Millions and millions of Americans put on contact lenses each day, but most of them probably aren't aware that these thin circular strips of plastic pose great harm to the environment.
Researchers from Arizona State University conducted a study that delved into the proper disposal of contact lenses, and as it turns out, users aren't very good at dealing with lenses once they're done using them.
Throwing Away Your Contact Lenses? Be Careful
The findings, which were presented at the 256th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society, illustrate a growing environmental hazard rooted from something that seems so harmless.
The researchers discovered that each year, anywhere from 6 to 10 metric tons of plastic lenses are not discarded properly. As a result, they end up in U.S. wastewater — and all those plastic, in turn, end up contributing to microplastic pollution currently clogging up waterways, which eventually makes its way to the food chain.
"This began as an exploratory venture but we have information to support the fragmentation of contact lenses into microplastics within a wastewater treatment plant," said Charles Rolsky, one of the study's authors and a graduate student at ASU.
The researchers broke the study into three core parts. First, the team surveyed 139 people to determine how contact lenses end up in wastewater. They found that 19 percent of contact lens wearers flushed them down the drain when they didn't need them anymore.
In the second and third stage, the researchers found out that contact lenses weaken when mixed together with microbes present in wastewater. When they lose their firmness, they break down into smaller chunks, causing them to eventually turn into microplastics that can't be filtered out by conventional water filtration methods.
Contact Lenses Contribute To Microplastic Pollution
To make matters worse, because contact lenses are typically denser than water, they can sink into aquatic zones and be eaten by marine life thriving down there, which can potentially poison them.
Obviously, people shouldn't stop wearing contact lenses altogether. However, Rolsky says wearers should be more mindful about how they dispose them once they're not needed anymore. Thankfully, unlike most types of environmental pollutions, this one has an incredibly simple solution: chuck contact lenses in the bin, don't flush them down the drain.
The team hopes that their research encourages manufacturers to do something. Perhaps they could start putting a label in the packaging of contact lenses that details proper disposal methods, said Rolf Halden, one of the authors.
"Ultimately, we hope that manufacturers will conduct more research on how the lenses impact aquatic life and how fast the lenses degrade in a marine environment."
Contact wearers, you know what to do. Just stop discarding contact lenses will-nilly, all right?
