Do glasses create less waste than contacts?

After mending my glasses with masking tape, I figured why not cover the whole frame in tape. But that got boring so I didn't finish. And it turns out the tape "hinge" is weaker than the real hinge, so the left side sags. So I've decided to buy new glasses.

I have only worn glasses in public a handful of times. When I found out that I had bad vision at the age of 10, I began wearing contacts.

Contact lense solution, contact lense boxes, contact lense packages, contact lense cases (not pictured: actual contact lenses, cardboard box that solution comes in)

Recently I became worried about all of the waste involved with wearing contacts. So I began waiting two months instead of one month before switching to a new pair of contacts. And I put clean contact solution into my contact case once every few days instead of daily. But this is probably very unhealthy, so I want to try something else.

Which brings me to glasses!

Do glasses really create less waste than contacts?

Some numbers:

A year's supply of contacts (12 pairs of monthlies, with 12 contact cases and 12 bottles of cleaning solution):
549 grams of plastic

A pair of glasses lenses (not including frames):
35 grams of plastic


(statistics from this article)

Well, I probably use about 1 contact case and 5 bottles of contact solution each year (much less than the 12 cases and 12 bottles factored into the statistic above).

On the other hand, everyone I know who wears contacts also owns a pair of glasses (for use late at night, etc.). But the people I know who predominantly wear contacts usually buy a new pair of glasses every 5 or 10 years. I bought my current glasses around 8 years ago.

How often do glasses-wearers buy a new pair of glasses? I'm hoping to replace my glasses no more than once every 5 years.

I'm estimating that buying a pair of glasses every 5+ years is less wasteful than wearing monthly contact lenses.

Also, there are glasses available that are made out of recycled and renewable materials.

I will soon post about the best places to look for glasses made out of recycled materials, and glasses made out of wood!