Each year, up to half a billion disposable contact lens cases are discarded by Australian consumers - with wearers having little choice but to send the packaging to landfill. Now, an Australian-first trial program is aiming to give that material a new life - using recycled cases to make building products.
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TVTranscript
00:00 For Australians who wear contacts each day, the amount of waste produced can quickly pile
00:08 up.
00:09 But a new recycling project is hoping to put millions of contact lens blister cases to
00:13 good use.
00:14 The good news is that it doesn't go to landfill, it goes to another venue where it gets recycled
00:19 into plastic and aluminium.
00:21 Under a six month pilot program being run in Adelaide, contact lens cases will be collected
00:27 and recycled.
00:28 Repurposing the plastic and aluminium to make into building products and even steel.
00:33 I think people are a lot more aware of single use plastics now, so I think people will probably
00:38 be happy to try and make an impact on the environment.
00:43 While Australia is looking to reduce the amount of single use plastics sent to landfill, for
00:47 health and safety reasons, recycling medical products is a trickier proposition.
00:52 The market for recycling those products is new and small scale, but with increasing consumer
00:57 appetite to reduce waste, the field is growing.
01:00 It's got to be a win win outcome when everyone involved in that supply chain is wanting to
01:05 collaborate and make a difference.
01:07 It's a massive issue and it's not something that one entity on its own can probably do.
01:12 It's hoped the new trial will divert more than 200,000 empty contact lens cases from
01:17 landfill over the six months.
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