How to recycle used glasses with Lions Recycle for Sight Australia

Lions Recycle for Sight Australia, part of the Lions Australia community service and volunteering organisation, is an initiative to deliver used glasses to those in need and reduce landfill.  

Optometrists throughout the country have been partnering with Lions for over two decades and the program has delivered almost twenty million pairs of refurbished quality spectacles to men, women and children in need across the world.  

Lions Clubs, optometrists and other groups collect used spectacles in their local community and forward the pairs that are suitable for regrading and recycling to the Lions Recycle Centre. 

Chairperson for Lions Recycle for Sight Australia, Ken Leonard, said: ‘Since 1998 the Lions Clubs of Australia have been successfully restoring sight to millions of people in need in Australia and adjacent countries.  

‘The number of glasses we receive that cannot be repurposed has increased over recent years. We need help from optometrists and our Clubs to undertake an initial examination of the used glasses before sending them to our centre, so that our team can carry out their important work.’  

When assessing glasses to send to Lions:  

• Make sure they have a single vision prescription (no bifocal or multifocals). 
• ideally no more than a 1.0 difference in diopter between the lenses. 
• Make sure they are clean and in good condition.  
• Ideal range is +/- 3.00D (but higher Rx is acceptable). 
• Prescription sunglasses are acceptable.

Keep in mind:  

• Do not send glasses cases. 
• Do not send plano spectacles.  
• Do not send glasses with scratched, damaged or broken lenses or frames.  

For more information on how to send used glasses to Lions, visit the Lions Australia website.  

If you wish to recycle unusable spectacles and lenses rather than contributing to landfill waste, opticycle are now offering an end-of-life recycling solution for spectacles and lenses.