Now that the Great American Solar Eclipse of April 8 has come and gone, what should you do with your eclipse viewing glasses?

The non-profit organization Astronomers Without Borders will gladly take them off your hands. All you have to do is bring your glasses to the Huntingburg Public Library, now a sub-collection site for eclipse glasses recycling.

When you turn them in here at the Library, they will be sent to the local AWB official collection site, Dubois County Recycling and Solid Waste Department, to be vetted for safety and authenticity. The sorted and approved glasses will be then packaged and stored for future distribution throughout the world for people to safely view the two solar eclipses happening around the world each year. All recycled glasses are donated to future users without charge. For example, out of the millions of glasses Astronomers Without Borders collected from the 2017 eclipse, 300,000 were vetted and then distributed.

You can easily check your glasses to see if they are reusable. The lenses need to be free of any punctures, scratches, and bends, and the lens housing, whether plastic or cardboard, needs to be free of damage as well.

You may deposit your eclipse viewing glasses in the green bin located on the floor in front of our tall red electronics recycling depository next to the Circulation Desk.