ASU study: Don’t throw your contact lenses down the drain

A new study from Arizona State University shows an eye-opening discovery about contact lenses and the ocean.

The study, released Sunday, said those who wear contact lenses dispose of their old lenses by flushing them, instead of placing them in trash cans.

“I had worn glasses and contact lenses for most of my adult life,” said Rolf Halden, director of the Biodesign Institute’s Center for Environmental Health Engineering at ASU. “But I started to wonder, has anyone done research on what happens to these plastic lenses after their useful lifespan is over?”

The lenses end up contributing to pollution in oceans, lakes, and rivers, according to the study.

Contact lenses don’t break down completely in sewer systems.

About 45 million Americans rely on contact lenses to see, making it a $2.7 billion market.

An estimated 50,000 pounds of lenses end up in bathroom sinks and toilets.

“A simple first step would be for manufacturers to provide on product packaging, information on how to properly dispose of contact lenses, which is simply by placing them in the trash with other solid waste. A desirable long-term outcome would be to create lenses from polymers that are fine-tuned to be inert during use but labile and degradable when escaping into the environment,” said Halden.

Arizona State University researchers presented the study at a conference in Boston on Sunday.