Disposable lenses? Chuck them in the bin or the turtle gets it

My husband drops his disposable contact lenses in the bathroom basin every night. Given his disregard for microplastics in the ocean and the planet’s health, am I justified in calling for a ban on this behaviour?
J.F., Brighton East, Vic

A: Nobody should be dropping contact lenses down a basin drain. Those lenses could wind up in the ocean and get stuck to the eyes of a turtle and then the turtle’s vision may become impaired because the lenses were the wrong prescription. Which means the turtle won’t be able to find food or avoid predators or have long conversations with his turtle friends without blinking and squinting and looking a bit distracted.

Most tragically, the turtle will never be able to remove those contact lenses because his flippers are not flexible enough. Although the lenses will be lubricated and well-rinsed, at least, because the turtle happens to be swimming inside the world’s largest reserve of contact-lens saline solution.

Or another scenario. Those lenses wind up in the ocean and a fish eats the lenses, then a person eats the fish that ate the lenses and now that person has microplastics in their gut which could potentially lead to inflammation or cancer – or worse: that person could get a colonoscopy and the doctor might see a little eye peeking back at them, which could be very embarrassing. All good reasons not to drop contact lenses down the drain.

Loading

Tell your husband to throw his lenses in the bin or, better still, mail them to a lens recycling program. Or best of all, repurpose them as sequins on a disco jacket or as eyes on a creepy Coraline doll. Or you could personally reward him for his environmental effort by vajazzling yourself with glued-on contact lenses in the shape of a happy, healthy-eyed turtle.

[email protected]

To read more from Good Weekend magazine, visit our page at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and Brisbane Times.