We’ve partnered with the social enterprise Plastic Bank to help stop ocean plastic in vulnerable coastal areas. This collaboration will fund the collection of more than 340 tonnes of ocean-bound plastic waste. Plastic Bank works with collection communities in the Philippines, Indonesia, Brazil, and Egypt, with high amounts of plastic waste that lack formal recycling infrastructure.
How does Plastic Bank work?
Plastic Bank empowers collection communities in vulnerable coastal areas to collect plastic waste from local beaches, riverbanks, neighbourhoods, and households within 50 kilometres of ocean-bound waterways and coastlines, to help prevent plastic waste from entering the sea. The collected plastic is then used as ‘currency’ in exchange for secure income and life improving benefits including health, work and life insurance, digital connectivity, grocery vouchers, school supplies, fintech services, and more.
By offering safe, secure, and traceable sources of income, Plastic Bank offers a path out of poverty for these collection communities. You can find out more about Plastic Bank at plasticbank.com
Why are we supporting Plastic Bank?
We sell a lot of contact lenses around the world – they’re a big part of our business and they help millions of customers see better every single day. Plastic packaging is essential to the safety and sterility of medical products like daily disposable contact lenses, but we also know that recycling plastic is complex. Plastic recycling options are not always available in all regions where we operate.
Our partnership with Plastic Bank enables us to offset more than 340 tonnes of plastic packaging waste annually. This amount is equivalent to all plastic packaging used through the sale of contact lenses globally in-store and online.
It is crucial to emphasise that, while we engage in this offsetting programme, we remain committed to our ambition to reduce plastic waste used throughout our business, and we are working with our suppliers to find sustainable solutions for contact lens plastic packaging as well as more sustainable materials to use in the wider products we create. The strength in our partnership with Plastic Bank lies in the opportunity to try to make a tangible difference today for the people living in the vulnerable coastal communities where Plastic Bank operates.
