Over 5 Million Units of Contact Lens Materials Recycled Via ONE by ONE Program

 Over 5 Million Units of Contact Lens Materials Recycled Via ONE by ONE Program

Global eye health company Bausch + Lomb announced last week that its exclusive ONE by ONE Recycling Program has recycled a combined total of more than five million units of used contact lenses, blister packs and top foils since the program’s inception in November 2016. 

The program is made possible through a collaboration with TerraCycle®, a world leader in the collection and repurposing of hard-to-recycle post-consumer waste. To date, Bausch + Lomb and TerraCycle have diverted nearly 31,000 pounds of used contact lenses, blister packs and top foils, the equivalent of approximately two and a half times the weight of an elephant, from oceans, lakes, streams and landfills.

In August 2018, Arizona State University published a study stating that up to 20 percent of consumers in the United States flush their contact lens waste down the drain, contributing to a potential total of 3.36 billion contact lenses in the environment. While contact lens materials are recyclable, when placed into regular curbside recycling bins, their small size causes them to be filtered out at recycling facilities and directed to the waste stream. 

The Bausch + Lomb ONE by ONE Recycling Program is available to optometrists and their patients in the United States. Patients can bring their used contact lenses and packaging to any of the nearly 3,000 participating eye care professionals’ offices. Registered accounts are provided custom recycling bins and office materials. Once the recycling bins are full, the practice mails the used lens materials to TerraCycle for proper recycling using a free shipping label. When the materials are received by TerraCycle, they are then recycled into post-consumer products, such as park benches and picnic tables

To register and learn more about the Bausch + Lomb ONE by ONE Recycling program, visit www.BauschRecycles.com or speak to your Bausch + Lomb sales representative.

See the full news release from Bausch + Lomb.

Source: Bausch + Lomb

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