Bausch + Lomb Reports Nearly 27 Million Units of Contact Lens Materials Recycled

Monday, November 16 2020 | 10 h 26 min | News

Bausch + Lomb announced that its exclusive ONE by ONE Recycling program has recycled nearly 27 million used contact lenses, top foils and blister packs since launching in November 2016. The program, made possible through a collaboration with TerraCycle^®, a world leader in the collection and repurposing of hard-to-recycle post-consumer waste, has diverted more than 162,000 pounds of contact lens waste from oceans, lakes, streams and landfills.

“As a leader in the eye health industry and the originator of the first soft contact lens, we are proud to provide the ONE by ONE Recycling program to contact lens wearers to help prevent these used materials do not end up in our environment,” said John Ferris, general manager, U.S. Vision Care, Bausch + Lomb. “In addition, as part of our overall approach to sustainability, we continually evaluate the full life cycle of our lenses. In fact, many of our contact lenses, including Biotrue^® ONEday daily disposables, are manufactured in facilities that have adopted zero-waste-to-landfill initiatives and have achieved diversion rates of 94-99% during the past few years, further supporting our longstanding commitment to doing all we can to lessen our company’s overall environmental footprint.”

Today, more than 5,500 optometry practices are registered with the ONE by ONE Recycling program. To participate, contact lens wearers can bring their used contact lenses and packaging to one of these offices, which collects the used lens materials in a custom recycling bin provided by Bausch + Lomb. Once the bin is filled, the optometry practice will ship the materials to TerraCycle for proper recycling using a pre-paid shipping label.

Additionally, for every 10 pounds of material received from the ONE by ONE Recycling Program, TerraCycle donates $10 to Optometry Giving Sight.

In 2019, Bausch + Lomb took the program one step further by repurposing the recycled waste and combining it with other recycled material to create custom training modules that were donated to the Guide Dog Foundation, a national not-for-profit that trains guide dogs for people who are blind or visually impaired. The modules, which included benches, tables, waste stations and an agility ramp, are used to train the dogs and to further enhance the organization’s Smithtown, New York campus for those who visit.

In Canada, the Bausch + Lomb Every Contact Counts Recycling Program recycles Bausch + Lomb and other contact lenses and blister packs.

Click HERE for the full press release.