Rock Rose has signed a deal with the Royal Mail which will make it the first gin to offer fully recyclable 70cl refill pouches.   Under the agreement, Rock Rose’s gin pouches can be returned to its distillery via the Royal Mail’s standard Freepost service.   Once returned to Rock Rose’s Dunnet Bay distillery in Caithness, the pouches will be recycled by Terracycle.   The new packaging solution has been developed by Dunnet Bay in partnership with innovations consultancy PA Consulting. After 12 months research, the final product is a four-layer laminate pouch with a plastic spout closure.   The pouch, which is also delivered by post, weighs 65 grams, as opposed to the 700-gram weight of the Rock Rose ceramic bottle, thereby offering significant reductions in energy use during shipping.   The cost-savings generated by the new shipping and packaging process are being passed on to consumers with a 70cl pouch of gin retailing for £4 less than its bottled equivalent.   Martin Murray, co-founder of Dunnet Bay Distillers, said: “We take sustainability incredibly seriously and have been working hard on our first-to-market recyclable pouches for over a year now.   “We are absolutely thrilled to be the first brand to have secured the support of Royal Mail for a postal recycling scheme, which we believe will be embraced by our customers.”   Ryan McGinley, product design expert at PA Consulting, said: “We are delighted to have helped Dunnet Bay Distillers create an environmentally friendly solution that delivers real value to its distillery and customers.   “It took ingenuity to develop a flexible pack that could be sent direct to consumers, which not only eradicates the need to use a single-use bottle but also reduces their costs.’’   Dunnet Bay plans to extend the scheme across both the on- and off-trade and to apply it to the other spirits in its portfolio, which include Old Tom Gin and Holy Grass Vodka.   It is also offering in-store refills of Rock Rose to distillery shop customers.

Until recently, recreational cannabis users didn't have any way of disposing of the packaging other than throwing it in the trash As the legalization of edible cannabis approaches in Canada, the industry has yet to solve one of its greatest challenges: packaging.   Since October 17, cannabis companies have been plagued with problems associated with packaging.   Apart from the fact that cannabis packages are really boring (thanks, Health Canada), they are also an environmental disaster.     One customer reported receiving two plastic containers, two cardboard boxes, a brown paper bag and a plastic casing, all for just four grams of weed.   And much of that packaging couldn’t be recycled until Tweed and TerraCycle teamed up to create a national recycling program earlier this year. But until then, recreational cannabis users didn’t really have any way of disposing of the packaging other than throwing it in the trash. And, in the very early days of legalization, there just wasn’t enough compliant packaging to satisfy Canadians’ hunger for legal weed. That led to valuable product sitting in warehouses as provincial governments capped retail licenses and cut operating hours of publically run dispensaries.   But some innovative companies are offering solutions to this packaging disaster. Among them, Noah Shopsowitz, son of the late Sam Shopsowitz of the Toronto-based Shopsy’s Delicatessen empire.   Shopsowitz is currently shopping his child-resistant, smell-proof and 100 percent recyclable containers around to angel investors under the company name Weedlocka.   “Because the federal government had an express timeline in terms of the rollout, companies went with low-hanging-fruit-type solutions,” he says.   “Nobody really gave much thought in terms of innovation, in terms of the full capability of packaging.”   Shopsowitz, who has a history of innovation, including a U.S. patent for a “human free-flight launcher”, says his products would be made out of high-density polyethylene, which is easily recyclable. That material is partly what would give his containers their smell-proof trait, he says.   While he has yet to produce an inventory, Shopsowitz says he is piloting a non-child-resistant product at shops in Toronto. Meanwhile, PharmaSystems subsidiary CannaSupplies has been in the cannabis container business for more than five years and it is already supplying Canadian producers with child-resistant, Health Canada-compliant products.   Nearly all of its containers can be made using 25 to 100 percent recycled materials, and it’s set to come out with a plant-based plastic container with child-resistant lid — made out of hemp, of course.   CannaSystems is also preparing for the edibles market and an expected enthusiasm among consumers for cannabis-infused drinks. It’s “Can’t Top”, a cap for beverage cans, promises to be child-resistant.

