Time to recycle all those prescription and non-prescription eyeglasses, sunglasses, reading glasses that are tucked away in drawers and packed in old, "I-may-need-this-someday" or "Maybe-this-will-come-back-in-style" boxes.
Here are a few that I had tucked away. Yes some of them may come back into style, but as I set them out for a photo, I remembered which pair kept popping a lens because the screw hole was worn and how heavy those over sized sunglasses are compared to today's lighter frames.
With a bit of research, I found three places where you can drop off donations of eyeglasses:
- Massachusetts Eye and Ear Optical Shop in the West End of Boston confirmed that they accept eyeglasses for recycling. You can drop them off in the box in the lobby (shown above) or on the first floor in the optical shop. Contact information is at this link. (map)
- New England College of Optometry said they would be happy to take donations at their front desk. Contact information for the school is at this link. (map)
- Brigham And Women's Optical Services will also accept your donation. Contact information is at this link. (map)
If you're one of our readers outside the Boston area, you can ship your donation to a Lions Club eyeglass recycling center. Here's the list.
The photo above is a Lions Club collection box. You may see one of these in other optical shops in addition to the three listed here. If you do, let us know by adding a comment to this post, tweeting the location to @BostonZest, or sending us an email.
If you come across this information long after June 2015, I suggest you call the locations to confirm that they are still taking part in a program that will use the glasses.
One final tip – check over the glasses you are recycling the way you might if you were donating a box of old jewelry. We have a friend who collects antique eyeglasses and he spotted some collectables among ours.
The ones in the photo above turned out to be 14K gold, quite old, and very collectable. But, even some older designer frames may have people willing to pay top dollar to add to their collection. A few minutes on Etsy or ebay could give you some indication of value.
Oh, we both love this inexpensive but protective eyeglass case we found on Amazon. We've had our for a couple of years now and consider these one of our better buys. They just work, Large Sunglasses/Eyeglass Case with Zipper
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Words: Penny Cherubino
Photography: © 2008-2015 Penny Cherubino