The sun shone, darkened partially and shone again in Suffolk last Monday, and plenty of folks did the responsible thing and used special eclipse glasses to look at the beautiful natural phenomenon, so as not to allow the bright light of the sun to damage their eyes.

For a few weeks leading up to the eclipse, these special glasses were priceless. If you waited until the last minute to get yours, you were out of luck and probably would have paid any price to get your hands on some.

But after the eclipse came and gone, those glasses went from priceless to useless pretty quickly. Unless you’re the type that enjoys checking out the sun on a normal day, you’re probably wondering what you’re going to do with those glasses now.

Fortunately, the organization Astronomers Without Borders has the answer.

The organization is collecting the glasses to send to countries in South America and Asia that will experience total and partial solar eclipses in the next couple of years. Many countries where the eclipses will be visible are developing and do not have access to eclipse glasses.

You can keep your eclipse glasses out of the landfill by donating them to the effort. Not only will you avoid creating waste — a small amount, but it adds up — but also you will help provide a first-hand, inspirational science experience in a developing country.

The Suffolk News-Herald has signed on as a donation site for the glasses, and we’d love to see you and take them off your hands by the end of September.

So swing by our office at 130 S. Saratoga St. sometime in the next few weeks and drop off your eclipse glasses. Instead of collecting dust in your closet until you finally come across them again in 2026 and throw them in the trash, they can be put to good use less than two years from now by underprivileged children throughout the world.

That’s something to shine about.