THE OXFORD STREET BRANCH OF THE BODY SHOP HAS BEEN TRANSFORMED INTO AN “ACTIVIST WORKSHOP” AS PART OF THE ETHICAL BEAUTY RETAILER’S PLEDGE TO REVIVE ITS EARLY CAMPAIGNING SPIRIT.

  The new central London concept store encourages customers (Body Shop calls them “visitors”) to explore and recycle products and discover how they “can fight for a fairer and more beautiful world”.   The tone is set by the many sustainable store fixtures that have been incorporated into the new fit-out. Recycled plastic and reclaimed wood are used throughout while external cladding is made from eco-friendly zinc (which uses less energy to produce than other metals and is fully recyclable). Meanwhile, worktop surfaces are manufactured from 100% recycled materials destined for landfill, and stools are made with reclaimed steel.   At the activists corner customers can find out about The Body Shop’s activist roots and how they can get involved and take a stand on green issues themselves.   Other special features include a refill station, where customers can buy a refillable 250ml aluminium bottle to fill up with a range of shower gels and creams, and a recycling bin (operated by recycling specialist TerraCycle) and a water station.   The interactive theme continues more conventionally with a gifting station, where customers are encouraged to get creative and personalise gifts with stamps, ribbons and recyclable paper.

If cult beauty favourites Glossier and Mario Badescu teamed up, the result would look a lot like new skincare brand, Plenaire.   While the name, which means 'painting in open air', sounds more at home in a French pharmacy, Plenaire was actually born here in the UK. Although the brand is still relatively under-the-radar, it is starting to pique the interest of beauty editors, bloggers and skincare-obsessives alike – and for good reason.   The Instagrammable aesthetic, cruelty free and vegan status, and eco-friendly approach to packaging suggests that Plenaire is set to rival the innovative brands we all know and love, such as Glossier, Lixir Skin and The Ordinary. Shelfie-worthy and sustainable, products are housed in fully recyclable bottles, jars and biodegradable cartons, which are PEFC and FSC accredited. Plenaire is also in talks with TerraCycle, a recycling company developing zero-waste solutions, to explore a closed loop recycling partnership.   For founder Namrata Kamdar, a 'cleaner' approach to skincare was always going to be at the heart of the brand. In the majority of individual cases, dermatologists argue that ingredients like mineral oil, parabens and silicone won't harm or irritate your skin, but Plenaire has chosen to formulate its products without these and lots of other components that many of us are looking to cut out of our skincare routines. Instead, the focus is on proven ingredients such as salicylic acid to unclog pores, kaolin clay for absorbing excess oil, azelaic acid for exfoliation and calming redness, and hyaluronic acid for deep hydration.   "Everything you’ll see from Plenaire today is a direct result of us talking to young people about their daily lives, anxieties and most importantly their relationship with skincare and beauty," Namrata told R29. "Firstly, our ethos is different because it’s all about sustainability and simplicity. Another big thing we found was that people didn’t want to buy a lot of different products. Instead, they wanted multitasking hero products."   With moisturisers that double up as masks and an exfoliator with deep cleansing properties, products can be mixed, matched and subbed in or out depending on your skin’s needs. The names roll off the tongue, too: Skin Frosting (a hydrating mask), Droplet (a lightweight gel moisturiser) and Rose Jelly (an Instagrammable pink makeup remover) are just a handful of products in the collection, not to mention a spot treatment, Violet Paste, which is reminiscent of Mario Badescu's famous Drying Lotion.   It isn’t all about aesthetics though. Head to Plenaire’s Instagram page and you’ll see that the brand transcends boundaries of gender, ethnicity and more. "Our brand is more of an attitude," said Namrata. "We take inspiration from Gen Z in particular, so there is a focus on mindfulness and open-mindedness, not to mention transparency."   Of course, efficacy matters, too, so what’s really worth your money? The beauty editor-approved Rose Jelly makeup remover is similar in texture to Glossier’s Milky Jelly Cleanser, and although lightweight, emulsifies fast and removes heavy makeup (including multiple layers of mascara and liquid lipstick) in one rinse.   Perfect for those with acne-prone skin, Droplet is a featherweight gel moisturiser with added salicylic acid to exfoliate deep inside pores, and contains both glycerin and hyaluronic acid to moisturise, hydrate and plump skin from the inside out. It also makes for a brilliant primer under makeup and prevents excessive oiliness throughout the day.   Namrata’s hero is Tripler. "This is a 3-in-1 product and the one I’d take with me to a desert island," she told R29. "It can be used as a mask but on contact with water the texture changes and emulsifies into a face wash. It absorbs oil, decongests pores and gives skin a real deep cleanse. It’s also a great, light exfoliant."   What makes Plenaire a little more accessible than other brands is that you don’t feel any pressure to splurge on absolutely everything. Products like the spot treatment and exfoliator will work well alongside things you already rely on in your daily routine, such as foam cleansers and night creams.   Starting from £24, the 8-strong collection is already available online with the exception of the Daily Airy Foaming Cleanser, Brightening Elixir Exfoliating Skin Tonic and Vapour Hydrating Fragrance Mist, which are coming soon. In the meantime, a handful of products including Violet Paste, Droplet and Skin Frosting are ready to buy – and we expect a sellout.  

