Where To Donate Old Glasses? [+Tips!]

Take a look at your drawers and you might find an old pair of spectacles that you once wore every day, just lying around, covered in dust. Even though so many people wear spectacles and undergo eye tests, glasses can become ineffective within just one year for the individual they get designed for. 

As glasses and spectacles are often made from plastic or metal, you can’t just toss them out in your regular bin. This leaves people with a question – Where to donate old glasses?

It is one of the best ways to recycle your old glasses.

Instead of casting off your old specs or old-fashioned frames as trashy items, you should be looking for the answer to Where can I donate old glasses? And giving them away to the less fortunate is a good act of kindness. What’s trash for you could be a boon for someone else.

But Why Donate Old Glasses?

Globally, at least 2.2 billion people have a near or distance vision impairment, according to a WHO report. These are the people who lack access to basic eye care services.

Donating your eyewear will cost you nothing. But it will do so much good for the underprivileged society. A kid might be able to do his homework without straining his eyes. Or a needy person might reach home safely.

And what will you gain? A truckload of good feelings. 

What’s The Process? How To Donate Old Glasses?

Are you wondering how you can give away your old glasses? It’s not that hard. 

If you have old, worn-out glasses that you no longer desire, you can drop them off at your nearest donation centers that accept eyeglasses. 

When you decide to donate your old pair of glasses, just make sure that the glasses are not shattered, no lenses are missing, and are reusable.

You can donate prescription and non-prescription glasses, lenses, or frames. Your chosen charity will inspect your donated eyewear, determine the prescription, and clean it so it can get used again. 

The foundation will then gift your donated glasses to someone in need – whether that be around the globe or in your neighborhood.

Donated eyeglasses are often used in medical missions abroad. Doctors and other medical professionals provide free eye care to people with limited access to health resources on these trips. 

Where To Donate Old Glasses? Here Are 7 Organizations That Accept Donated Old Glasses. 

Some organizations accept only brand-new glasses. But others accept used glasses, readers, and frames. You can also donate prescription and non-prescription sunglasses.

They will inspect the glasses to ensure they are not damaged or broken before accepting them. The experts will check the exact prescription of each pair. Then they will find a match- which could be someone living in your community or someone hundreds of miles away from you. 

If you want to know where to donate old prescription eyeglasses, check out these places:

1. Lion’s Club – 

Lions Club International is a charitable organization that donates usable eyeglasses to children and adults all over the globe. 

Their volunteers accumulate the donated glasses from the local community centers. Then they inspect them for the prescription strength and damage, and give them to children and adults in need, free of cost. You can easily find the collection centers in your locality. 

2. VisionSpring –

This is another non-profit organization who takes old glasses for charity and is actively donating eyeglasses all over the globe. Visionspring donates eyeglasses free of cost to people who earn less than $4 a day. 

3. OneSight – 

One Sight is an independent nonprofit organization where you can donate old eyeglasses. It has helped over 9 million people in 46 countries to eradicate the global vision crisis. 

They have permanent centers working in the community that donate eyeglasses to people in need. That means people can access these services at any time. 

The donated items are strictly evaluated so that only the best of the best goes out to the public. You can drop off your eyeglasses at your local eyewear store, and OneSight will do the rest. 

4. Eyes of Hope –

Eyes of hope partners with Vision Service Plan (VSP) Affiliated doctors and organizations. And provides no-cost vision care to underprivileged children and adults. You can bring in new and gently used eyewear to the organization.

5. New Eyes – 

The New Eyes recycling program accepts used prescription glasses and safety glasses. It is also where to donate old reading glasses and glasses for children. They ensure all glasses are in satisfactory to excellent condition.

You can mail your donations to the organization’s headquarters. That’s where they conduct their old glasses recycle operation. However, there is no local drop-off site. 

Furthermore, they accept, process, and distribute gently used donated eyeglasses to those in need. 

6. Lighthouse – 

The Lighthouse foundation is a recycling center in the United States that works globally. They accept all kinds of glasses like – prescription and non-prescription glasses and sunglasses. 

You can also send them hearing aids and cell phones. After collecting recycled old glasses, they get distributed to volunteers in international countries that perform humanitarian work. You can visit any nearby LightHouse center to donate your old eyeglasses. 

7. ReSpectacle – 

ReSpectacle is another non-profit organization. It distributes used eyeglasses to underprivileged communities around the globe.

You can mail them at their given address to donate your gently-used spectacles that are in good condition. Anyone who wants to browse the glasses available at Respectable can log in to their website, access the donations, and select the ones they need.

Bonus Tips! How To Donate Old Glasses?

1. You can easily donate your old reading glasses at your local LensCrafters, Target Optical, or Pearle Vision locations. From there, volunteers for OneSight or other organizations can collect your donated glasses. And then take them to their ‘old glasses recycle’ processing center.

2. You can also bring your glasses to Goodwill. Through a partnership with another non-profit foundation, Goodwill helps low-income people obtain used glasses. 

3. Don’t want to physically drop off your eyeglasses at these stores? You can also mail them your donation. Organizations like NewEyes accept in-mail donations. 

You can donate eyeglasses to various organizations across the country by dropping them off in donation boxes. To make sure your donation counts, here are a few tips: 

4. Do not donate glasses that get worn, damaged, or damaged beyond repair as the organizations will not accept them. If you choose to donate your old frames to any organization, please follow their donation guidelines before dropping them off or mailing them in.

Remember this general rule of thumb: If you wouldn’t hand down your glasses to a friend or relative, avoid donating them.

5. Wrap your donation safely. Remember that glasses are fragile. So, you must make sure to securely package it, so that it reaches the intended recipient as is.

Wrapping Up

Hope this article answered all your questions, and now you know where to donate old glasses.

If you want to help someone with their vision, now is the right time. Remember, your one small donation can change someone’s life for the better.