Improper disposal of contact lenses are attributing to more problems then we may think.
In a recent study at Arizona State University, 20 percent of contact wearers are tossing their contacts in the sink or toilet instead of the garbage.
This disposal is leading to clogged waterways due to the fact that they are plastic and do not fully break down. To make things worse, if they do break down enough to not clog waterways, they are still small pieces that then find their way to birds, fish and other animals.
KARE 11 reports that an estimated 50,000 pounds of plastic get flushed or go down the drain and end up causing problems.
However, a major lens maker, Bausch and Lomb, is seriously pursuing a contact lens recycling program. Since it began in November 2016, the company says the program has collected 2.5 million used lenses, amounting to about 7 tons of waste.
