EAST YORK TOWN CENTRE EYEGLASS RECYCLING PROGRAM KEEPS USED AND BROKEN EYEGLASSES OUT OF LANDFILLS.

This April you can drop off your broken and unusable (to you) eyeglasses and sunglasses at East York Town Centre at the specially marked recycling bin located in Centre Court.

From April 1 to 30 we will be collecting all types of glasses on behalf of the Canadian Lions Eyeglass Recycling Centre (CLERC).

CLERC is a national initiative that collects used and broken eyeglasses and sunglasses and keeps them out of landfills, while providing the gift of sight to those in need of better vision.

Your donated eyeglasses will be on an exciting journey! They will be collected and brought to the sorting station where volunteers of CLERC will sort glasses into those that can be reused and those which will be recycled.

Those that are broken, old and scratched are crushed, the metal and gold are extracted by a huge magnet and is recycled for various uses. The plastic and actual glass are separated and treated in a vat that removes the protective coating which becomes an additive to the reflective paint used on roads. The glass is melted with tar and becomes pavement. The plastic is shredded and becomes ‘fly’ , a bonding agent used in concrete. 

THE LAST 8 YEARS CLERC HAS KEPT OVER ONE MILLION POUNDS OUT OF LANDFILLS. 

Eyeglasses that are still usable are sorted into type, sterilized, hand dried, read on a Lense Meter, packaged and sent off to Outreach groups that distribute the eyewear free of charge to people in developing countries.

The need for recycled eyeglasses:

• WHO (World Health Organization) states that there are 320 million visually impaired people in the world who require eyewear. 

• 45 Million people suffer from blindness 

• 1 person goes blind every 5 seconds

• 1.4 Million children under the age of 15 are blind

TO DATE CLERC HAS PLACED QUALITY EYEGLASSES ON 7 MILLION FACES IN 103 COUNTRIES 

Click here for more information on CLERC.

After April 30 please contact CLERC for the drop off location nearest you.