Bill Opticians & Vision Aid Overseas
Please donate your unwanted glasses at the recycling point available in every Bill Opticians waiting room.
For many of us, life in the 21st century can be non stop and our vision is critical to our quality of life. We regularly have our prescriptions examined and altered in order to achieve the best visual results and whilst looking after your sight is of paramount importance, it is easy to forget last year’s glasses in the back of a drawer somewhere when in fact they could be used to change the life of those less fortunate than ourselves.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), restoring sight is one of the most cost effective health interventions to reduce poverty.
Vision Aid Overseas was established in 1985 and so for thirty years they have been helping some of the poorest communities in the world to see more clearly. Whether you are a teacher in Zambia, a seamstress in Ghana or a school pupil in Ethiopia, poor eye sight can have a devastating impact on your life.
Many of these communities have no affordable eye care services and so those with poor eyesight often live with their condition untreated, this results in their eyesight becoming worse and in some cases can often lead to permanent blindness.
This is how donating your old glasses can change lives:
Historically we would send your second-hand glasses to the third world but in 2010 the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) recommended that sending second-hand glasses overseas was not the best way to establish sustainable eye care in developing countries.
Instead, we recycle the donated second-hand glasses for their precious metal content and any vintage glasses are sold on our eBay shop or to specialist buyers. We also recycle the plastic glasses. The income generated through the recycling process enables us to deliver sustainable eye care services in our partner countries.
We have established Vision Centres so that there are locally based eye care services to provide affordable eye tests and new glasses to all patients regardless of circumstance.
We have trained local eye care workers so that there are skilled professionals in our partner countries to deliver quality eye care at all.
We continue to deliver eye care services to remote and isolated communities so that we can reach the poorest and most vulnerable.
For more information please visit: www.visionaidoverseas.org