Global firm eyes recycling

Litter takes many shapes and forms.

When the Bin It! educational anti-littering roadshow goes into schools, the student audiences are encouraged to look at their own behaviours and how they affect sustainability. This involves thinking about the form and shape of pieces of litter.

Last month, a Dorchester optician launched a new service to help their patients, and the public, recycle disposal contact lenses. Insight Opticians has introduced the service, only the second in the UK, as a recent US study found that around 15-20% of people dispose of their contact lenses using the sink or toilet.

The Insight Opticians bin and collection service is being provided by Terracycle, which says it is an ‘innovative company that has become a global leader in recycling hard-to-recycle waste’.

As the number of contact lens wearers in the UK and Ireland is now 3.5million, more than double over the last 12 years, according to the Association of Contact Lens Manufacturers, this new service will provide a vital addition to anti-littering approaches.

The company website, Terracycle.co.uk, lists a range of strange and unusual items that can be recycled, including cigarette butts, flip flops and beard nets as well as ways of more organisations becoming involved.