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New eyewear recycling systems

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Recycling-glasses-new-systems

With the evolution of sight and the reimbursements of complementary health insurance every two years on average, the question of recycling glasses arises. In fact, the issue of producing frames is often the subject of innovations designed to make them more durable. But what about recycling? Some players in favor of a responsible approach already have solutions to propose.

Recycling glasses

To fully understand the problem of recycling glasses , it is still best to mention the figures. It is estimated that around 100 million pairs are unused for various reasons (broken frames, sleeping in a drawer …) We know that there are already ways to recycle old pairs of glasses, in particular through charities.

Associations such as the Lions Club or Glasses Without Borders , collect, sort and send pairs that can serve the most disadvantaged.

Like Carole Riehl of Optic for Good rightly mentions it, a frame that will be used by someone else will remain a waste that will end up, at the end of the chain, at the bottom of a dumpster. The site has also made the autopsy of an optical frame so that we can understand the difficulty of recycling such an object.

The site therefore offers recycling 100% and in a sustainable manner. He also mentions solving the problem of an object that opticians are familiar with: the presentation caliber . This piece of plexiglass has a very relative lifespan and also ends up at the bottom of a dumpster. Optic for Good therefore offers opticians to recover calibers in addition to frames in order to operate their recycling.

The association has established a complete recycling process presented in this infographic:

glasses-recycling-program

Recycled glasses transformed into … glasses

Of course, the best way not to create waste is not to produce. But what if we could reincarnate glasses? This is the crazy bet of LunelVintage , an eyewear launched in 2018 by Pauline Fur, a professional chemist based in Charentes-Maritime.

Pauline collects old frames intended to be destroyed and in realizes new, more robust, for better durability. Based on the maxim "Nothing is thrown away, nothing is lost, everything is transformed", for example glasses are revalued by a jewelry designer!

LUNEL + VINTAGE

The idea of recycling everything doesn't stop with glasses either: the cases and business cards are all made from recycled materials .

New ways to recycle our glasses will undoubtedly emerge in the years to come. While recycling processes are never perfect, these initiatives make it possible to move towards greater responsibility. This is how everyone will find something for themselves, in a society where one of the major challenges remains to transform the way people consume.

Sources: Optic for Good, LunelVintage