How do You Dispose of the Contact Lenses? It Might be Harmful to Your Health

It is a known fact that contact lenses are not going to last forever. But the way you are discarding it has a major role to play in the depleting environmental standards. Now, this might seem out of context as you usually flush it down the toilet pot or give a throw directly into the sink thinking the hardly viewable light substance will simply move away with all the waste.

A study was conducted by the American Chemical Society which was presented at the national meeting. As per the study, around 21% of contact lens users are found to be following the wrong methods of disposal and the most common answers were flushing in toilet and sink. The study showed how much effect it has on the environment. Discarding in this way is a direct contributing factor to microplastic pollution. This microplastic is a potential threat to aquatic life and gets accumulated in lakes and ocean bodies. Usually, the microplastic is 0.2 inches in length. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, this is a serious problem and needs to hold the attention of the population using contact lenses.

In the US, every year on an approx. 14 million contact lenses are flushed in the above-mentioned process as per the verdict of Rolf Halden who is the director of Biodesign Centre for Environmental Health Engineering at Arizona State University. Similar to plastic, these lenses do not have the ability to decompose themselves naturally. The result of which is seen in the American water supplies. As you flush these lenses, it passes through the drain and gets stuck in the water treatment plants. As per reports, around 50 tons of lenses get accumulated through the mentioned way of disposal. There are filters that filtrate the wastewater. But these contact lenses are flexible and does not get captured in the filtration. They easily get through filters by getting folded.

 

 

The contact with bacteria

As the contact lenses get mixed up with various other wastes, it comes into contact with different forms of bacteria. These bacteria react in a different way with the lenses. A study was done to find out how the chemical changes occur due to the bacteria in the lenses. In this study, the 5 contact lenses were soaked in the bacteria for different amount of time. The study has shown that the physical appearance of the lenses was all the same and it was proved that the physical nature of these lenses was unturned by the influence of bacteria. But it was further examined, and it was found out that the chemical reaction caused due to the contact of bacteria has led to breakage of chemical bonds present in the contact lens. Due to this, there is a possibility that the lens can break into different parts gradually. Scientists are saying that this breakage is more dangerous for the environment. Smaller pieces of these lenses will lead to the formation of microplastic which would be harmful to the animal species in the aquatic life as there are chances for them to swallow those, as those are not easily identifiable as foreign objects.

 

The lenses affecting the soil

In another study, a survey was conducted among 409 contact lens users and was enquired about their disposal habits. After this, it was found out that approx. in a year around 28,000 pounds of lenses are found to get accumulated in the treated sewage dump. This is in turn used as a crop fertilizer. This way the microplastics get mixed up in the soil harming the animals, insects and even the groundwater sources.

The Director of the Trash Free Seas program at the Ocean Conservancy, Nick Mallos says that the disposal of contact lenses are considered trivial acts but that is definitely affecting the water system, The amount is insignificant, as plastic at any amount is harmful to the environment. He also mentions that the solution to this problem is really simple if anyone wishes to follow it. He says, “It’s really important that we not get fixated on the magnitude of inputs. Certainly, when we think of the probable solutions and how we prioritize interventions, it’s important to think about those trade-offs. But for something like this issue, we know the source, and it really is a simple fix.”

 

This contribution to the human eye may be over after the prescribed time but it is definitely an enormous harm to the environment. The reason, a user is asked to throw it off, after a certain point of time because bacteria start affecting the material that will be harmful to your eyes. So, the next time you rush to flush those used contact lenses in the toilet, think for a moment and choose the right way of disposal.