CooperVision celebrates half-billion bottle recycling milestone

CooperVision’s plastic neutrality initiative with social fintech company, Plastic Bank, has seen the equivalent of more than half a billion plastic bottles prevented from entering the ocean.

The manufacturer celebrated the news in recognition of Earth Day on 22 April.

Plastic Bank is a global plastic bottle deposit programme enabling its community members to exchange collected waste plastic for income and social benefits.

CooperVision funds the collection and recycling of ocean-bound plastic equivalent to the weight of plastic used across its range of participating soft contact lenses, including the lens, blister and packaging components, sold and distributed across 34 countries.

Celebrating the milestone, Aldo Zucaro, senior director, corporate responsibility, for CooperCompanies, said: “Practitioners and wearers who choose CooperVision plastic neutral contact lenses have been central to creating such an enormous impact, and we are proud to have partnered with them and Plastic Bank in helping people and planet.”

“Half a billion bottles is an amazing milestone – if you put them end-to-end, you could circle the earth two and a half times,” Zucaro said.

Through Plastic Bank, collection community members exchange plastic waste for credits to purchase goods and services including health, work, and life insurance, digital connectivity, grocery vouchers, and school supplies.

Plastic Bank also provides vision screenings and vouchers for complimentary eye examinations and spectacles for eligible members.

The collected plastic is reprocessed into Social Plastic feedstock and reintegrated into products and packaging.

Emphasising that this is not the "end goal," Zucaro added: “This journey is ongoing, and we are excited for what’s ahead. Together, we can make an even greater difference for people and planet.”