Sustainable Spectacle Frames (and repair services)
The UK market alone is huge for spectacles and frames (at least 10 million pairs sold), but that’s an awful lot of disposable plastic (mostly made in China). Tortoiseshell is now illegal, due to being from an endangered species).
You can’t have ‘plastic-free spectacles’, as the lenses are made from plastic. But you can choose better brands of frames, from companies that also let you return used frames for recycling, and often offer repair services.
Choosing the following brands means you support the campaign for sustainable spectacles, rather than buying cheaply-made plastic versions at the high street stores.
The main brand is one of many that only sell wholesale to opticians, to ensure you visit an optician and have a proper eye test, to get the best lenses for your eyesight. It also means you can try them on, before you buy.
NHS offers free eye tests for people on low incomes (or with sight problems). You also qualify for a voucher to use towards the cost of spectacles (or contact lenses, which are plastic but you can recycle them in opticians and Boots, never flush down the loo). Donate unwanted spectacles to SpecSavers branches, to recycle into industrial material.
Keep lenses clean by washing in warm water and a little biodegradable dishwash liquid, then rinse and dry. If you launder the lens cloth, use a microfibre filter (due to synthetic fibres).
Also read our post on sustainable sunglasses
There’s a caveat here, as most eco spec frames are made from recycled or partly plastic. This means that if your your specs fall down a drain, you lose them at the beach or they fall off a boat, they still break down into millions of microplastics, and get accidentally ingested by marine creatures.
So take good care of them (and try not to lose them!) You can buy wooden frames, but they are few and far between.
Bird Eyewear (sold at local opticians)
BIRD Eyewear offers quality spectacle frames, working with opticians to support local economies. Made mostly from bio-based acetate (a few are made from recycled aerospace alloy), they are sold in a wide range of styles, with beautiful cork cases (no trees are chopped down, the bark is simply stripped from the tree every nine years, which helps to keep forests free from development by others).
Tighten the in-built micro hinges (that flex with your head) by giving a quick turn with a 1.5mm screwdrivers. At end of life, you can recycle your old frames and get a £20 discount on a new pair.
This company donates a portion of sales from each purchase to SolarAid (which provides alternatives to dangerous expensive kerosene in Africa – often used for light or cooking).
Proud (sustainable spectacles from Spain)
Proud (Spain) offers metal and cotton acetate spectacle frames, designed to be industrially composted. Sold in eco-friendly packaging, again they are only sold wholesale to opticians.
Peep Eye Wear (preloved frames & Spec Repairs)
Peep Eye Wear sells vintage glasses, to avoid buying new. You can order these to try on at home, and then chat to their lens experts, if you prefer to do this before ordering them properly.
It also offers a ‘reglazing’ service for scratched lenses, to avoid you throwing them away. These guys can also repair hinges, replace sides, nose pads and tips – and offer a Peep Polish (also for sunglasses) to remove scratches. They can even remove dog bites on your glasses!
Why Some Countries Wear Fewer Spectacles
Not everyone on earth wears spectacles, which gives rise to the question why? It’s not that spectacles are bad, more that many people worldwide need vision correction, but don’t have the resources or money to buy them.
In low-income countries, the price of a good pair of glasses can be more than a week’s wages, and even budget frames and lenses would be impossible to buy. Plus regular eye tests are not available.
