recycling stream. Programs like the Bausch + Lomb ONE by ONE Recycling Program partner with organizations like TerraCycle to provide a solution. This initiative accepts used contact lenses, blister packs, and top foils from all brands, ensuring they are properly repurposed. Users can participate by collecting items and dropping them off at a participating optometrist’s office or mailing them in using a pre-paid shipping label. The collected materials are cleaned, melted, and transformed into hard plastic pellets used to manufacture new products like park benches and industrial items.
Disposing of Solution Bottles and Packaging
The waste associated with contact lenses includes several distinct packaging components beyond the lens itself. The outer cardboard boxes are generally accepted in standard curbside recycling programs and should be separated and flattened before disposal.
Plastic solution bottles are typically made from widely recyclable plastics like PET (#1) or HDPE (#2). They can be placed in your municipal recycling bin after being thoroughly rinsed out.
The small caps from these solution bottles are often too small to be sorted correctly by standard recycling machinery. They may need to be included with the materials sent to dedicated lens recycling programs.
Blister packs, which house the individual lenses, are composed of a plastic cup and a foil lid, which must be separated. The plastic cup can often be included in the dedicated lens recycling programs. The foil lid may be recyclable with other aluminum, depending on your local guidelines.