Every year, around 13 million tonnes of plastic end up in the ocean. Five trillion plastic pieces are already there. The damage plastic does to marine ecosystems across the world is devastating. From the various negative impacts caused by ocean garbage, wildlife arguably suffers the most. Around 800 species are affected by plastic debris, and many are mortally wounded by it. Sea turtles suffocate from plastic ingestion, mistaking it for jellyfish, and if the debris actually goes into their intestine, they end up starving. Seabirds like the Laysan Albatross also ingest plastic, mistaking it for fish, and die because of indigestion, bioaccumulation, and starvation. Corals that enter in contact with plastic are 89% more likely to contract a disease. Dolphins suffer from plastic biomagnification by consuming prey that has previously eaten the toxic debris. And like the marine mammals, humans are also indirectly affected by plastic through biomagnification.
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Because of the adversity plastic waste causes, several companies were founded to help increase the capture and re-use of ocean plastic, which, together with reducing their presence in the waste stream and improving waste management, is one way people can collaborate to solve the problem. Companies like 4Ocen and The Ocean Cleanup strive to find different ways to capture plastic from the ocean. But while the former is a for-profit business directly involved in selling bracelets to fund plastic removal, the latter just began to sell products made of ocean plastic. Their first commodity comes in the form of a pair of sunglasses.
Firstly, it is important to highlight The Ocean Cleanup’s work. In their own words, they are “a non-profit organization developing advanced technologies to rid the oceans of plastic.” The 2013 Dutch engineering non-profit developed a passive cleanup method that concentrates the plastic in a specific area through a buoyancy floater tied to a net skirt, taking advantage of the ocean current and wind patterns to close in and trap the plastics as the skirt gets filled. Even if they cannot collect microplastics through this method, not every plastic piece is microscopic. They also invented a river cleanup catamaran called Interceptor that uses a barrier and a carrier belt to guide river plastic, the source of 80% of oceanic garbage, into a dumpster shuttle inside the boat for recollection and recycling. As one of their significant achievements, in July 2020, they removed 103 tons of plastic at once from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which may seem small compared to the yearly influx, but it is the largest open cleanup ever.
Therefore, to further increase the scope of their operations, The Ocean Cleanup partnered with Swiss designer Yves Béhar, founder of Fuseproject, and Italian eyewear brand Safilo to create a pair of glasses originated from the plastic they collected in their 2019 Great Pacific Garbage Patch operations. The main goal the organization has in mind is to sell enough pairs to be able to clean 500,000 football/soccer fields worth of plastic, as each $200 sunglasses turns into 100% profits used to fund the removal of 24 football fields worth of garbage. And to further minimize their carbon footprint, the company says that sunglasses’ production carbon compensated for the greenhouse gas emissions from the fuel consumption during their 2019 expeditions.
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Looking at the pair of sunglasses, they are very stylish and proportionally round, made with navy frames and polarized switchable UV 400 protection lenses, and lined with turquoise hinges. Béhar explains that “it was important for the glasses to embrace the natural, raw iridescence of the blue material, as for me it mimics the beauty of the sea and says something about the material's origin” The navy blue frames are “useful and durable” yet also softer than standard plastic, weaved with lighter shades of blue to represent the movement of the ocean. The metal hinges are stainless steel and also removable, making recycling the sunglasses feasible for the separate parts. The sunglasses also come inside a tubular black case made of ocean plastic collected by The Ocean Cleanup’s first mission in 2018.
Nevertheless, as I mentioned before, many companies are using recycled ocean plastic to create clothing and accessories. They include Adidas and Parley for the Ocean’s trainers, hiker shoes, and swimwear line, Karün’s sunglasses, GANT’s button-down shirts, Solgaard's backpack, Ecoalf’s jackets, and many more.
If you want to read more about The Ocean Cleanup’s sunglasses, check out this article.
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