The Environmental Impact Of Contact Lenses and Glasses

How Many People in the UK Wear Glasses and Contact Lenses?

Before we explore just how sustainable contact lenses and glasses actually are, it’s good to know how many people wear them every single day.

In the UK, around 77% of women and 68% of men wear contact lenses or glasses. In England specifically, more women wear contact lenses than men: 76.7% versus 67.5%.

This is all according to recent data from Statista, which also interestingly highlights that women in Scotland have the highest prevalence of glasses or contact lens wearers in the UK, with over an 80% share of respondents.

Both the contact lenses and glasses markets are booming. There’s simply a consistent need for fashionable eyewear and practical vision correction solutions.

As a matter of fact, the eyewear market is expected to grow at an annual rate of 3.39% in the next five years.¹ The largest segment of this market is glasses lenses with a market volume of US$60.74 billion (around £51.74 billion).¹ For contact lenses, global market revenue reached US$19.10 billion (£14.65 billion) in 2024, and it is projected to grow at an annual rate of 3.81% over the next five years.²

When it comes to contact lenses, daily disposables are growing in popularity. In the UK alone, 5.94% of the population wear daily disposable contact lenses compared to 3.24% who opt for weekly and bi-weekly lenses.³

Is Our Vision Changing?

Our changing eyesight may also be contributing to a booming contact lens and eyewear market. Currently, around 2 million people in the UK have some kind of sight loss, and this is expected to increase to 2.7 million by 2030.⁴

Industry experts have been monitoring the increase in vision-related issues for decades and often flag interesting trends. One of the most evolving trends is the increase in short-sightedness (myopia) among the UK population.

A recent study by Great Ormond Street Hospital, the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health (UCL GOS ICH), and the UK Biobank Eye and Vision Consortium identified changing levels of short-sightedness in people born between 1939 and 1970.⁵

Their results indicated that there was a higher number of people diagnosed with short-sightedness within the younger population than those born between 1939 and 1970.⁵ They believe this rapid increase in such a short time frame is due to environmental factors as genes don’t change as quickly.⁵

With no indication that the market for contact lenses and glasses is slowing down, it’s time to start thinking about how we can wear and dispose of them in a way that is kind to the planet.

Contact Lenses vs Glasses - How Do They Impact the Environment?

Are contact lenses bad for the environment? Is it worth buying eco-friendly glasses? Any effort to become greener is welcome. Let’s explore exactly how contact lenses and glasses are potentially hurting the environment.

How Do Contact Lenses Impact the Environment?

When considering contact lenses and their impact on the planet, it’s important to first understand what they are made of.

According to the British Contact Lens Association, there are two main types of contact lenses: soft lenses made from water-containing plastic, and permeable - also known as ‘rigid gas permeable’ (RGP) - lenses which are less flexible. RGP lenses are made from more rigid plastic materials, as well as materials like fluoropolymers and silicone acrylates.⁶

Advances in materials have also now led to new contact lenses called silicone hydrogels. These lenses are made from hydrogels or silicone hydrogels, which are gel-like, water-containing polymers.^6&7

What’s good to know is that polymers with a high water content allow oxygen to flow through the contact lens to the cornea, which is essential for eye health and wearability.

Daily disposable contact lenses are the most commonly fitted soft lenses in the UK. They are worn once and then disposed of. On the other hand, rigid gas permeable (RGP) contact lenses are typically worn for longer periods of time and only need to be replaced every six to twelve months.

Of course, every contact lens manufacturer develops their product differently. The big thing to remember is that contact lenses do indeed contain plastic, which is unfortunately not biodegradable. As a matter of fact, it can take up to 500 years for plastic contact lenses to decompose.⁶

Since these lenses contain plastic, it’s now easier to understand why the proper disposal or need to recycle contact lenses is pivotal.

With 3.7 million contact lens wearers in the UK, you can imagine just how many lenses get disposed of.⁶ Here’s the shocking statistic: 750 million contact lenses go down the drain or enter a landfill every year!⁶

You also need to think about its packaging - every pair of contact lenses comes in its own packaging, which needs to be disposed of, and often products like saline solution need to be bought in tandem with wearing contact lenses.

