So you managed to score a pair of solar eclipse glasses and bear witness to Monday’s cosmic event across North America ― now what?
Before you toss those once-coveted strips of paper and plastic, one nonprofit organization is inviting you to donate them so that they can be enjoyed by people in other parts of the world.
Astronomers Without Borders has announced an upcoming donation program that will send glasses to schools in South America and Asia where there will be eclipses in 2019.
“Don’t waste. Donate!” the program urges on its Facebook page while promising more information on where to send them soon.
For those who can’t wait to get rid of their spectacles, Gizmodo reports that Astronomers Without Borders’ corporate sponsor, Explore Scientific, is accepting mailed donations at their address in Arkansas.
An updated address provided to HuffPost is: 1010 South 48th Street, Springdale, AR 72762
“This is an opportunity for schools to have a first-hand science experience that they might not otherwise have,” Astronomers Without Borders President Mike Simmons told Gizmodo.
“This is an opportunity for schools to have a first-hand science experience that they might not otherwise have."”
Not interested in parting ways with your specs? Not only would they make a nice memento, but so long as your glasses are compliant with the ISO 12312-2 safety standard ― find out if they are here ― they can be reused, according to NASA.
“Some glasses/viewers are printed with warnings stating that you shouldn’t look through them for more than 3 minutes at a time and that you should discard them if they are more than 3 years old,” NASA states on its website. “If the filters aren’t scratched, punctured, or torn, you may reuse them indefinitely.”
That’s good news for those looking forward to the next eclipse that will occur across North America in 2024.
Of course, should you just want to give them the old heave-ho, they can always be recycled. Just take out the plastic lens before tossing them in a recycling bin, advises one recycling specialist to Earth911.
This story has been updated to include a new mailing address for Explore Scientific.
