The partial solar eclipse is over. Now what to do with your eclipse glasses?
The partial solar eclipse turned the sky from clear blue to cloudy gray over three hours on Monday.
The Kansas City area did not experience totality like in 2017, as the sun was 89% obscured by the moon at its peak. But it still brought thousands of people to watch parties across the metro, like at the Legends Outlets in Kansas City, Kansas, or the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.
“Most people will never see an eclipse in their lifetime,” Danielle Jones, NASA’s Kansas City ambassador, told The Star. “In most locations, it happens only (every) 358 years or so. We’ve been lucky enough in our lifetimes that we’ve gotten two now.”
Now that the eclipse has come and gone, what do you do with your eclipse glasses? The next eclipse won’t hit the United States until 2044, so you won’t need them for another 20 years.
If you don’t feel like keeping them until the next eclipse, here’s what you can do.
Recycle
You can recycle your eclipse glasses like any other piece of cardboard. You would need to remove the lenses from the frames before recycling, according to the American Academy of Ophthalmology.
Donate
Astronomers Without Borders, a nonprofit organization, is collecting glasses around the country that will be donated to other countries. All glasses will be vetted, and those that can be reused will be sent to other countries experiencing an upcoming eclipse.
The nonprofit partners with Warby Parker to collect any eclipse glasses. Kansas City has two Warby Parker area stores where they can be dropped off:
Eclipse Glasses USA, a website where people can buy eclipse glasses, has two programs for people to donate glasses to other countries:
- The 5 for 1 Program: For every 5-pack purchased, the site will donate a pair of glasses to a school in Latin America, where there will be an annular eclipse in October 2024.
Eclipse Give Back program: You can ship your used and undamaged glasses to the website, where they will inspect them and donate them to other countries if they are usable. You can mail them to Eclipse Glasses USA LLC, P.O. Box 50571, Provo, UT 84605
This story was originally published April 9, 2024 at 12:24 PM.