How Do Glasses Impact the Environment?

Glasses, especially plastic frames, also impact the environment if not recycled properly. Plastic frames are convenient because they’re lightweight, flexible, and durable. Plus, they’re easily designed and offer a huge variety of fashionable options for spectacle wearers.

The eyewear frames market in the UK is projected to be worth US$1.20 billion (just over £920 million) this year and shows no indication of slowing down.⁸ Additionally, the expected volume of frames to be produced by 2029 is 9.1 million pieces.⁸

It is difficult to quantify the number of frames produced every year, but if 69% of the UK population wears glasses, we can begin to imagine just how many pairs of glasses are at risk of breaking or becoming unwearable due to prescription changes. These are all ultimately getting thrown away.

There is a growing demand for more eco-friendly glasses. Nowadays, you can select frames made from more natural materials or buy from brands that source and develop materials more ethically. Some brands even offer a recycling programme for their glasses.

Plus, a pair of glasses is often made from several recyclable materials - like plastic, aluminium, wood or glass - which can all be recycled.

How To Reduce Your Environmental Waste

We know that as a glasses or contact lens wearer, your quality of vision is essential to maintaining a good quality of life.

So, what can you do right now to help reduce the impact these visual aids have on Mother Nature?

• When getting glasses for the first time, shop with ethical brands or opt for frames that are made from recyclable materials.
• If your glasses prescription changes, replace your lenses and keep your original frame.
• If your glasses get damaged or break, ask your ophthalmologist or frame manufacturer if they can be fixed.
• Consider donating your glasses if they’re still in good condition.
• When recycling your glasses, separate all the materials, including the glass lenses, frames and metal screws.
• There is no such thing as zero-waste contact lenses, so recycling is your best bet. Make sure to recycle contact lenses every chance you get, including plastic packaging and related products like saline solution bottles.
• Consider wearing contact lenses that only need to be replaced monthly. Make sure to talk with your ophthalmologist if this is an option for you.
• Investigate local programmes that recycle contact lenses and glasses. They might offer you specific recycling bins and organise the collection.

Another effective way to reduce your impact on the environment is by getting laser eye surgery.

How exactly does that help the environment? Well, laser eye surgery offers a waste-free, long-term solution to vision correction.

Once your procedure is complete, you no longer contribute to the production of glasses or contact lenses because you won’t need them. This means you’ll no longer need to throw away contact lenses, glasses, or their packaging.

Laser eye surgery is safe and successfully corrects vision problems such as nearsightedness (myopia), farsightedness (hyperopia) and astigmatism. In the long term, it’s also cost-effective as you save money on expensive contact lenses and frames.

What’s more, you can do all the things you love to do like play sports, read or watch TV without the need for pesky visual aids.

Miss Radhika Rampat, betterview surgeon and Chair of a sustainability group, states that nowadays getting laser vision correction, if you’re eligible for it, is a no-brainer! At betterview, we offer two main types of laser eye treatments: Trans-PRK and Femto-LASIK. Each has its own benefits and eligibility requirements.

We’ve just opened our first shop in Shepherd's Bush, London. We’d love to meet you so feel free to walk in or book a free, 30-minute consultation online to see what laser eye surgery treatment is best for you.

Sources:

• ¹ Statista - Eyewear Worldwide
• ² Statista - Contact Lenses Worldwide
• ³ Statista - Penetration of Individuals who Wear - Contact Lenses by Type of Lens in the UK and Ireland
• ⁴ Office for Health Improvement and Disparities - Vision
• ⁵ Plos One - Temporal Trends in Frequency, Type, and Severity of Myopia and Associations with Key Environmental Risk Factors in the UK: Findings from the UK Biobank Study
• ⁶ iclinic - Navigating the Environmental Impact of Contact Lens Waste
• ⁷ Optometrists.org - Guide to Contact Lenses: Hydrogel vs Silicone Hydrogel Lenses
• ⁸ Statista - Eyewear Frames UK