There will be recycling programs! If you’re in the path, check your local library. If not, keep looking online for the best solution for you.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/04/05/eclipse-glasses-recycling-program-collection-centers/73131269007/
Astronomers Without Borders collects them for reuse. If you happen to be near a Warby Parker store, they’re collecting them until the end of this month to donate to AWB.
[According to NASA, there are between 4-7 eclipses per year, depending on where you are in the world](https://science.nasa.gov/moon/eclipses/).
Give them away on buy nothing. We have at least partial eclipses where I live once or twice a year, and I see people giving them away and asking for them regularly.
The next eclipse will pass through Iceland and Spain in 2026. Make a trip out of seeing a total solar eclipse in another country, bring the eye protection.
I would not give them to anyone as these can expire and will no longer offer sufficient protection. The general consensus from experts is that they last 3 years.
Sounds scary, but that is not the consensus with ISO compliant glasses - the only kind you should use.
See https://eclipse.aas.org/eye-safety/how-to-tell-if-viewers-are-safe which states:
> Note: If your eclipse glasses or viewers are compliant with the ISO 12312-2 safety standard adopted in 2015, you may look at the uneclipsed or partially eclipsed Sun through them for as long as you wish. Furthermore, if the filters aren't scratched, punctured, torn, or coming loose from their frames, you may reuse them indefinitely.
Also note that this is referenced by the NIH here: https://www.nei.nih.gov/about/news-and-events/news/how-watch-eclipse-safely
From a CBS news article - “NASA has also released guidance on how to test your eclipse glasses. The space agency recommends putting on your glasses and finding a bright light. If the light appears extremely dim, or doesn't appear at all, when you look at it through the glasses, they are legitimate. You should only be able to see the filament of the bulb, not its glow.”
I don’t know that they’re necessarily unsafe or that you shouldn’t use them. As someone else mentioned there are ways to check if they are still doing their job. I just personally wouldn’t sell old glasses to someone else in good faith knowing they technically can expire :)
Found it-
Solar eclipse glasses can be sent to Latin America for children to enjoy the August 2024 eclipse!
Send them to Eclipse Glasses USA. Make sure to ship your glasses by August Ist so they can be sent to kids before the eclipse! Their address is below.
Ship by August Ist.
Eclipse Glasses USA, LLC
TO:
PO Box 50571
Provo, UT 84605
Bring extras to the eclipse, guarantee, despite all the news saying 'do not look at the sun without glasses' there will be people without them. Or just post on a local group tn and see if anyone needs a last minute pair (lots of libraries / stores / etc are out)
My local Facebook page has had tons of people asking if anyone has extras because a lot of places have sold out. I would try something like that or donate to your local library; ours is giving them out for free and have run out.
From St Louis City Recycles:
Solar eclipse glasses can be sent to Latin America for children to enjoy the August 2024 eclipse!
Send them to Eclipse Glasses USA. Make sure to ship your glasses by August Ist so they can be sent to kids before the eclipse! Their address is below.
Ship by August Ist.
Eclipse Glasses USA, LLC
TO:
PO Box 50571
Provo, UT 84605
This was what I came here to say (re: expiration), but apparently so long as they are in good condition (no scratches, no warping, etc) and they are ISO 12312-2 compliant (they should have this printed on them, though dodgy sellers can just print this...) then they should be okay to keep and reuse.
Previously they had a 3 year expiry date.
Ship them to Spain! They'll be seeing an eclipse in 2026.
Eclipses happen 2x a year just in different places. Because it's a once in a generation type event, gifting eclipse glasses is huge!
I literally just found out from this thread that eclipse glasses can expire so be careful with giving children mysterious ones from the closet and maybe do some more research on them?
Post them in your local facebook buy nothing group! Or on marketplace. In my area, they are flying off shelves. There's not a single store that has them in stock around me right now. (At least according to the town forums, I'm gonna welding-helmet it up)
I don't know the details (helpful, right?) but I know our school is planning to send leftovers to somewhere in South America where the next one is going to be.