The countdown is on for the live Sustainability Awards 2019 ceremony, where we will unveil the worthy winners of the most prestigious sustainability competition for packaging innovation. In anticipation, we explore the 25 standout solutions that made it to the finals, handpicked by our independent, expert judging panel. Today, we catch up with Terracycle CEO Tom Szaky and talk about Loop, a platform that transform the packaging of everyday items from single-use to multi-use, and a finalist in the Best Practice category. The winners in each category and overall 2019 Sustainability Awards winner will be announced at FachPack, Nuremberg, Germany on 25th September. Join us from 16:30 at FachPack’s PackBox Forum for sustainability discussion, networking, drinks and the big reveal. Could you please introduce your successful initiative? Loop, TerraCycle’s newest initiative, is a global circular shopping platform designed to eliminate the idea of waste by transforming the packaging of everyday items from single-use to durable, multi-use, feature-packed designs. Loop offers a wide range of food, household and personal-care products from an array of brands, both big and small, available for consumers on a singular platform. Products are shipped in customized, brand-specific containers that are delivered to a home address in a reusable shipping tote. Consumers return empty containers to the tote which is then picked up by Loop. Once collected, the containers are cleaned, refilled, and reused. What are the environmental challenges in packaging that your entry addresses, and how well is the market responding to them so far? The shift from disposable to durable packaging addresses the consequences of using things once and throwing them away, a major contributor to the worldwide waste crisis. Packaging waste is highly visible to consumers – it is what is left over when a product has been used and typically ends up being landfilled or incinerated. While recycling is important, it requires an object to be broken down at the material level to be used in new production, which requires energy, in addition to collecting and sorting the material for processing. Reusing an object saves time, energy and resources and does away with the need for waste disposal and recycling. Creating a durable container initially uses more energy and resources than creating a disposable container, but over time a reusable container has a lower environmental and economic cost as it does not need to be remanufactured on every use. Instead, it is transported and cleaned, which has a much lower environmental and economic cost. All the materials that make-up Loop containers and packaging can be recycled when the containers are taken out of use, creating a truly circular shopping platform. Loop has been praised by consumers for offering a practical solution to produce less waste. Due to consumer demand, Loop expanded to five new states only six weeks after launching. Loop is moving quickly to launch in new markets in 2020, including London, Toronto, California, Germany and Tokyo, to answer the requests of people around the world who want the service to come to their area. In addition to consumers, stakeholders have shown tremendous interest in getting involved with Loop. The Tokyo government has pledged their support to bring Loop to Japan and retailers in new countries have signed on well before launch in order to be the exclusive retail partner. ‘Sustainable packaging’ is a contentious concept, which means different things to different people, and anyone working in packaging understands that it’s easy to make things worse according to one environmental metric while making improvements according to another. In your opinion should there be a hierarchy among our sustainability goals? To me, the ideal consumer package is one that is only necessary and is locally recyclable in most communities around the world. Designers can improve the sustainability of packaging by following the principals of the waste hierarchy: reduce, reuse and recycle. Manufacturers can reduce the size, thickness and weight of packaging and eliminate secondary and tertiary packaging such as extra boxes or containers. Loop follows a reuse model which reduces the amount of virgin material that is extracted from the earth, instead using durable containers that only need to be transported and cleaned. Designers should use the pallet of materials that are readily recyclable by most recyclers around the world. This includes simple uncoated paper, rigid clear PET, clear glass, and light color, rigid HDPE and avoid combining all these materials so that recyclers can’t remove them. While no solution will solve the problem of excess packaging waste, these implementations move packaging to be more sustainable. Clearly, sustainability in packaging needs to be achieved by many stakeholders acting together, not by someone with a silver bullet. Thinking about the wider picture, what areas of innovation or action would you like to see across the value chain in the coming years to meet the demands of nature and society? There is no silver bullet of sustainable packaging, but rather an ecosystem of solutions that reduce impact. An area of innovation that has been fascinating in the cleaning product segment is use of concentrates – where consumers receive the active ingredient and dilute it at home. Some makeup brands are pursuing reusing packaging where a small part – such as the blush or lipstick component – are replaced when it runs out. In addition to brands experimenting with packaging innovations, several organizations and institutions are addressing important issues about waste and packaging. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation works with businesses, government and academia to build a framework for a circular economy. The Platform for Accelerating the Circular Economy is a public-private collaboration platform and project accelerator. The PAC packaging consortium pushes for progressive change in the packaging value chain, and the Alliance to End Plastic Waste’s mission is to help end plastic waste in the environment. A shift toward sustainable solutions will not happen in isolation. These examples and partners are among those that are helping drive change.  

