Optical Express, the UK’s leading private provider of laser eye surgery, lens surgery and cataract surgery has marked World Ocean Day by helping to clean up Troon beach, as part of a joint effort alongside the Marine Conservation Society – a UK charity fighting for a cleaner, better-protected, healthier Ocean.
Volunteers from Glasgow-based Optical Express and representatives of the Marine Conservation Society gathered at Troon South Beach over the weekend. The litter they collected included microplastics, rubber, metal and glass, which can all be damaging to the Ocean and marine life.
World Ocean Day – celebrated on 8th June – brings together volunteers and representatives of organisations from all sectors across the world, who are focused on protecting and restoring our Ocean and creating a stable climate.
Optical Express previously found that 97% of the 780 million contact lenses worn in the UK each year are not disposed of properly.1 Many contact lens wearers admitted to disposing of their contact lenses by throwing them down sinks, toilets, and drains, endangering wildlife who swallow the microplastics that form when these contact lenses break down.
Optical Express founder and CEO, David Moulsdale, said:
“We were delighted to take part in the beach clean-up at Troon. Being a local business, we see the effects first-hand of what impact waste can have on our Oceans here in Scotland. The environmental impact of the eye care industry is often overlooked, but Optical Express is leading the decarbonisation of the industry and aims to make it fully sustainable.
The economic and health benefits of vision correction surgery are already obvious, but patients should also be aware of how their eye care solutions impact the environment. At Optical Express, we are committed to educating and helping people make more sustainable choices in eye care and in turn protecting our natural spaces.”
Katie Macfarlane, Youth Engagement Officer in the Learning & Community Education team, Marine Conservation Society said:
“It was a pleasure to take part in the beach clean-up with Optical Express, all the volunteers were very engaged and keen to understand more about the impacts of waste on the Ocean and its marine life. It was a very busy, sunny day on the beach, but the perfect opportunity to think about our own actions when visiting natural spaces, as well as the bigger picture of consumer waste and how it impacts our environment. It is important to bring awareness to the dangers of single-use plastic, how we can behave more sustainably as individuals and organisations, and what actions we can take to create positive change!”
Optical Express has long been a leader in tackling the use of plastic in the eye care industry, working to enhance awareness of the dangers of discarded plastic contact lenses. Contact lenses and their packaging are a major contributor to microplastic pollution in the Ocean, harming marine wildlife and contaminating the food chain. Optical Express are committed to leading the way for sustainable eye care, championing the benefits of laser eye surgery and lens surgery, as a leading provider of these procedures in the UK.
For more than 30 years Optical Express have supported hundreds of humanitarian and philanthropic projects, donating over £33 million and counting to worthwhile causes in the UK and abroad.
- Optical Expresssurvey of 3,104 Contact Lens wearers & ACLM 2016 contact lens statistics.