Optical by National Pharmacies stores in Adelaide have partnered with Opticycle to collect and recycle contact lens waste from customers.
Opticycle is Australia’s only company dedicated to the complete recycling of used and empty contact lens cases and eyeglasses. The company oversees the entire process of collecting, transporting, and treating waste from contact lens cases and optical accessories, then uses specialised technology located in Australia, to recycle the gathered waste materials.
Six Month Trial Commences
Coinciding with National Recycling Week (13–19 November), National Pharmacies and Opticycle have commenced their partnership with a six-month contact lens waste trial, which they hope will divert about 230,000 empty disposable contact lens blister cases from landfill.
The trial will enable customers to drop their empty disposable contact lens blister cases into collection boxes at any one of 10 Optical by National Pharmacies stores in South Australia.
Opticycle will separate the contact lens cases into plastic and aluminium for repurposing into building products, including plastic fence posts and plastic wheel stops, and in the production of steel.
“We hope that more partnerships like these will divert many more tonnes of unnecessary plastic and aluminium waste from the environment to make new products”
Kerbside Waste Collection Not Viable
Data from Opticycle estimates that between 250 to 500 million disposable contact lens cases are discarded each year by Australian consumers, with daily, single-use plastic lens cases making up the largest portion of that waste. Yet disposable contact lens blister cases cannot be recycled through kerbside waste collection.
National Pharmacies CEO Vito Borrello said Optical by National Pharmacies has responded to strong customer feedback and support for recycling initiatives.
“We are proud to be partnering with Opticycle on such a great initiative as we continue to expand our recycling efforts across our optical and pharmacy stores with the encouragement of our members and customers,” said Mr Borrello.
Opticycle Business Development Manager Jason Rijnbeek hopes more partnerships like this “will divert many more tonnes of unnecessary plastic and aluminium waste from the environment to make new products as demand for single-use contact lenses across Australia is expected to grow”.
Last year, National Pharmacies became South Australia’s first pharmacy chain to recycle empty medicine blister packs, with 44 of its pharmacies in South Australia, New South Wales and Victoria now involved.
It was anticipated that 1.4 million medicine blister packs would be collected for recycling in the first year of operation. However, National Pharmacies customers have far exceeded expectations, helping divert 3.2 million medicine blister packs from landfill and recovering 4.7 tonnes of plastic and aluminium for recycling.
Drop Off Points
Customers can deposit empty disposable contact lens blister pack cases at the following Optical by National Pharmacies stores: Adelaide, Christies Beach, Cumberland Park, Findon, Gawler, Golden Grove, Marden, Marion, Mount Barker, and West Lakes.
