The ACUVUE® Contact Lens Recycling Programme
Recycle your contact lenses, blister packs and foil covers.
Disinfecting solution bottle and cardboard box
Cardboard box
Please recycle locally where possible. The product packaging highlighted above may be recyclable through your local Kerbside service or municipal recycling drop-off locations. If not, you can send to TerraCycle with the rest of your shipment for this programme.
Soft, disposable contact lenses (daily, 2-weekly and monthly)
Contact lens blister packaging
Foil from the contact lens blister packaging
Drop off your recycling at a location near you
Bring your recycling to a participating store near you. It's free, and you won't need a TerraCycle account or shipping label.
How it works
We’ve made getting started with the ACUVUE® Contact Lens Recycling Programme easy! Find a participating location near you and drop off your contact lenses, blister packs and foil covers. A location administrator will send the waste to TerraCycle, and we’ll recycle it.
Get Started
Participating in this programme is easy! See answers to frequently-asked questions here or visit our Help Centre.
Any brand of soft, disposable contact lenses, contact lens blister packaging and outer foil are accepted in this programme.
Waste that is NOT accepted:
- Outer card box packaging (these can be recycled with your standard household recycling)
- Rigid gas permeable contact lenses or any other form of hard contact lenses
- Contact lenses solution bottles
- Eye drop bottles
- Contact lenses storage cases
For more information, please download our Accepted Waste Poster.
No, the ACUVUE® Contact Lens Free Recycling Programme accepts contact lenses, blister packs and foil covers from all brands.
ACUVUE®, in partnership with your opticians, has sponsored this national recycling programme, so there is no direct cost to you.
No, you do not need to clean the packaging before dropping it off, but please remove as much of the remaining product as possible before shipping. Public drop-off locations will not accept dripping items, so make sure your items are dry.
Once your Zero Waste Box is full, seal it and return it to TerraCycle® by using the UPS® prepaid shipping label that is fixed at the back of the box. To organise a pickup, you can call UPS on 0345 787 7877 quoting the tracking number from the shipping label (the number starting with 1Z) or book the collection online via this link.
Discover Our Recycling Process
Once collected, the aggregated contact lenses, blister packaging and outer foils are sorted, shredded and washed. The material is then densified into hard-granulated plastic granules. The granules are then extruded so they can be incorporated into the production of different plastic products such as benches.
Click here to take a virtual tour of our processing facilities.
Learn More About ACUVUE®
ACUVUE® is partnering with TerraCycle® to offer a national solution for recycling contact lenses, blister packs and foil covers. At Johnson & Johnson Vision, manufacturers of ACUVUE® Brand Contact Lenses, we know it’s important to create environmentally sustainable products.
Our approach to developing more sustainable products looks at the full life-cycle: from formulation and manufacturing to use and end of life. Our goal is to substantially limit our contribution to landfills through solutions to drive single-use plastic recycling and packaging material optimisation.
Learn more about ACUVUE® Brand Contact Lenses here.