Contact lens waste presents a serious and growing environmental challenge. Most contact lens waste is improperly disposed of and ends up flushed in drains, like toilets and sinks, or filtered out with standard recycling to end up in landfills. To put the environmental impact in perspective:

• Up to 3 billion contacts are flushed in drains and collected in wastewater treatment plants each year, becoming microplastics in our waterways that can harm marine life and enter the human food supply.