The Lions Club Program (the Big One)
Lions International's 'Recycle for Sight' is the largest, most available used-eyeglass program in the US. There are three official ways to donate: drop glasses in a Lions collection bin at a participating Walmart Vision Center, hand them to a local Lions club (find one with the Lions Club Locator), or mail them to a Lions Eyeglasses Recycling Center (LERC). You'll also find Lions drop boxes at many libraries, optometrist offices, pharmacies and community centers. Volunteers clean, sort by prescription, and distribute the glasses — usually through vision missions — to people in need worldwide. Lions take prescription and non-prescription glasses, readers and sunglasses.
Other Places That Take Glasses
Warby Parker accepts donated glasses and sunglasses in good condition (any brand) at its stores and forwards them to the Lions recycling centers. Costco Optical has donation boxes at many optical counters and works with the nonprofit Assist International. Goodwill and Salvation Army thrift stores often accept eyeglasses too. Participation varies by location for all of these, so clean your glasses, put them in a case, and call the specific store first if you're making a special trip.
Two Options That Changed
A couple of once-common routes no longer take used glasses, so don't rely on them: New Eyes for the Needy — long known for mail-in donations — states on its FAQ that it no longer accepts used eyeglasses (it still provides new glasses to people in need). And LensCrafters' OneSight EssilorLuxottica Foundation program is now focused on monetary donations in-store rather than a used-glasses drop box, so call your local LensCrafters before assuming there's a collection bin.
What About Broken Glasses?
Don't put broken or incomplete pairs in a Lions or Walmart bin — those need wearable glasses. But broken eyewear still has value: recyclers strip frames for scrap metal and grind lenses for industrial use. A dedicated program like SpecsCycle accepts broken spectacles, lenses and goggles, and you can take metal frames to a scrap-metal recycler. Note that eyeglass lenses (polycarbonate and high-index plastics) generally are NOT accepted in curbside recycling.