Recycle your old glasses

Most of us have an old pair of glasses in a drawer. Give them to Lions instead and they can help someone see clearly again.

Where to drop them off in Bodmin

There are Lions collection boxes at:

• Specsavers, Bodmin
• Boots Opticians, Bodmin

The Lions Club of Bodmin looks after both boxes. We empty them regularly and send the glasses on to the Lions recycling centre. Just drop your glasses in during opening hours. You don’t need to ask.

What you can give

• Any glasses, with or without a prescription, including sunglasses
• Bifocals, varifocals and trifocals
• Rimless and half-rimmed glasses, as long as they’re complete

Please give complete pairs only. We can’t use cases, cloths, loose lenses or contact lenses, so keep those or recycle them elsewhere.

Where your glasses go

Volunteers at the Lions recycling centres sort and grade every pair. Glasses that can be worn again are sent abroad, to countries such as Ghana, Nigeria, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Papua New Guinea, where a pair of glasses is out of reach for many people. Pairs that can’t be reused are sold for scrap, and the money pays for sorting and for eye-care projects in the UK and overseas.

Lions across the UK collect more than a million pairs a year, and have done so since 1967.

Hearing aids and other ways to give

The Lions recycling centre in Birmingham also takes hearing aids and other hearing equipment. You can post glasses there too if you can’t get into Bodmin:

Lions Recycling, 257 Alcester Road South, Kings Heath, Birmingham B14 6DT

Send just the glasses in a padded envelope. Please don’t wrap each pair or put them in plastic bags.

Find out more on the Lions Recycling website, including its questions and answers.