An alarm sounds, the blockage is cleared, and the line at Green Recycling in Maldon, Essex, rumbles back into life. A momentous river of garbage rolls down the conveyor: cardboard boxes, splintered skirting board, plastic bottles, crisp packets, DVD cases, printer cartridges, countless newspapers, including this one. Odd bits of junk catch the eye, conjuring little vignettes: a single discarded glove. A crushed Tupperware container, the meal inside uneaten. A photograph of a smiling child on an adult’s shoulders. But they are gone in a moment. The line at Green Recycling handles up to 12 tonnes of waste an hour. “We produce 200 to 300 tonnes a day,” says Jamie Smith, Green Recycling’s general manager, above the din. We are standing three storeys up on the green health-and-safety gangway, looking down the line. On the tipping floor, an excavator is grabbing clawfuls of trash from heaps and piling it into a spinning drum, which spreads it evenly across the conveyor. Along the belt, human workers pick and channel what is valuable (bottles, cardboard, aluminium cans) into sorting chutes. “Our main products are paper, cardboard, plastic bottles, mixed plastics, and wood,” says Smith, 40. “We’re seeing a significant rise in boxes, thanks to Amazon.” By the end of the line, the torrent has become a trickle. The waste stands stacked neatly in bales, ready to be loaded on to trucks. From there, it will go – well, that is when it gets complicated. You drink a Coca-Cola, throw the bottle into the recycling, put the bins out on collection day and forget about it. But it doesn’t disappear. Everything you own will one day become the property of this, the waste industry, a £250bn global enterprise determined to extract every last penny of value from what remains. It starts with materials recovery facilities (MRFs) such as this one, which sort waste into its constituent parts. From there, the materials enter a labyrinthine network of brokers and traders. Some of that happens in the UK, but much of it – about half of all paper and cardboard, and two-thirds of plastics – will be loaded on to container ships to be sent to Europe or Asia for recycling. Paper and cardboard goes to mills; glass is washed and re-used or smashed and melted, like metal and plastic. Food, and anything else, is burned or sent to landfill. Or, at least, that’s how it used to work. Then, on the first day of 2018, China, the world’s largest market for recycled waste, essentially shut its doors. Under its National Sword policy, China prohibited 24 types of waste from entering the country, arguing that what was coming in was too contaminated. The policy shift was partly attributed to the impact of a documentary, Plastic China, which went viral before censors erased it from China’s internet. The film follows a family working in the country’s recycling industry, where humans pick through vast dunes of western waste, shredding and melting salvageable plastic into pellets that can be sold to manufacturers. It is filthy, polluting work – and badly paid. The remainder is often burned in the open air. The family lives alongside the sorting machine, their 11-year-old daughter playing with a Barbie pulled from the rubbish. Westminster council sent 82% of all household waste – including that put in recycling bins – for incineration in 2017/18 For recyclers such as Smith, National Sword was a huge blow. “The price of cardboard has probably halved in the last 12 months,” he says. “The price of plastics has plummeted to the extent that it isn’t worth recycling. If China doesn’t take plastic, we can’t sell it.” Still, that waste has to go somewhere. The UK, like most developed nations, produces more waste than it can process at home: 230m tonnes a year – about 1.1kg per person per day. (The US, the world’s most wasteful nation, produces 2kg per person per day.) Quickly, the market began flooding any country that would take the trash: Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, countries with some of the world’s highest rates of what researchers call “waste mismanagement” – rubbish left or burned in open landfills, illegal sites or facilities with inadequate reporting, making its final fate difficult to trace. The present dumping ground of choice is Malaysia. In October last year, a Greenpeace Unearthed investigation found mountains of British and European waste in illegal dumps there: Tesco crisp packets, Flora tubs and recycling collection bags from three London councils. As in China, the waste is often burned or abandoned, eventually finding its way into rivers and oceans. In May, the Malaysian government began turning back container ships, citing public health concerns. Thailand and India have announced bans on the import of foreign plastic waste. But still the rubbish flows.

