Recycling used glasses

Find out more about how recycling your spectacles can help others

Collect. Donate. Sort. Recycle.

Key information: Processing recycled spectacles

Lions Clubs throughout the UK collect unwanted and damaged spectacles. These are then sent to Birmingham HQ which processes tens of thousands of recycled spectacles each year. All donations are examined by a team of Lions and other volunteers in the recycling workshop. Sorted pairs of glasses may then be sent for grading and distribution by Medico France in Le Havre.

Chichester Lions Club sends spectacles directly to contacts running eye clinics in Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka, Ghana, Nigeria, and Nepal. In addition, volunteers from the Unite for Sight charity are supplied with spectacles to take with them on missions to countries across the world.

Lions Club National Headquarters in Birmingham sends spectacles to the National Police Aid Charity to be sent to the Gambia for eye camps, the Army working in Mali, and through a variety of independent charities operating in Nigeria, Chad, Tanzania, and Bangladesh.

How to donate spectacles

To donate your spectacles, please make contact with either Lions Clubs National Headquarters on 0121 441 4544 or Chichester Lions Club via www.chilions.org.uk/specs.htm Donations of hearing aids and equipment can also be included for forwarding to the hearing specialist.