Aussies who wear contact lenses can now easily recycle the plastic packaging.

Almost 700,000 Aussies wear either daily or monthly lenses, which come in packets made from plastic and foil.

But people are holding on to almost seven million contact packets, as well as 32 million pairs of old prescription glasses according to Specsavers.

When laid end to end this volume would stretch from Perth to Brisbane, posing a huge environmental challenge.

The optical chain has partnered with Opticycle to recycle contact lens packaging as well as glasses and sunglasses.

Another free recycling scheme, via TerraCycle and Bausch + Lomb ended in 2021, meaning recycling of contacts and packaging was impossible for most Aussies.

Cathy Rennie Matos, Specsavers ANZ Head of Sustainability said: "This initi

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