Brighton beach was littered with laughing gas canisters and balloons by Pride revellers, say volunteers cleaning up after the event.   Up to 1,000 people have been clearing large amounts of bottles, cans, glass and disposable barbecues.   But they said they had never seen so many nitrous oxide canisters in one place.   By 10:00 BST more than 150 bags of rubbish had already been collected, organisers Ocean's 8 said.     Image copyright OCEANS 8 Image caption: More than 150 bags of rubbish were collected in two hours, but there is still a lot to do   Environmental activist and blogger Clare Osborn, of Clare Talks Rubbish, is one of Ocean's 8 and said: "We sound like the fun police, but people really need to find more sustainable ways to have fun.   "Every one of these canisters comes with a balloon, and they are so incredibly dangerous and deadly to wildlife, which can mistake the bits of balloon for food."   The gas - nitrous oxide - is the second most commonly used recreational drug in England and Wales after cannabis.   But the Royal College of Nursing said many people remained ignorant of the risks, which can include breathing difficulties, dangerously-increased heart rate, burns, and death.   Three time slots have been created throughout the day for people to go to the beach and help collect the rubbish.   Core volunteers then sort it into what can be recycled with TerraCycle, and the remaining waste which is being collected by Brighton and Hove City Council's Cityclean service.     Image copyright EDDIE MITCHELL Image caption: Around a quarter of a million people flock to Brighton for the Pride weekend     Image copyright OCEANS 8 Image caption: A team of core volunteers are on site all day, helping to sort the collected waste   Amy Gibson, another member of Ocean's 8 who organises regular Pier 2 Pier silent disco beach clean, said she has never seen so much rubbish on the beach.   "You couldn't even see the beach in places.   "Normally we find around 20 bags' worth of rubbish after a weekend or an event, but we've collected 10 times that amount in the first two hours of today's clean.   "It's Pride so we expected the glitter, the feather boas and the parts of people's costumes, but I can't believe how many noz canisters there are."     Image copyright OCEANS 8 Image caption: Volunteers collected bags full of used laughing gas canisters   Legislation introduced in 2016 made it illegal to sell the gas for psychoactive purposes.   But enforcing the legislation has proved difficult because nitrous oxide is used in food products like whipped cream, and medicine.   Brighton Pride does not officially hold any events on the beach, but it said it recognised the impact tourism had, so it had sponsored the clean-up effort.   Image copyrightOCEANS 8 Image copyright OCEANS 8 Image caption: A Pride reveller gets cleaning     Image copyrightOCEANS 8 About a quarter of a million people visit Brighton for the city's annual Pride weekend.   Kylie Minogue headlined the music event, supported by surprise guest Emeli Sande, and more than 100 floats took part in the parade. The event comes during the 50th anniversary year of a riot which started in a gay bar in New York, sparked by police brutality.    

