Bausch + Lomb reports more than 65M units of eye care materials recycled
Bausch + Lomb is sharing that its One by One and Biotrue Eye Care recycling programs have recycled 65.8 million units, or 397,194 pounds, of used contact lenses, eye care and lens care materials. The amount is equivalent to the weight of three commercial-sized airplanes.
“Contact lenses, eye care and lens care materials are often not processed in standard recycling facilities due to their small size and the type of plastic used to manufacture them. As a result, they can potentially end up in landfills or waterways and contribute to plastic pollution,” said Amy Butler, vice president of global environment, health, safety and sustainability at Bausch + Lomb.
Butler continued, “We created the One by One program and later extended our efforts with the Biotrue Eye Care Recycling program to provide eye care practitioners and their patients with a way to properly recycle these used materials and help prevent them from ending up in our environment. Now, with nearly 13,000 eye doctors’ offices participating as official Bausch + Lomb recycling centers and contributions from consumers all over the nation, we can take these once forgotten waste streams and use the millions of materials to create various post-consumer products like picnic tables and benches.”
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The One by One Recycling program has collected more than 65 million units of used contact lenses, top foils and blister packs since its launch in 2016. In addition, the Biotrue Eye Care Recycling program, the first and only eye care recycling program in the United States launched in 2021, has collected more than 440,000 eye drop single dose units, lens cases and lens solution caps as Biotrue Hydration Boost lubricant eye drops multi-dose bottles. (Lens solution bottles can be recycled through standard recycling by local recycling guidelines).
“The Bausch + Lomb One by One and Biotrue Eye Care recycling programs are complementary and an integral part of our practice’s approach to sustainability as they allow us to contribute to the collection of these materials for proper recycling," said Gina Wesley, of Complete Eye Care, Medina, Minn. "My patients also appreciate hearing about these programs during their appointments, and many of them bring their used eye health materials to our practice to help minimize the waste these materials generate. Through these Bausch + Lomb programs, my practice can help make a difference in our environment.”
The programs are made possible through collaboration with TerraCycle, a company specializing in collecting and repurposing hard-to-recycle waste.
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