Recycling in focus: Johnson & Johnson Vision partners with TerraCycle on UK program for contact lenses

15 Jan 2019 --- Johnson & Johnson Vision has partnered with UK recycling company TerraCycle to launch a nationwide program to recycle contact lenses. Over a third (39 percent) of contact lenses wearers are unsure of contact lenses recyclability status, research by Johnson & Johnson Vision has found. In reality, with the help of TerraCycle, they can be recycled. The program also includes the recycling of the blister and foil packaging after use.

The program aims to reduce plastic waste in landfills and waterways by providing a simple and practical alternative to the UK’s 3.7 million contact wearers, including the 20 percent of wearers who reported that they currently dispose of their lenses by flushing them down the toilet or the sink. The end result will see the recycled contact lenses, blister and foil packaging turned into new products such as outdoor furniture and plastic lumber.

“Whilst anything can technically be recycled many things aren’t due to the economics.  Materials that are widely recycled when there is value in them.  When something is a complex mix of materials they generally cost more to recycle than the value of the resulting recycled material – this is the case for blister packs,”  Stephen Clarke, Head of Communications at TerraCycle Europe tells PackagingInsights.

The end result will see the recycled contact lenses, blister and foil packaging turned into new products such as outdoor furniture and plastic lumber. Contact lenses have recently come under the spotlight for their role in the mounting global plastic waste levels. A US study found that throwing these lenses down the drain at the end of their use could be contributing to microplastic pollution in waterways 

“When the plastic loses some of its structural strength, it will break down physically. This leads to smaller plastic particles which would ultimately lead to the formation of microplastics,” Varun Kelkar, member of the contact lenses study team at the Biodesign Institute's Center for Environmental Health Engineering at Arizona State University (ASU). Aquatic organisms can mistake microplastics for food and since plastics are indigestible, he explains, this dramatically affects the marine animals' digestive system.

Research on microplastics in the environment has intensified after a series of discoveries found that the tiny plastic particles are polluting marine environments, food supplies and our bodies. 

“Seventy-seven percent of British contact lens wearers said they would recycle their contact lenses if they could and we share their interest in reducing the amount of plastics in the environment,” says Sandra Rasche, Area Vice President, Europe, Middle East and Africa, Vision Care, Johnson & Johnson Medical GmbH.

“As a business, we are committed to doing our part to combat climate change, protect our planet’s natural resources and reduce waste, and this new UK recycling program represents the next step in our company’s sustainability commitment,” Rasche says.

Consumers will have the option of either having their contact lens material collected, or dropping it off through a network of recycling bins at public drop-off locations at optical stores across the UK, including high street retailer Boots Opticians. The recycling partnership with Boots Opticians and a number of independent stores aims over time to provide over 1,000 public drop-off recycling locations for contact lens waste across the UK.

TerraCycle is becoming increasingly well known due to an array of high-profile collaborations. As specialists in “hard to recycle” materials, the company recently partnered with Colgate, to supply consumers with an option to recycle any brand of toothbrush, toothpaste tubes and caps, outer packaging, electric and battery toothbrush heads and toothpaste cartons for free. 

The move was welcomed by campaigners, who noted how oral care products are notoriously difficult to recycle. “Oral care products are hard to recycle, with innovation urgently required to reduce the volume of plastic being sent to landfill, incinerated and leaking into the environment,” Juliet Phillips, Ocean Campaigner at the Environmental Investigation Agency, told PackagingInsights at the time.

Following public outcry over the lack of sustainable end-of-life options for Walkers’ potato chip packets, PepsiCo formed a nationwide recycling scheme with TerraCycle. The plan encourages consumers to either drop off their packets at one of the hundreds of public access collection points that will be developed all around the country or post them for free to TerraCycle. 

A further TerraCycle partnership that attracted some criticism within the industry came from Kellogg’s. The companies partnered on a solution that allows consumers to recycle Pringles cans by posting empty cans to TerraCycle using freepost labels. 

Before the Christmas biscuit boom hit, Terracycle and ladis UK & Ireland, the snacking company behind the McVitie’s, Jacob’s and go ahead! Brands, extended their partnership by six-and-a-half-years to ensure that all plastic packaging across its portfolio can now be recycled through the initiative. Since the partnership began in 2012, millions of biscuit and cake wrappers have been recycled and turned into items such as park benches and garden equipment, rather than ending up in landfill sites, says Pladis. Consumers can either send their wrappers to TerraCycle by Freepost or drop them off at one of nearly 500 collection points around the country.