Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Recycling Eyeglasses Is a Waste of Money

bloomberg.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 111 posts

Re: Recycling Eyeglasses Is a Waste of Money

#31

Post by tamana »

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.

Quality Paper (not 5th generation cardboard) is energy-efficient to recycle

Re: Recycling Eyeglasses Is a Waste of Money

#32

Post by xyzzy123 »

WalterBright wrote: post #20
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

I see your point, but there is a good deal of hypocrisy in the way this kind international "trade" is viewed.

Giving away second hand clothes to developing countries is indistinguishable from "dumping", a trade practice which more developed countries (including the U.S) frequently take trade action against.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumping_(pricing_policy)

Re: Recycling Eyeglasses Is a Waste of Money

#33

Post by tamana »

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.

In the USA, most people today try on lenses until they find one that fits. Where do you use a laser to measure the eye?

Re: Recycling Eyeglasses Is a Waste of Money

#35

Post by jrapdx3 »

rblatz wrote: post #25
WalterBright wrote: post #21

> The price of the physical glasses is minor -- only $1.88 for a new pair of ready-made spectacles. Sigh. Why is it I can't get a pair of prescription glasses for under $500?

I'm not sure where you are looking but there are tons of options for $30-$100 glasses out there. In fact I got designer brand frames from my optometrist with upgraded lense material and anti scratch and anti glare coatings for less than $500. Check out places like America's Best, Warby Parker, or http://www.zennioptical.com

Certain "extras" run up the cost of lenses. Options like self-darkening on UV exposure, low-reflection and anti-scratch coatings. UV coatings can add to the cost, but are probably unnecessary since most polymer lenses are inherently UV-absorbing.

Also, "no-line" bifocal versions cost more, as well as high-refraction materials that reduce lens weight and thickness.

Frames also vary in quality and durability. The glasses I'm wearing now are using frames > 20 years old. Of titanium construction they've outlasted other frames made of less robust materials or marginally engineered.

Don't know if on-line suppliers offer these options at lower cost. I suppose there's some risk of lenses being off-spec with any optician, an experience I've had several times over the years. The last set of lenses made for me had to be redone twice.

Getting lenses from a local shop likely costs more, but having someone to complain to directly face-to-face has a value of its own.

Re: Recycling Eyeglasses Is a Waste of Money

#36

Post by [deleted] »

WalterBright wrote: post #28
jlg23 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm glad someone makes money off of my old clothes rather than they go in the trash. I don't have a problem with that per se, only that it happens under the pretense of charity and that the model exploits economic inequality in a globalized world on the expense of those the "charity" claims to help. > That's a variation on the broken window fallacy. I fail to see the connection because the broken window fallacy is…

By sheltering tailors, everyone else in the economy pays a higher price and is thereby worse off. It's a net loss. Might as well go around smashing windows so the local glaziers can make money.

[deleted]

Re: Recycling Eyeglasses Is a Waste of Money

#37

Post by incompatible »

brianwawok wrote: post #24
WalterBright wrote: post #21

> The price of the physical glasses is minor -- only $1.88 for a new pair of ready-made spectacles. Sigh. Why is it I can't get a pair of prescription glasses for under $500?

Monopolies. Why don't we have an eyeglass startup?

The near-monopoly is Luxottica, specifically.

Re: Recycling Eyeglasses Is a Waste of Money

#38

Post by RyJones »

rdtsc wrote: post #19
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…

Coincidentally, I was watching a fleet of three garbage trucks going though my neighborhood this week, wondering if the impact of running 3x garbage trucks to pick up trash, compost, recycyling was completely offset by the end product. I suspect the answer is no.

Re: Recycling Eyeglasses Is a Waste of Money

#39

Post by WalterBright »

xyzzy123 wrote: post #32
WalterBright wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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

I see your point, but there is a good deal of hypocrisy in the way this kind international "trade" is viewed. Giving away second hand clothes to developing countries is indistinguishable from "dumping", a trade practice which more developed countries (including the U.S) frequently take trade action against. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumping_(pricing_policy)

Dumping is a losing game for the dumper. It's nearly as bad as paying someone to buy your products. It only "works" as long as you keep paying, things revert to normal when you stop paying. Meanwhile, the dumpees are better off at your expense.

Re: Recycling Eyeglasses Is a Waste of Money

#40

Post by gnicholas »

Animats wrote: post #22

There are several competing efforts to produce low-cost eyeglasses. Focus On Vision has adjustable eyeglasses.[1] Project Congo has some kind of eyeglass-making kit.[2] Briefcase-sized eyeglass kits used to be popular in India. They contained round frames and several hundred round lenses. The idea is that glasses have three parameters - spherical curvature, elliptical curvature, and axis of the ellipse. The usual opt…

There's also One Dollar Glasses: http://www.onedollarglasses.org/
Post reply on HN