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Purpose: The aim was to compare the power of spectacles donated to a recycled spectacle program to the custom-made spectacle refractive prescriptions dispensed in a developing country., Methods: Two hundred consecutive prescriptions were audited in an optical dispensary in Timor-Leste, a developing nation. These refractions were compared against measurements of 2,075 wearable donated spectacles. We determined how many of the 200 prescriptions could be matched to a donated spectacle measurement, how many donated spectacles could be tried for each prescription and how long it would take to find the matched spectacles., Results: There were 1,854 donated spectacles identified as being suitable for comparison with the 200 refractive prescriptions. Twenty-nine out of 200 prescriptions (14.5 per cent) were matched to at least one pair of donated spectacles., Conclusion: Recycling all spectacles is not cost-effective in a developing country that has the ability to make custom-made spectacles and dispense ready-made spectacles., (© 2014 The Authors. Clinical and Experimental Optometry © 2014 Optometry Australia.)