Contact lens companies, practitioners, and wearers need to work together to reduce the impact of contact lens waste.   From the initial production of plastics in 1950 to the year 2015, 8.3 billion metric tons of plastic were generated worldwide.¹ Because of the short useful lifespan of plastic, 6.3 billion metric tons of this plastic has become waste; 9% of it has been recycled, 12% has been incinerated, and the remaining 79% is in landfills or has been released directly into the natural environment.^1,2 At the current rate of plastic production and waste management, there will be approximately 12 billion metric tons of plastic waste by 2050.¹   Most commonly used plastics are not biodegradable, and hence, the materials accumulate rather than decompose. Those that do degrade take hundreds of years to break down. Plastics in the environment are weakened by sunlight, which causes them to break into smaller fragments.³ Similarly, plastics discarded in wastewater treatment plants also do not decompose with typical microbial treatment. These plastics become structurally weakened and then fragment into smaller pieces and into microplastics within the wastewater sludge. This sludge enters the environment as fertilizer or is shipped to landfills. With rain, the microplastics in the waste water leach out to the marine and freshwater environments.   As of 2010, it was estimated that 4.8 to 12.7 million tons of plastic waste had entered the marine environment.³ This plastic waste is ingested by sea birds, fish, and other organisms including invertebrates. More than 250 marine species (including crustaceans, fish, sea turtles, sea birds, seals, manatees, and whales) have been documented eating plastics,⁴ which, in turn, find their way into the human food chain. Contact with plastic increases the risk for coral to become diseased from 4% to 89%.⁵ Among a study of 175 autopsied dead penguins, 14.86% had ingested debris of which plastic accounted for 57.69%; one penguin had a perforated stomach from a straw, which probably caused its death.⁶ Debris in the stomach of whales has caused occlusion of the intestinal tract, gastric rupture, and starvation following gastric blockage.⁷ Plastic waste affects all levels of marine life. Additionally, while there is still no known link between plastic ingestion by ocean animals and human health, there is growing concern in this regard, and this is an active area of research.⁸  

WHAT ABOUT CONTACT LENS WASTE?

  Currently, there are more than 45 million contact lens wearers in the United States.⁹ As of 2018, 35% to 46% of all patients wear daily disposable contact lenses.¹⁰ Each contact lens weighs 30 micrograms, and the use of contact lens products by end consumers comprises 0.5% of the total environmental waste.¹¹   Rolsky found that among more than 400 contact lens wearers surveyed, 19% discard their contact lenses into the toilet or sink. On an annual basis, this results in an estimated 2.5 billion contact lenses weighing approximately 44,000 pounds entering the wastewater treatment plants in the United States. A pair of contact lenses was found for each two pounds of waste sludge.¹² When exposed to microbes such as those found in biological wastewater treatment plants, the bonds holding together the contact lenses break, causing the contact lenses to fragment into smaller pieces and to ultimately form microplastics.¹³   As the contact lens market shifts more toward daily disposable contact lenses, society may become concerned with the plastic waste. Contrary to intuition, however, the ecological waste of one-day disposable contact lenses is not that different from that of reusable contact lenses plus contact lens solution. Whereas an annual supply (365 pairs) of one-day disposable contact lenses, including the cartons, blister packs, and foil, produces 1kg of waste per year, reusable contact lenses plus contact lens solution for the year would produce 0.87kg of waste.¹⁴ This doesn’t include the shipping boxes and the carbon footprint of shipping materials needed to get the contact lens solution boxes from the distributors to the retail stores.¹⁵   With regard to the plastic waste of contact lens solution cases, one multipurpose solution contact lens case and one peroxide system contact lens case are equivalent to four and eight years’ worth of daily disposable lenses, respectively. The average plastic waste of one multipurpose solution or hydrogen peroxide solution bottle is equivalent to more than 2.5 years of daily disposable lenses.¹⁶

