Solar eclipse glasses recycling: What to do with them now

Millions of us were treated to a stunning spectacle on Wednesday during mainland Europe’s first total solar eclipse for more than 25 years.

And for some in the UK, it was a race against time to find a pair of eye-protecting eclipse glasses as shortages grew.

If you did manage to grab some, you might be asking – what do I do with them now?

“Eclipse glasses are a great example of our single-use culture,” says Dr Renee Tonkin, the founder of Science Owl, an environmental education organisation focused on waste.

“Particularly because they’re difficult to recycle due to their mixed materials.”

According to Recycle Now, which advises on appropriate places to recycle items, the glasses are not wholly recyclable in your household waste.

It says you can recycle the cardboard frames so long as you separate them from the lenses, which are harder to recycle.

So here are three things you can do with those retina-saving spectacles.