Specsavers Dubbo is calling on locals to hand in their old glasses to help address a global health crisis.
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The store partnered with Lions Recycle for Sight and launched the recycling program. The glasses will be refurbished and donated to people overseas.
Specsavers optometrist Yvonne O’Sullivan said they hoped the program would be successful, given the popularity of recycling.
“With the focus now on the war on waste, its at the forefront of people’s minds,” Ms O’Sullivan said.
“Glasses are made of all sorts of recyclable materials, a lot of patients we have, have drawer-loads of old glasses which are going to waste when other people could use them.
“Anyone who has drawer-loads of glasses can bring them in.”
Specsavers Dubbo co-owner Claire Curtin said they had set a goal of collecting 100 glasses each month.
“When I found out just how many people are going blind in impoverished communities around the world simply because they don’t have access to glasses, I was shocked and we had to do something about it,” Ms Curtin said.
“Blindness and vision impairments are so much worse in third world countries because they can mean the difference between people being able to have a job and feed their family, or not.”
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