Specsavers Australia is partnering with recycling processor, Opticycle, to introduce the first end-to-end recycling solution for glasses and lens waste for the optical industry in Australia.

Specsavers is expecting to recycle more than 50 tonnes of glasses and lens waste through its recycling programme each year, which includes the recycling of used customer glasses, discontinued display frames, demo lenses, and swarf (offcuts from the glazing process), ensuring all product materials are responsibly recycled at end of life and made into new products, right here in Australia.

Specsavers ANZ Head of Sustainability, Cathy Rennie Matos, said finding a viable recycling solution had been a primary strategic priority for the business, but hadn’t been without its challenges “due to the complex mix of different polymers and metals in glasses, and the relative low volume of waste optical products generate in comparison to other industries”.

“Finding a recycling solution for our optical waste was important for two reasons. Firstly, we wanted to make sure that the materials from our products are kept in circulation for as long as possible and don’t end up in landfill, and unfortunately only a small percentage of glasses can actually be reused by charities. Secondly, our customers want to be able to return their glasses when they no longer need them and know that they are being responsibly recycled.

“We spoke to a lot of different recyclers and even completed an unsuccessful R&D project with another recycling processor before we found Opticycle.”

Ms Rennie Matos said Specsavers spent two years working with Opticycle to develop a solution and pilot a programme with its stores and Melbourne-based glazing lab.

Challenged by the need to find an end market that could take the mixed plastics, Opticycle General Manager Michael Klapsogiannis said the company decided to create its own process and products.

“Once separated using our specialised equipment, we blend the mixed plastics with other hard to recycle materials and create pavers out of them,” Mr Klapsogiannis explained

“The mixed metals go off to a refinery for further separation and are then reused in other recycled metal products, while the polycarbonate from lenses is passed onto local manufacturers as raw materials to be used in commercial products, such a recycled plastic panels. And all of this happens right here in Australia.”

He said that during the pilot with Specsavers, Opticycle received over 40 tonnes of optical waste and was able to recover an “incredible” 35 tonnes of plastics and five tonnes of metal.

Opticycle provides detailed reporting and data that allows Specsavers to trace material flows through the processing facility and provides visibility of where product waste goes.