The Best Ways to Recycle Your Glasses
Mission trip to Guatemala where we performed eye examinations, and then dispense recycled glasses to those in need.
Every product has a life cycle: It is bought, used, then thrown away or hopefully, recycled.
In this blog post, I hope to educate the reader on the best practices and ways to recycle used glasses.
Every product, if passed in the right direction, can have a second chance at life and can provide someone else with the benefit of improved vision.
Glasses Life Cycle
Eyeglasses have a life cycle. They are usually bought brand new, custom fit to a specific prescription and head shape, and then used by the patient for a couple of years.
It is tough to firmly say how long a pair of glasses should last because it does depend on how the wearer handles them. Another determining factor to longevity is the quality of the optical product itself.
Some products are simply quickly produced to have a short life while others are created with high-quality materials undergoing weeks of processing time, in order to last a lifetime.
An analogy would be purchasing a poor quality battery that may only last 10 hours, or purchasing a high-quality battery that may last 100+ hours (and usually costs more than the poor quality battery at retail markets).
Since the very beginning, Dr. Della Chow has sourced quality-made European, Japanese, and American eyewear frames renowned for their durability, craftsmanship, and longevity.
Brands that are independently manufactured in smaller batches often also use higher quality materials, and therefore offer greater durability than the quick-made economy frames which are recently in vogue.
All in all, whether your current glasses are of good quality or poor, at the end of their lifetime, it will be time to bring them to your optometrist’s office as they will usually have an old eyeglasses donation program set in place.
Can I Donate My Broken Glasses?
Glasses can be recycled, whether it be in full form or in separate pieces. We often tell all our patients to bring in their old glasses so these can be donated to developing countries, where they will be recycled and reused. There are many parts and pieces to a pair of glasses and many of these pieces may be able to find a new home.
Recycled glasses organized in boxes based on prescription.
Where Can I Donate My Old Glasses?
You can bring your old glasses into your optical store.
If you are in Vancouver, feel free to bring them to Della Optique. We will happily donate them for eyecare in developing countries, on your behalf.
Where Do Our Eyeglass Donations Go?
When a patient brings their glasses into Della Optique for donation, all such received donations go directly to the Lion’s Club International.
These glasses first go to a sorting facility near Burnaby, BC where the glasses are neutralized and sorted according to prescription.
Donated glasses are then shipped to a country where these will be needed most. The glasses are usually sent over with a team of students, volunteers, and doctors who perform eye examinations to underprivileged populations, and who then dispense the recycled glasses to those in need. The displayed pictures are from when Dr. Bosung Kim travelled to Guatemala for a mission trip with a team of Optometrists and optometry students.
Dr. Bosung Kim performing retinoscopy on a child.
To learn more about the Lion’s club, please feel free to visit their website to read their mission statement and to understand their vision for a better world.
I’m a proud member of the Burrard Lion’s Club in Vancouver, BC.
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