Spectacle Recycling
Giving old glasses a new life — and someone else better vision.
Rugby Rokeby Lions Club collects unwanted spectacles and sunglasses and sends them to people in developing countries who have no access to eye care.
How it works
Lions Clubs worldwide have been recycling spectacles for decades as part of the Lions global vision programme. Collected glasses are cleaned, checked and sorted by prescription, then distributed through Lions networks to communities where even basic eyewear is out of reach.
We in Rugby Rokeby Lions have been supporting an Eye Bus that goes to villages in the surrounding area of Phillaur in India.
The bus has highly trained visual staff on board who perform normal eye tests and offer advice on eye health or the need for a prescription. Some people require surgery and further treatment and these are usually carried out at the City Centre Eye Hospital in Phillaur in the Punjab area of India.
Over the last 12 months the Eye Bus has carried out 9500+ eye tests in 80 villages, given out 12,000+ phials of eye drops which we at Rugby Rokeby Lions sponsor, around 500 people have required further help in the way of a pair of spectacles or surgery.For many recipients a pair of recycled glasses means the difference between being able to work, study and live independently — or not.
What we accept
- Reading glasses
- Distance glasses
- Sunglasses
- Any prescription — no pair is too old
- Any frame condition — including broken frames
Every single pair donated makes a real difference to someone's life!
How to donate your old glasses:
You will see our bright yellow collecting bins at Specsavers, Boots, Vision Express, Grays Opticians, Scrivens, Blackhams, Optical People all within Rugby town centre.
We also have bins at the following places: St Andrew's Church, St Cross Hospital Outpatients, St Cross Macular Department, Framed Eyewear on Swift Valley Trading Estate, Sainsburys, Tesco as well as Boots, Specsavers and Browetts in Daventry, Weedon Surgery and Long Buckby Junior School.
Or contact us at contact@rugbyrokebylions.co.uk to arrange an alternative drop-off.
Have a clear out and change a life — donate your old glasses today.