I think we can all agree plastic is a big topic at the moment. After watching drowning in plastic, suddenly, I have become very aware of my own plastic usage and there is no getting away from them on a daily basis. Then it got me thinking about some my essentials which I use that is plastic. The most important essential that I have are my glasses and contact lenses. Let’s face it, like me, if you don’t have perfect vision and you do not wish to have laser eye surgery. Then the only two options we have are glasses or contact lenses.
Not all glasses are made out of plastic of course but the lenses itself are and without the lenses, your glasses is pretty useless. If you don’t wear glasses then the only option is contact lenses and they are for sure made out of plastic. So, what a dilemma for us with not so perfect vision.
I was delighted when I read this article from The Guardian, rolling out a contact lens recycling scheme is a great idea. Check out the link to read more about it and I for one will sure be using the service. However, my main question is, how do we make glasses or lenses more environmentally friendly? More importantly, how do we make the entire industry more environmentally friendly?
Personally, I feel the first thing to tackle is how do we reduce the amount of plastic we use in packaging. When we buy a new pair of glasses, there are a lot of plastics involved. Plastics to protect the arms of the glasses, plastic for the glasses and with some brand, you may even find a tiny plastic that protect the zip and plastic for the cloth. Do we really need that much plastic for one product? Worse still, those plastics are all probably one use and cannot be recycled. Personally, it is great to see the contact lens industry doing something about this plastic epidemic and now, I like to see the glasses industry doing more too. Any suggestions? Please comment below.