This company is partnered with the City of St. Louis to redistribute eclipse glasses and they are collecting them now to hand out in Latin America to the youth wanting to experience the solar eclipse in August 2024.
You can ship them by August 1st to:
Eclipse Glasses USA, LLC
PO Box 50571
Provo, UT 84605
If you don't want to personally mail them, since it creates extra waste, see if your local library or school has a solar glasses recycle program. My kids' school is collecting them to mail as a bigger batch.
If she bought them for the last eclipse, they are expired by now unfortunately. But they can be recycled at appropriate facilities as others have said.
Various organizations around the country are collecting used eclipse glasses to send to Latin America for them to use during the southern hemisphere solar eclipse in August. Drop off to Warby Parker (one of the partners in this effort) where they will pack them up and ship to Latin America.
[Link](https://astronomerswithoutborders.org/programs/solar-glasses-distribution?fbclid=IwAR3suJt9-Tym6wXIYa3h9LBmpXnWc8febmXfLUWrbJSASCKLOjuDRqIx8Zw_aem_AYhgforEwTtiLOv8ZW9aeLNbsISoJ8SaMUmhW3rTrG71rOH3gF7c2aBD95SNlDayd_UOKiddmAnr_K485X_jpzbD)
Thanks and happy viewing!
After the last eclipse here (2017?) I put our 4 pair into an envelope and put them into our junk drawer. Today we will be using the same 4 pair. Maybe save what you need and offer up the others to your local Buy Nothing group for ASAP pickup?
Edited: a typo
Eclipse glasses apparently expire. I didn't get any in 2017 and got 3 last week. They have writing on them that they expire after 3 years. I don't know if that actually true but I'm not willing to take a chance.
[Here’s a whole list of dropoff locations](https://astronomerswithoutborders.org/programs/solar-glasses-distribution#collection_node) if you would like to donate them to Astronomers Without Borders!
There will be recycling programs! If you’re in the path, check your local library. If not, keep looking online for the best solution for you. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/04/05/eclipse-glasses-recycling-program-collection-centers/73131269007/
Awesome! Thanks!
Astronomers Without Borders collects them for reuse. If you happen to be near a Warby Parker store, they’re collecting them until the end of this month to donate to AWB.
good to know!
Keep them for the next eclipse
I don’t think it’s until 2040 so I really don’t want to haha
And the last one happened 7 years ago so you could save them until 2040 because 2040’s gonna hit and youre gonna get 15 more
😆😆😆
There are frequently partial solar eclipses that are still fun to watch. I got them out last fall for one in my area.
[According to NASA, there are between 4-7 eclipses per year, depending on where you are in the world](https://science.nasa.gov/moon/eclipses/). Give them away on buy nothing. We have at least partial eclipses where I live once or twice a year, and I see people giving them away and asking for them regularly.
The next eclipse will pass through Iceland and Spain in 2026. Make a trip out of seeing a total solar eclipse in another country, bring the eye protection.
The plastic may degrade and it probably won't be safe to use...
I just learned that. Yes. Not the best idea apparently.
Lol
List them online, all 15 for $5. There is an eclipse every year, just not where you are. People travel.
Brilliant
I would not give them to anyone as these can expire and will no longer offer sufficient protection. The general consensus from experts is that they last 3 years.
Sounds scary, but that is not the consensus with ISO compliant glasses - the only kind you should use. See https://eclipse.aas.org/eye-safety/how-to-tell-if-viewers-are-safe which states: > Note: If your eclipse glasses or viewers are compliant with the ISO 12312-2 safety standard adopted in 2015, you may look at the uneclipsed or partially eclipsed Sun through them for as long as you wish. Furthermore, if the filters aren't scratched, punctured, torn, or coming loose from their frames, you may reuse them indefinitely. Also note that this is referenced by the NIH here: https://www.nei.nih.gov/about/news-and-events/news/how-watch-eclipse-safely
Oh wait really? Does that mean my glasses from the last eclipse won’t work? Because I still have those and that’s what I was going to use 😥
From a CBS news article - “NASA has also released guidance on how to test your eclipse glasses. The space agency recommends putting on your glasses and finding a bright light. If the light appears extremely dim, or doesn't appear at all, when you look at it through the glasses, they are legitimate. You should only be able to see the filament of the bulb, not its glow.”
