Recycle those old glasses, don’t just bin ’em – new collection box at Specsavers

Recycling is now not just becoming a big and serious business, it’s also becoming a responsible ‘must do’ for us all and things that we would once upon a time have just thrown away (and ended up as landfill somewhere), can now be turned into something useful. ‘New out of old’.

Specsavers have teamed up with recycling experts MYgroup to install recycling collection boxes at Specsavers stores up and down the country and the Marlborough branch is one of the first.

Marlborough Specsavers customers can now pop into the branch on the High Street and drop off both metal and plastic glasses, sunglasses, as well as contacts lenses and accessories, including blister packs, contact lens cases and solution bottles. Most eye care items can be dropped into the box, but not (yet) glasses cases or lens cloths.

The glasses and contact lenses will be given a second lease of life and repurposed into a wide range of items such as furniture, home and garden accessories, including benches and play park equipment.

So who knows, one day you, your children or grandchildren can be sitting in a chair, or swinging in a playground on a seat that maybe contains what was once your old pair of sunglasses.

Unlike some recycled items, the recycled board created by MYgroup out of the contents of the recycling boxes has the potential to be recycled over and over again, so any items dropped off for recycling can be repurposed multiple times.

Kathryn Mimnagh, store director at the High Street Specsavers branch told Marlborough.news: “At Specsavers we are striving to improve what we do to protect the planet so we are pleased to be offering customers the chance to recycle a range of eyewear products.

“We know from customer feedback that people want to be able to recycle eyecare products, so we are really pleased to be able to meet our customers needs in this important way.

Sustainability is at the core of our plan for the future and by offering this service we’re making it easier than ever for customers to play their part.”

Michael Derbyshire, business development manager at MYgroup, says: “MYgroup are delighted to be working with Specsavers and helping provide an instore recycling solution for their difficult to recycle waste.

“Using our expertise, knowledge and innovative recycling systems this initiative will allow Specsavers’ valued customers to recycle material that would have previously been destined for landfill or incineration by turning them into a range of useful products.

“Partnering with Specsavers validates the hard work we’ve been doing over the years and we can’t wait to get started.”