After the total solar eclipse on Monday, April 8, don't toss your safety glasses. A group called Astronomers Without Borders is collecting them for reuse during other solar events.
The California nonprofit collects gently used glasses in the U.S. and Canada, cleans and inspects them, then provides them to schools and communities around the world that are in the paths of future eclipses.
The paper-and-plastic glasses are available for free at many municipal offices and libraries and are for sale for a few dollars per pair in stores around the state. Many colleges and employers are handing them out by the hundreds.
Thousands of Vermonters will be taking the day off from work or plan to stroll out of their jobsites on Monday afternoon to view the once-in-a-lifetime event. With tens of thousands more expected to visit Vermont for the eclipse, a sizable number of the glasses will have a brief moment in the sun.
To keep them out of the landfill, Chittenden Solid Waste District will collect them at its six drop-off centers, and the Northeast Kingdom Waste Management District will do the same at its center in Lyndonville. Some popular viewing sites will have collection bins, as well.
"I hope the huge amount of people visiting our beautiful state for this event doesn't mean huge amounts of glasses littered everywhere," Corey Raynor, outreach coordinator for the Northeast Kingdom Waste Management District, wrote in a press release. "Keep Vermont clean and green, folks!"
Astronomers Without Borders stores some of the eclipse glasses at the Green Bank Observatory in West Virginia. Trained volunteers inspect them to make sure they meet safety certifications and aren't damaged or counterfeit. The group said glasses collected after the 2017 solar eclipse were sent to South America, Africa and Asia.
"This one-of-a-kind program helps to bring eclipse glasses to people who may not otherwise have a safe way to view the eclipse directly," the group said.