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Recycling Eyeglasses Is a Waste of Money

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Re: Recycling Eyeglasses Is a Waste of Money

#11

Post by 13of40 »

Rinum wrote: post #5
13of40 wrote: post #4

I think I read somewhere that it used to be standard practice to go to the eye doctor (or glasses-monger?) and just try on pairs until you found one that worked, rather than getting a laser-precise eye exam. At the time I thought it was a terrible, backwards idea, but it makes sense in this context. Getting an affordable, almost-fit pair of glasses is probably a lot better than no glasses at all.

That's pretty much what I did. I bought a super cheap pair (0.5 SPH) at $5, split the lenses and placed them over each other until what I saw at a distance was clear enough to read. I added up the SPH (they were 0.5 lenses, I ended up overlaying 4 pieces - so 2.0 total) and bought the resulting glasses. That was about 2 or 3 years ago and those glasses are still perfect for me.

I could probably do the same, but I'm blessed with one eye that's twice as myopic as the other, so I'd have do some lens swapping.

Re: Recycling Eyeglasses Is a Waste of Money

#12

Post by douche »

sliverstorm wrote: post #7
danieltillett wrote: post #3

This goes for most (almost all) recycling programs. Recycling programs are a worse than a waste of money since you are using up some of people’s limited support for environmental causes. This would not matter if we did not have some really huge, long term problems that we need to deal with that we are not doing enough about.

What would you mark as the worthwhile ones? Personally I place high value on raw material recycling. Even if it's more expensive monetarily, so long as it uses less resources it seems worth it to me. Aluminum cans are currently recycled more than any other beverage container in the U.S, which is good for business and the environment, says the Aluminum Association, because making a can from recycled aluminum saves not…

Aluminum (and steel) is one of the very few things that is in any way worthwhile to recycle. Most of the things that we are urged to recycle (glass, plastics, paper, cardboard, etc) are cheaper and easier to make new from the abundant raw materials.

Re: Recycling Eyeglasses Is a Waste of Money

#13

Post by 13of40 »

sliverstorm wrote: post #7
danieltillett wrote: post #3

This goes for most (almost all) recycling programs. Recycling programs are a worse than a waste of money since you are using up some of people’s limited support for environmental causes. This would not matter if we did not have some really huge, long term problems that we need to deal with that we are not doing enough about.

What would you mark as the worthwhile ones? Personally I place high value on raw material recycling. Even if it's more expensive monetarily, so long as it uses less resources it seems worth it to me. Aluminum cans are currently recycled more than any other beverage container in the U.S, which is good for business and the environment, says the Aluminum Association, because making a can from recycled aluminum saves not…

I read that the alloy used in the tops of aluminum cans is different from the alloy used in the body [1], and as a result when they're melted down they create a third alloy. That seems like it's at odds with the claim that it's infinitely recyclable and "can be recycled and back on the store shelf as a new beverage can in less than 60 days" [2]. Anyone know the answer to that?

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beverage_can#Fabrication_proce...

[2] http://www.alcoa.com/recycling/en/info_page/why_recycle.asp

Re: Recycling Eyeglasses Is a Waste of Money

#14

Post by dmm »

douche wrote: post #12
sliverstorm wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What would you mark as the worthwhile ones? Personally I place high value on raw material recycling. Even if it's more expensive monetarily, so long as it uses less resources it seems worth it to me. Aluminum cans are currently recycled more than any other beverage container in the U.S, which is good for business and the environment, says the Aluminum Association, because making a can from recycled aluminum saves not…

Aluminum (and steel) is one of the very few things that is in any way worthwhile to recycle. Most of the things that we are urged to recycle (glass, plastics, paper, cardboard, etc) are cheaper and easier to make new from the abundant raw materials.

Lead too because it keeps it out of the environment and reduces the need for lead mining.

Re: Recycling Eyeglasses Is a Waste of Money

#15

Post by throwaway_exer »

I read the complete article, and I'm kind of skeptical of the conclusions.

Having travelled in Asia, for example, they have the skill and parts to repair eyeglasses and cut lenses to old frames. (In fact, I get my glasses repaired in Manila since the eyeglass cartel in the USA refuses to do major repairs. I've certainly tried in Silicon Valley multiple times.)

Also, eyeglass cases are considered to be valuable and resold for $1 - $5 each.

And finally, somebody with a suitcase could haul 100 - 200 frames on their next trip at no cost.

I think if they were willing to do minor repairs and record the measurements in a database, donations could be a much more efficient charity.

Re: Recycling Eyeglasses Is a Waste of Money

#16

Post by Retric »

cmsmith wrote: post #6
danieltillett wrote: post #3

This goes for most (almost all) recycling programs. Recycling programs are a worse than a waste of money since you are using up some of people’s limited support for environmental causes. This would not matter if we did not have some really huge, long term problems that we need to deal with that we are not doing enough about.

You could just as easily argue that environmental effort is not a zero-sum game, and that recycling gives people a sense of ownership over the environment and increases their appetite for more important efforts.

Or makes environmental effort seem pointless and irrelevent.

This is one of those case where there has been actual research, but the results mat be fairly complex.

Re: Recycling Eyeglasses Is a Waste of Money

#17

Post by ams6110 »

douche wrote: post #12
sliverstorm wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What would you mark as the worthwhile ones? Personally I place high value on raw material recycling. Even if it's more expensive monetarily, so long as it uses less resources it seems worth it to me. Aluminum cans are currently recycled more than any other beverage container in the U.S, which is good for business and the environment, says the Aluminum Association, because making a can from recycled aluminum saves not…

Aluminum (and steel) is one of the very few things that is in any way worthwhile to recycle. Most of the things that we are urged to recycle (glass, plastics, paper, cardboard, etc) are cheaper and easier to make new from the abundant raw materials.

Corrugated cardboard is a net benefit to recycle, I've heard. Otherwise you are correct. It's just feel-good. Most of what you drop off at recycling centers is just trucked to landfills after it's out of your sight.

Re: Recycling Eyeglasses Is a Waste of Money

#19

Post by rdtsc »

danieltillett wrote: post #3

This goes for most (almost all) recycling programs. Recycling programs are a worse than a waste of money since you are using up some of people’s limited support for environmental causes. This would not matter if we did not have some really huge, long term problems that we need to deal with that we are not doing enough about.

Good point. Yeah was wondering it about the day.

Here we are dutifully separating cans, paper, trash, looking at the little triangle and number on each plastic item. And then I had a vision of these trucks going to the same dump, and dumping it all in one big pile, or putting it on a ship and sending it off to another country to be burried there, away from EPA's reach.

The answer I think is it makes us feel good, it makes us think we are doing this to help mother earth, that is important to many people.

In the meantime maybe there is a coal plant across town that is dumping 1000x worse crap in the air, and putting a plastic bottle in the wrong bin is nothing compared to that.

In a way it reminds me when adults would give kids mindless tasks to keep them busy so they don't get bothered. "Here separate the M&Ms by color, I'll be back to check on your progress" kind of a deal.

Re: Recycling Eyeglasses Is a Waste of Money

#20

Post by WalterBright »

jlg23 wrote: post #10

Questions unfortunately not answered by the article: a) Who profits from this recycling program? How many people get a western salary to coordinate all this? b) Following from (a), how many optometrists and lens makers could make a living in Cambodia if people just put $1 in a collection box each time they'd dump their used glasses in a box? This suspiciously sounds like the "2nd hand clothes for Africa" scam that on…

> scam

I'm glad someone makes money off of my old clothes rather than they go in the trash.

> destroys local tailors' businesses

That's a variation on the broken window fallacy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable_of_the_broken_window

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