WHAT IS BEING DONE?

  Fortunately, all of the waste related to contact lenses is now recyclable. Much material science research is currently being conducted to better recycle the current waste plastics as well as to create more biodegradable plastics.   The current recycling process is both time intensive and costly because the materials need to be pre-sorted. The recycled plastics are often of low-quality polymers, which cannot be used for many current materials. Newer advances are leaning toward chemical recycling materials, which require less energy and can combine mixed plastic wastes to avoid the need for sorting.¹⁷ Other researchers are studying the use of a fungus, Pestalotiopsis microspora, to degrade polyurethane in both aerobic and anaerobic environments like those found in waste landfills.¹⁸ In addition, transportation fuels made from post-consumer recycled plastic waste that is directly mined from landfills are being developed.¹⁹   Biodegradable plastics development is also a growing industry. For example, new biodegradable plastic polymers are being made of fructose-like, light-sensitive molecules; after three hours of ultraviolet light (350nm) exposure, the light-absorbing molecules break the long chain of the plastic molecules, resulting in a liquid solution that can be used to make more plastic.²⁰ Other researchers are using itaconic acid derived from a fungus, Aspergillus, to make carpets, paints, plastics and coatings, and synthetic rubber, among other things; itaconic acid can also be used as a hardening agent in organosiloxanes for use in contact lenses.²¹ In 2018, Lego started making certain elements, such as trees, leaves, and bushes, from a plastic produced using sustainably sourced sugarcane; the company hopes to use sustainable materials in all core products and packaging by 2030.²²  

