Donate Old Eyeglasses, Clean the New with Two Ingredients – GWC Mag

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I’m loving my updated reading glasses prescription, am diverting my old frames from landfill and cleaning the new glasses with a homemade cleaner that costs almost nothing and works better than anything. Some medical necessities can be lower waste.

How to keep used glasses (and swag) out of landfill

1. Donate the glasses

I’m so grateful for my new glasses. I didn’t realize how badly I needed them. Life changing! When you donate your old glasses, you facilitate a similar change in someone’s life.

Donated glasses must be in good condition—no missing parts, no loose, scratched or cracked lenses and so on. Most of the following organizations accept not only used prescription glasses but also reading glasses and sunglasses. They then distribute the glasses to those in need.

• Lions Club International. Donate your used glasses to this longstanding program via a participating Walmart Vision Center, a local Lions Club or through the mail. Lions Clubs also accept working hearing aids.
• Costco Optical. Drop your glasses into a donation box at Costco Optical. Costco works with Assist International to distribute donated glasses.
• ReSpectacle. This non-profit accepts donated glasses and distributes them to underserved communities worldwide. You can also browse online for used glasses that match your prescription.
• Local drop-off sites. An online search will likely also turn up other locations and organizations that accept used eyeglasses. My local library provides a dropbox in the lobby for donating glasses. A thrift shop nearby also accepts them.

2. Replace the lenses of your existing frames

If your current frames are in good shape, when your prescription changes, ask your optometrist to replace the lenses with your updated prescription. My husband had the lenses replaced a few times in a pair of delicate antique frames before the glasses finally fell apart.

The flaking anti-glare coating and scratches on my lenses render my old reading glasses ineligible for donation but the frames have held up really well so I hope to have those lenses replaced with my other prescription for distance.

3. Offer the frames to a friend or post them on Buy Nothing

Frames can be expensive even if insurance covers part of the cost. Although friends and fellow members of your Buy Nothing group will likely have different prescriptions from yours, they may want your old frames.

4. Refuse the swag

Prevention works best to keep the clutter and waste at bay. When I picked up my new glasses, I turned down the new case and microfiber cleaning cloth the optometrist offered. With everyone in my family wearing glasses, we don’t need any more cases or cleaning cloths cluttering our home.

Simple, effective, inexpensive, DIY eyeglasses cleaning

The glasses cleaning cloth

That cleaning cloth I turned down at the optometrist’s office was a microfiber cloth. When you see the term “microfiber” think “microplastics.” Made of planet-heating fossil fuels, microfiber cloths, like all synthetic fabrics, shed tiny bits of plastic in the washing machine, which pollute our waterways. And you will need to wash your cloth at least occasionally to avoid merely streaking your glasses with an obscuring layer of film as you attempt to clean them.

Synthetics also shed microplastics into the air, food and us. Scientists currently don’t know what impacts inhaling or ingesting microplastics have on human health but I will take a wild guess that it’s not good. Plastic does not belong in my organs. Meanwhile, you likely have an old piece of cotton flannel sitting around in the form of worn pajamas or a ratty sheet that will do the trick. Simply cut it up into squares. I didn’t bother hemming the edges of the cloth pictured in this post but you could do that if you like.

The glasses cleaner

If you’ve ever cleaned the windows of your home with simple vinegar and water, you know how effectively that works. Plus you don’t breathe in harsh Windex fumes, your cleaner doesn’t require a keep-away-from-children label and you save money. A 26-ounce bottle of Windex costs over $4. Ounce for ounce, a jug of white vinegar before diluting it costs a quarter of Windex and the water you’ll dilute it with costs essentially nothing.

Well, water and vinegar work just as well for cleaning your glasses.

Simply fill a spray bottle with one part vinegar and one part water, spray your glasses and clean them with your cloth. Washing glasses with a drop of dishwashing liquid and water also works well but is not nearly as convenient.

White vinegar or…

I happen to brew vinegar which brings down the price of my glasses cleaner to almost zero. For this batch of cleaner, I added very strong rhubarb vinegar. Kombucha vinegar would also work but make sure the SCOBY has eaten all the (sticky) sugar. You’ll know when you taste it.

An old spray bottle

While decluttering my daily five items last week, I found a bottle of calming aromatherapy spray my daughter MK had dumped off here. She recently adopted a rescue bunny (I had no idea bunnies were in need of rescue, how sad, but Bun Bun has a great life now) and apparently some essential oils may harm pets, including rabbits. So I poured the calming stuff into in a jar, set it aside and cleaned the bottle and spray pump. At some point, I’ll remove the label from the bottle as well.

Ready for action!

What I’ve been reading

Last night, I finished Paul Lynch’s Booker-winning, terrifying dystopia, Prophet Song. I highly recommend it. Below is the synopsis.

On a dark, wet evening in Dublin, scientist and mother-of-four Eilish Stack answers her front door to find two officers from Ireland’s newly formed secret police on her step. They have arrived to interrogate her husband, a trade unionist.

Ireland is falling apart, caught in the grip of a government turning towards tyranny. As the life she knows and the ones she loves disappear before her eyes, Eilish must contend with the dystopian logic of her new, unraveling country. How far will she go to save her family? And what—or who—is she willing to leave behind?

The winner of the Booker Prize 2023, Prophet Song presents a terrifying and shocking vision of a country sliding into authoritarianism and a deeply human portrait of a mother’s fight to hold her family together.

Register to vote here.

Medical stuff is a necessity. You can always bring up the issue of medical waste with your health care providers but don’t feel guilty for that waste or for taking care of yourself.

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