Specsavers on Eaton Place, Bingham has teamed up with MYgroup on a recycling scheme

An optician has helped to recycle more than 50 tonnes of glasses and eye care materials that customers have dropped off.

The total has been released by Specsavers on Eaton Place, Bingham as part of Recycle Week, from October 16 to 22.

It also marks reaching the recycling equivalent of one million pairs of glasses, at stores across the UK since the initiative began in August last year.

Amit Rana, ophthalmic director at Specsavers Bingham said: “A big thank you to everyone who has helped us with this recycling initiative by bringing in their eye care products for disposal.

“To have also contributed to such a huge overall total is brilliant and we want to continue to recycle as much as we can to help reduce the amount of waste to landfill.”

Collection points have been made available in-store for customers to recycle as part of a collaboration with MYgroup.

Customers can drop off metal and plastic glasses, sunglasses, glasses cases, contact lenses and accessories including blister packs, contact lens cases and solution bottles. Lens cloths are not acceptable.

Once the collection bins are full, the items are sent to MYgroup’s recycling plant.

The glasses and contact lenses are given a second lease of life and repurposed into a wide range of items such as furniture, home and garden accessories, including benches and play park equipment.

It can also be used in the building trade as an alternative to plywood.

The recycled board created by MYgroup has the potential to be recycled over and over again, so any items dropped off for recycling can be repurposed multiple times.