Super Eco

Photo credit: JuliaArts, flickr

What's the point of going to see a blockbuster movie like Avatar in 3-D if you end up despoiling the entire environmental message by tossing your fancy plastic 3-D glasses into the trash can when the movie's over? Not to worry. USA Today checked up on the mountain of glasses (42.1 million pairs of glasses worn for 3-D Avatar, some 935,834 a day) and found that all four of the companies that manufacture them have recycling programs in place.

According to the publication's research, most companies solve the trash issue by washing and reusing plastic 3-D glasses. IMAX uses a special machine to clean theirs. Other companies provide theater owners with instructions on how to clean the glasses after use. The easiest and most common method seems to be a quick cycle in a commercial dishwasher. Another company simply sells the glasses, in hopes that movie-goers will keep them and re-use them for future movies. We're dubious that most glasses won't end up trashed or lost in the bowels of a dusty junk drawer ... But we can appreciate the intent.

The least eco-friendly option appears to be that of Real-D, which provides collection containers so that theaters can ship used glasses back to an LA-area facility for cleaning and re-shipping. Adding a bigger carbon footprint doesn't sound like the best solution to the recycling/waste problem. And then there's the problem of theaters that still use old-fashioned cardboard 3-D glasses for some movies—an apparently unwashable, un-recyclable option.