SUSTAINABILITY EFFORTS FROM MAJOR SOFT LENS MANUFACTURERS

  As many forward-thinking companies have started to become environmentally conscious, contact lens companies also have worked to establish environmentally friendlier efforts. Following is a summary of these efforts from the largest manufacturers of soft contact lenses. This summary is meant to provide examples of such contact lens company initiatives and may not be all inclusive.   Alcon Alcon has policies in place to recycle and minimize waste to reduce its environmental footprint. In 2017, the company decreased water consumption by 8% by using only recycled water in its chiller, hence saving 14.1 million gallons of water each year as well as a 2% reduction in energy usage. Alcon prevented 4,900 tons of non-recycled hazardous waste by recycling and prevention, and the company recycled 79% of all operational waste. In addition, package design and sizing have been minimized and simplified to use less material, hence reducing landfill and biohazard waste. The company reported using 10% renewable electricity and 14% recycled water in its operations, and 98% of solvents used in the company’s operations are recycled offsite.²³   In addition, Alcon’s Health, Safety and Environment policy states that the company uses natural resources responsibly and minimizes the environmental impact of its activities and products over their life cycle.²⁴   Bausch + Lomb Bausch + Lomb, in collaboration with TerraCycle, initiated the One by One Recycling Program in the United States. It enables used contact lenses and packaging to be recycled properly, separating out the plastic from the foil tops. As of April 2018, 2.5 million used contact lenses and contact lens packaging have been recycled, diverting 14,000 pounds of waste from landfills and the natural environment.²⁵ Bausch + Lomb has also implemented the use of biodegradable lens shipping packaging, recyclable molded paper fiber packaging, and a more recyclable clear polyethylene terephthalate packaging for its Renu solutions. Additionally, the company has promoted the use of renewable energy in its production plants and makes every effort to purchase environmentally sustainable products.²⁶   CooperVision CooperVision received multiple awards at the 2017 Environmental Health and Safety Summit for its manufacturing plant in Costa Rica. The energy-efficient plant recycles up to 95% of its solid waste, including materials used in production such as cardboard, wood, paper, and oil. Ninety percent of the facility’s electricity is derived from renewable sources such as solar, wind, geothermal, and hydro energy. In addition, all of its New York State operations are powered by 100% wind-based electricity, and CooperVision’s Mountpark, UK site is powered by 100% biomass. The company changed its contact lens mold closure technology to use certain raw materials in their entirety without waste. Cardboard containers are reused five to 10 times before they are recycled in the company’s Puerto Rico and Hungary facilities. Ninety-nine percent of plastics used in manufacturing are repurposed into producing traffic cones and molded chairs. The company also recycles its water in plant cooling towers and uses collected rainwater for its lavatories and climate cooling systems.²⁷   Johnson & Johnson Vision Care Johnson & Johnson Vision Care has partnered with TerraCycle to recycle contact lenses in the United Kingdom. The company also received the 2017 Environmental Leader award for Acuvue Oasys 1-Day by using sustainable packaging and reducing its packaging by putting more contact lenses into a larger box. The new packaging saved 57 tons of paper for the United States in 2017, and the reduced weight resulted in 13% less energy required during shipping and distribution. The company also improved its manufacturing processes for Acuvue Oasys with HydraLuxe to result in a 12% reduction of energy use.²⁸ The blister packaging for Acuvue Oasys was also redesigned so that opposing blisters nest next to each other, hence reducing polypropylene usage and paper packaging.²⁹ Johnson & Johnson has also recently become a chartered member of the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment.³⁰   Menicon Menicon has been innovative with its environmentally friendly Miru 1Day Menicon flat packs. The flat packs are 1mm thick, so they have 80% less packaging bulk and less saline compared to conventional blister packs. In addition, Miru 1Day Menicon Flat Packs use a “foil on foil” design as opposed to standard blister packs that consist of foil over polypropylene plastic. Plus, the entire flat pack is recyclable.³¹ Within its manufacturing plants, Menicon is active in conserving water and electricity by innovating energy consumption and streamlining operations. Beyond contact lenses, Menicon is also planting seedlings for forest restoration³² and recycling coffee grounds from Starbucks stores in Tokyo to be converted into feed for dairy cows.³³  

Which Plastics Are Recyclable?

  Have you ever wondered what all of the numbers mean within the chasing-arrows triangle on plastic containers? The numbers identify the type of plastic used. The seven different numbers found within the chasing-arrows triangle allow for better plastic material separation at recycling centers because not all plastics are biodegradable and recyclable.      

WHAT CAN PRACTITIONERS DO?

  The drinking straw industry has initiated a national ban campaign on plastic straws and cutlery, moving to paper, metal, and recyclable materials. Similarly, efforts to decrease the use of single-use shopping bags has been implemented in 11 U.S. states.³⁴ Contact lens companies are doing their part to help reduce contact lens waste by making all contact lens packaging recyclable.   But much more can be done. As eyecare providers, we can also contribute to this recycling movement. Our lens-wearing patients can be better educated on not discarding their lenses in toilets and sinks and on the importance of recycling their contact lenses, lens packaging, lens solution bottles, and lens cases. By working together, we can contribute to a healthier planet. CLS

The Body Shop just started asking customers to return empties in store for TerraCycle to collect, recycle and transform for use making park benches and playgrounds.

SOMETIMES we need a little extra incentive to encourage us to recycle – and shopping at brands with recycle schemes is one way to find this. The Body Shop just started asking customers to return empties in store for TerraCycle to collect, recycle and transform for use making park benches and playgrounds.