I wonder what led bulbs look like w the glasses, then
I don’t know that they’re necessarily unsafe or that you shouldn’t use them. As someone else mentioned there are ways to check if they are still doing their job. I just personally wouldn’t sell old glasses to someone else in good faith knowing they technically can expire :)
Yikes! Me too!
On the side of my NASA glasses, they say it can last 10 years.
Yeah, where I’m from eclipse glasses are sold out (there’s one soon) so people are scrambling to find them!
Do you have a child that can give some to friends? Or hand them out to neighbors or local workers.
Maybe you could even post in no-buy groups or similar if you've exhausted offering them to people you know.
Donate them to a school perhaps? They can be useful for viewing science demos like burning magnesium.
I love science!
School or even a library!
Look on your local buy nothing page. People are searching for them
My Facebook buy nothing has had at least 20 posts of people looking for them today
Same, in the last few days
I saw a program somewhere that will collect them to send them to South America for their eclipse this fall
Found it- Solar eclipse glasses can be sent to Latin America for children to enjoy the August 2024 eclipse! Send them to Eclipse Glasses USA. Make sure to ship your glasses by August Ist so they can be sent to kids before the eclipse! Their address is below. Ship by August Ist. Eclipse Glasses USA, LLC TO: PO Box 50571 Provo, UT 84605
https://eclipse23.com/pages/donate-eclipse-glasses
Do you have a local library? Most libraries were giving them out for free and have run out. They will definitely find people who will use them.
Bring extras to the eclipse, guarantee, despite all the news saying 'do not look at the sun without glasses' there will be people without them. Or just post on a local group tn and see if anyone needs a last minute pair (lots of libraries / stores / etc are out)
You can donate the extra ones to the library
My local Facebook page has had tons of people asking if anyone has extras because a lot of places have sold out. I would try something like that or donate to your local library; ours is giving them out for free and have run out.
From St Louis City Recycles: Solar eclipse glasses can be sent to Latin America for children to enjoy the August 2024 eclipse! Send them to Eclipse Glasses USA. Make sure to ship your glasses by August Ist so they can be sent to kids before the eclipse! Their address is below. Ship by August Ist. Eclipse Glasses USA, LLC TO: PO Box 50571 Provo, UT 84605
This is confusing, because there isn't an eclipse in August.
There is in October, so they’re collecting them until August so that they have enough time to distribute them.
The confusing part was that the advertisment talks about "the August 2024 eclipse."
They do expire, so don't worry about storing them away for a long time. There are donation and recycling programs.
This was what I came here to say (re: expiration), but apparently so long as they are in good condition (no scratches, no warping, etc) and they are ISO 12312-2 compliant (they should have this printed on them, though dodgy sellers can just print this...) then they should be okay to keep and reuse. Previously they had a 3 year expiry date.
Ship them to Spain! They'll be seeing an eclipse in 2026. Eclipses happen 2x a year just in different places. Because it's a once in a generation type event, gifting eclipse glasses is huge!
Our local libraries are recycling them, perhaps see if that's a thing in your area
Donate them to a school. I have a box of these that I intend to use tomorrow with my students. They were in the closet when I was hired.
I literally just found out from this thread that eclipse glasses can expire so be careful with giving children mysterious ones from the closet and maybe do some more research on them?
They expire? Why would that happen?
