In 1801, John Young created the first glass contact lens prototype, nearly 300 years after Leonardo da Vinci first conceptualized them by looking into a glass of water. Today, 45 million Americans wear contact lenses. Let's dive into the sustainability of them, shall we?

Ingredients: Most contacts made today consist of water and a hydrogel, either made of silicone or something called poly-HEMA. The higher the water content, the more oxygen can pass through the lens, the better for you and your eyes, and the winner here is silicone hydrogel, which come in monthly, 2-week or dailies. According to the National Library of Medicine, the overall environmental impact of waste generated through the use of contact lens products by the end consumer is relatively insignificant (.5%), but we still do what we can, right?

Dailies vs Reusable: Contrary to intuition, the ecological waste of dailies isn't that different from that of a reusable contact lens plus lens solution. An annual supply (365 pairs) of one-day disposable contact lenses, including cartons, products 1kg of waste per year. Reusable lenses plus solution produces .87kg of waste.

Three other factors can make lenses more or less sustainable: how they're manufactured, how they're packaged, and company take-back programs. Here's what some companies are doing:

Bausch + Lomb created biodegradable lens shipping packaging, recyclable molded paper fiber packaging, and a more recyclable clear polyethylene packaging for its Renu solutions. They also have a world-class One By One Recycling Program in which you can send back lenses and blister packs at a drop-off near you.

CooperVision has a manufacturing plant in Costa Rica that recycles up to 95% of its solid waste, including materials used in production such as cardboard, wood, paper and oil. 90% of the facility's electricity is derive from renewable resources. Their New York operations are 100% powered by wind, and the company created a contact lens mold closure technology to use certain raw materials in their entirety without waste.

Hubble has a line called Hydro by Hubble, dailies that feature the slimmest contact lens packaging in the world: that means less waste and less plastic. Unfortunately, we don't have specifics on how slim they are and what the exact difference in waste & plastic is between Hydro by Hubble and its competitors.

Contact lenses aren't biodegradable or compostable. Whatever you do, please don't throw away your old contact lenses down the drain or flush them down the toilet. Contact lenses can and will break down into microplastics that pollute waterways and make their way into bodies of water or the soil.

Sources:

https://clspectrum.com/issues/2019/august/the-environmental-impact-of-contact-lens-waste/

https://coopervision.com/practitioner/ecp-viewpoints/technicians-and-staff/contact-lenses-101-part-1-contact-lens-materials

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16303496/

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