Donate your solar eclipse glasses to be recycled

Now that the total solar eclipse has passed, what to do with your solar eclipse glasses?  

Community members who aren’t tucking them away as a keepsake are invited to donate them so they can potentially be used again.  

The glasses will be donated to the Astronomers Without Borders Solar Eclipse Glasses Recycling Campaign. The U.S.-based organization collects gently-used eclipse-viewing glasses from across the U.S. and Canada to send to underserved communities and schools internationally for use in future solar eclipses.  

The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada will inspect and store the glasses, while Astronomers Without Borders deals with an influx of recent donations.  

Glasses will be accepted at on-campus drop off locations until April 30, 2024.  

Here’s where you can drop off your eclipse glasses:  

• In the donation boxes inside Thode, Mills Memorial and Health Sciences Libraries  
• In Room 214 of the Life Science Building (LSB)
• At any Hamilton Public Library branch, or during a visit to the Bookmobile

McMaster distributed 610,000 ISO 12312-2:2015 certified eclipse glasses to community members ahead of the rare celestial event. The glasses were made available courtesy of the Office of the Provost and the Faculty of Science.  

The university partnered with several community organizations including the Hamilton, Burlington, Norfolk, Haldimand, Six Nations and Brantford Public Libraries to distribute eclipse glasses to community members.  

Thousands gathered for an out-of-this-world eclipse viewing party at McMaster’s Ron Joyce Stadium on April 8th.

Learn more and see photos from the big day here.