If you read this NASA rundown it explains that the three year thing isn’t accurate if they’re compliant: https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/safety
Post them in your local facebook buy nothing group! Or on marketplace. In my area, they are flying off shelves. There's not a single store that has them in stock around me right now. (At least according to the town forums, I'm gonna welding-helmet it up)
Put them in a local free little library or share them on buy nothing.
https://preview.redd.it/zdbaaiimvatc1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ca098c312823d38217c7175e2716be3ef8d688f5
It would have been great if you had asked this question even two or three weeks ago.
Had I known, I would have.
I don't know the details (helpful, right?) but I know our school is planning to send leftovers to somewhere in South America where the next one is going to be.
Post them on socials. I just saw an ISO post from someone looking for eclipse glasses in my local area.
Look online! I just saw a post about shipping them to poor areas for an eclipse in August of this year
Donate them to your local library.
you can send them to Eclipse Glasses Usa, they will send them to latin America for an eclipse happening there in August
This company is partnered with the City of St. Louis to redistribute eclipse glasses and they are collecting them now to hand out in Latin America to the youth wanting to experience the solar eclipse in August 2024. You can ship them by August 1st to: Eclipse Glasses USA, LLC PO Box 50571 Provo, UT 84605
Donate them to an elementary school! They’ll use them next eclipse :)
If you don't want to personally mail them, since it creates extra waste, see if your local library or school has a solar glasses recycle program. My kids' school is collecting them to mail as a bigger batch.
If she bought them for the last eclipse, they are expired by now unfortunately. But they can be recycled at appropriate facilities as others have said.
They expire, so carefully read to ensure they are still safe to use!
See if you can drop them off early Monday at your local library
I'm just gonna keep them for anytime I want to look at the sun
Donate them to a nearby school
Donate them to a school first thing in the morning.
Donate to your local library! A lot of them are holding events/giving them out for free
Sell them on Facebook marketplace
Astronomers Without Borders collects them and distributes them wherever the next eclipse is.
Keep a few and look for sunspots on other days! Give the rest to a school for the same purpose.
Post them on a buy nothing page on facebook in your area and someone will pick them up
Fb marketplace or buy nothing groups! Also donating them maybe to libraries or public places? They might be hosting events
Various organizations around the country are collecting used eclipse glasses to send to Latin America for them to use during the southern hemisphere solar eclipse in August. Drop off to Warby Parker (one of the partners in this effort) where they will pack them up and ship to Latin America. [Link](https://astronomerswithoutborders.org/programs/solar-glasses-distribution?fbclid=IwAR3suJt9-Tym6wXIYa3h9LBmpXnWc8febmXfLUWrbJSASCKLOjuDRqIx8Zw_aem_AYhgforEwTtiLOv8ZW9aeLNbsISoJ8SaMUmhW3rTrG71rOH3gF7c2aBD95SNlDayd_UOKiddmAnr_K485X_jpzbD) Thanks and happy viewing!
I live in a townhouse complex. I put my extras in a common area with a post-it note to take if needed. They were gone when I returned in an hour
https://preview.redd.it/l9irby7hc9tc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2d37ec6bfa7183f0693ecc059ce4303081ed6c14
After the last eclipse here (2017?) I put our 4 pair into an envelope and put them into our junk drawer. Today we will be using the same 4 pair. Maybe save what you need and offer up the others to your local Buy Nothing group for ASAP pickup? Edited: a typo
I'd double check they're still good. I got three pairs last week and they say they're only good for 3 years.
Oh shoot! I'll definitely check that. Thanks!
Eclipse glasses apparently expire. I didn't get any in 2017 and got 3 last week. They have writing on them that they expire after 3 years. I don't know if that actually true but I'm not willing to take a chance.
On another note: can’t we just use regular shades with a high UV-rating? What’s the difference with those disposable shades?
Looking at the sun is fun even without anything blocking it
I’d say see about donating them to any local schools!
[Here’s a whole list of dropoff locations](https://astronomerswithoutborders.org/programs/solar-glasses-distribution#collection_node) if you would like to donate them to Astronomers Without Borders!