Sunglasses Made From Recycled Trash

Oceans are so vast that we often forget what's in them. Sure, there's the obvious marine life, but there are also large patches of plastic waste that often go unnoticed. What's even more surprising? Those "floating islands" of trash can cover 1.6 million square miles. As a reference, that is three times the size of France.

Luckily, people have taken the initiative to do something about this problem. Plastic that floated in the Pacific "trash island" last year has already been transformed into sunglasses. The Ocean Cleanup – a Dutch non-profit organization that develops advanced tech to rid the oceans of trash – has patterned with renowned designer Yves Béhar and the eyewear company Safilo to release a new line of recyclable sunglasses.

Designed in California by Yves Béhar, the Ocean Cleanup sunglasses are made from plastic from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Otherwise known as GPGP, this a collection of marine debris in the North Pacific Ocean. An amazing bonus? These sunglasses are designed to be easily recycled.

These lenses are limited edition in which each pair comes with a QR code that lets you link your sunglasses to you and show others the impact you have made with your contribution. It is estimated that each pair of lenses will allow 24 football fields worth GPGP to be cleaned. By the time the entire first batch has been manufactured and bough, that will equal 500,000 football fields worth of cleaned-up debris in the Great Patch.

The sunglasses case is made from the HDPE floater of System 001, the first Ocean Cleanup System deployed in 2018. The carrying pouch is made from recycled PET bottles. By incorporating these environmental themes into not only the eyewear but its related products, Ocean Cleanup focuses on much more than just one aspect of a project. In doing so, they are able to offer a well-rounded product from a well-rounded solution.

If you are ever interested, the sunglasses are now available on The Ocean Cleanup’s website. Supporters can own a pair of these sunglasses and help maximize their cleanup impact. The proceeds from their sale will help fund the company’s mission to remove plastic from aquatic ecosystems. The company says that different product lines will be explored in the future.