Recycling Eclipse Glasses

Last week I read somewhere that there was a recycling program for gently used eclipse glasses run by the non-profit organization Astronomers Without Borders which re-distributes the glasses around the world during solar eclipses. They sponsor drop-off locations that collect the glasses and I saw that the public libraries in Buffalo were a drop-off location. 

I collected the eclipse glasses we used during the recent solar eclipse in our backyard with Sara, Eliza and Dan. I had four pair of the cardboard glasses I picked up at the library and Sara had four of the big plastic glasses she bought in anticipation of the eclipse. After the event had passed and I heard about the recycling I found six glasses around the house. Three plastic glasses and three of the ones from the library. I think Eliza kept a set for herself to take home which was fine. The others I put in a bag and set aside to take to the library.

Well, a week or so went by and the glasses sat in their bag first on the dining room table and then on the floor near the front door. Finally I grabbed the bag and put it in the car when I went out to my eye doctor appointment. After seeing the doctor I turned down Hertel Avenue and drove over to the North Park Library and dropped off the glasses. The staff there were happy to receive them and I was glad to put them to good use. They will be used in some Third World poor country during another eclipse where the people may not have access to the glasses like we have here in our country. They would just sit in a box for who knows how long if we kept them or we would just throw them away. Now someone else somewhere in the world will get to safely experience that solar eclipse totality like we did.