Elgin optician opens contact lens recycling point
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CONTACT lens wearers can now recycle their old lenses in central Elgin thanks to a environmentally-focused local optometrist.
Lloyd Griffiths, of Lloyd Griffiths Eyecare on South Street, wants to play his part in reducing the amount of plastic waste sent to landfill or ending up in the oceans.
So he contacted company TerraCyle, which will take away used lenses and their packaging to be sorted, shredded and recycled.
Mr Griffiths, who who has been practising since 2004, said: "It is very hard to recycle them as there are three separate components - the foil, case and the lenses themselves.
"Some people just put them in the bin. Others throw them down the toilet and because they are hard to see and separate, that contributes to the plastic waste in our waters.
"If you wear dailies, that's 30 pairs a month, every month, so it is a big issue."
In addition to accepting used contact lenses and their packaging, Lloyd can accept old pairs of glasses for recycling.
He has also calculated the carbon footprint of his business as part of a move to become carbon neutral and has offset that by paying for trees to be planted – something he intends to do each year.
Lloyd is happy to pick up the small tab for the cost of having the contact lenses and glasses recycled and people don't have to be customers of his opticians to use the scheme.
