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Businesses team up to recycle contact lens materials
More and more individuals have begun to transition from eyeglasses to contact lenses, resulting in over 290 million contact lenses in Canadian landfills each year. When Rocky Mountain Optometry noticed this shift, they decided to partner with TerraCycle to employ a Contact Lenses and Packaging Zero Waste Box at their Fernie location.
There are limited resources to recycle contact lens materials and waste in the region. With TerraCycle’s Contact Lenses and Packaging Zero Waste Box, placed just inside the Fernie office, patients can conveniently recycle contact lenses, or drop their materials at the Elkford or Blairmore locations to be transported to Fernie’s Zero Waste Box.
TerraCycle, the world’s leader in the collection and repurposing of complex waste streams, created the Zero Waste Box program to provide solutions for difficult-to-recycle waste that cannot be recycled through TerraCycle’s brand-sponsored, national recycling programs or via standard municipal recycling.
Contact lenses are traditionally considered to be a non-recyclable waste as recycling centres do not support them. Due to the size of contact lenses, as well as their packaging, these materials are filtered out and directed to the waste stream, where they will contribute to landfills across the country. The Contact Lenses and Packaging Zero Waste Box will help Rocky Mountain Optometry and its patients significantly reduce the amount of disposable contact lenses being thrown away in the community.
“The introduction of a Zero Waste Box will give us the opportunity to educate our patients and the community. At Rocky Mountain Optometry, we care about keeping our environment sustainable for years to come and are excited to offer this solution for contact lens wearers,” said Dr. Shane Groeneweg of Rocky Mountain Optometry.
Before its participation in TerraCycle’s Zero Waste Box Program, Rocky Mountain Optometry was, and continues to be, an active recycler of eyeglasses in partnership with Third World Eye Care Society and Optometry Giving Sight. This organization has allowed the doctors at Rocky Mountain Optometry to donate recycled eyeglasses to individuals in developing countries.
More information regarding Rocky Mountain Optometry can be found by visiting their website.
All collected materials from the Zero Waste Box program are sent to TerraCycle for recycling, where they undergo a series of treatments before getting turned into new items.
TerraCycle offers Zero Waste Boxes for nearly every category of waste. By purchasing Zero Waste Boxes, companies and consumers save trash from landfills and help reach TerraCycle’s goal of creating a waste-free world.
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