Risk your old contact lenses might end up in food chain
PLASTIC contact lenses could end up in the food chain because up to a fifth of wearers flush them down the sink or toilet, researchers have found.
The US team studied how the lenses break down in water treatment plants.
Researcher Varun Kelkar told a conference in Boston: “We found changes which would lead to the formation of microplastics.” The micro- plastics then get eaten by fish. The team from Arizona State University found up to nine million people in the US – 19% of wearers – wash lenses away after use. They say that means up to 10 tonnes of lenses end up in US wastewater each year. The UK has only one tenth as many users, at 4.2 million. Most use either daily disposables or replace them often. At least 80% of tap water now has plastic in it.