It’s been a long-standing myth that you can’t recycle spectacles – let alone the lenses. Well, it’s my pleasure to bust that myth for you with some easy and very effective solutions.

Until a few years ago it was widely believed that the only thing you could do with old specs was give them to Vision Aid Overseas to repurpose to people in need of spectacles around the globe. This was an eminently ethical and sustainable thing to do – not only does it improve vision and sight care for those most in need, it also hits #2 of the 3 R’s of waste: Reduce, Re-use and Recyle.

Unfortunately, this re-use program ceased to exist during the COVID pandemic – and Vision Aid Overseas has re-branded as Vision Action, still doing great charitable work but not repurposing old specs.

As this program ceased, a void was left – with a greater number of people than ever wanting to dispose of old spectacles in an environmentally responsible way!

Skip forward to 2023, and Optical practices have their pick of the bunch from:

Recycline

MyGroup (Refactory)

Terracycle

ALL offering recycling of spectacles of all shapes, sizes, and materials, ophthalmic lenses and dummy lenses!

Attention is so hot on this at present that Recycline is even spearheading the National Spectacle Recycling Scheme, but lamentably doesn't currently offer recycling of contact lens palstics (packaging etc). Fortunately, Refactory and Terracycle are both happy to deal with all types of optical plastics, including contact lens plastics.

Each organization offers largely similar services, involving boxes that you fill with the items to be recycled and send away – and, in a nutshell, whichever organization receives this “waste” it’s sorted, shredded, heated and compressed into a viable and very durable material with a variety of potential applications! So it’s not quite the pure, circular recycling that you might get with more conventional and easily-recyclable plastics like PET water bottles being recycled into new water bottles – but it’s the best we’ve got at present and provides a hugely important service as well as a very useful new product!

But RECYCLE is only the 3^rd of the 3 R’s – have we forgotten the importance of Re-Use? Not at all!

Quick shout-out to Peep Eyewear, who curate a “Vintage Collection” of lovely refurbished stylish spectacles. Their model isn’t necessarily an option for all practices of course, due to the work involved and realistically limited supply of pre-loved frames that a practice might want or be able to sell! But it’s still a fantastic display of local -and stylish – sustainability!

Meanwhile, Lions Clubs International are doing just what we used to think only Vision Aid Overseas did – they’ll take your old, useable specs, give them a bit of TLC, and then supply them to a cohort of partner Optometrists who venture overseas, testing eyes and providing spectacles to people who would otherwise receive no such care!

So what should an optical practice do to provide the best end-of-life solutions to their patient’s old specs? Should you get them Recycled, or Re-used?

BOTH!

Of course the most sustainable option is to RE-USE something as much as possible before recycling it, so Lions win out on that front – but in reality there’s only so much “waste” they can provide new life to. A certain amount of specs disposed of by patients will be damaged beyond repair, or contain such uncommon prescription lenses as to useless to anyone but the original owner – and that’s not to mention outright broken spectacles, dummy lenses, and contact lens packaging!

In my ideal world, a practice would have agreements with the Lions AND with an aforementioned recycling provider(s), so that re-useable specs can be ethically re-used, and everything else can be responsibly recycled!

And that, dear readers, is how you can easily and affordably start to change the world.

Oh yes, and what about that 1^st R, “Reduce”…? Dare I suggest reducing the amount of specs a practice sells???

Taking more advantage of opportunities to re-glaze perfectly good frames aside, I will simply this as an optical mantra for sustainable business: don’t flog people specs they don’t need; make sure you’re helping your patients to own genuinely life-enhancing products, with accessible end-of-life solutions, and you’re golden!

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