By WMBD-TV

NORMAL – Now that the solar eclipse is over you may wonder what to do with your protective glasses. The Office of Sustainability at Illinois State University is your answer.

The office is working with Astronomers Without Borders as a collection hub.

“We’ve had a bunch of people reaching out asking if they can mails us their glasses from towns and towns over. Even states over,” said graduate assistant Morgan Shurtz.

“There’s going to be a ton that are able to be reused, and I’m excited because I’ve heard that a lot of these glasses actually go to kids in countries that aren’t able to access glasses like these.

“So, making sure we’re opening that opportunity for as many people as possible,” he said.

Glasses are then sorted into reusable or recycled categories. Those that need to be recycled will have the film lenses removed. The glasses deemed reusable are stored until AWB needs to send the glasses to another location getting ready for an eclipse.

“We want to make sure that they have a home before we’re just sending them off,” said Shurtz. “So we’re going to store them for awhile and when Astronomers Without Borders reaches back out and let’s us know that they have a location for us, they’re going to pay the shipping fee and we basically just send them off to wherever they say.

“So, we don’t currently know where they’re going to wind up but it’s good knowing that they’re going to be reused,” he said.

It’s okay to hold onto your glasses and travel to the next solar eclipse. According to the American Academy of Ophthalmology, modern solar eclipse glasses do not expire.

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