Environmentally-concious entrepreneurs are making sunglasses out of recycled ocean plastic in a bid to help clean up the sea. The stylish frames by Norton Point, founded by Rob Ianelli and Ryan Schoenike, based on the island of Martha’s Vineyard, are made using plastics dumped in the sea.
The three styles, with ocean theme names, ‘The Swell’, ‘The Tide’ and ‘The Current’, have unique ‘wave-like’ patterning engraved into the frames. Norton Point has pledged a commitment to help find a solution to one of the planet’s ‘greatest challenges’ – the eight million tonnes of plastic entering our oceans each year.
For every product sold, the organisation has promised to clear one pound of plastic from the ocean. They will also give five per cent of their net profits to global clean-up practices. Co-founder of Norton Point Ryan said: ‘We believe that the eight million metric tons of plastic flowing into our oceans is one of our planet’s greatest environmental challenges and we have chosen to become part of the solution. The idea came from a brainstorming session between myself and my business partner Rob. We got talking about ocean plastic and how bad it was becoming. We realised that our backgrounds were a perfect mix to try and build a business around ocean plastics.’
Norton Point has pledged to help the world ‘Sea Plastic Differently’ – by proving waste plastic has a value. Mr Schoenike, 34, said: ‘We really felt that in order for more ocean plastic to be used in products we needed to help prove its value. ‘Currently, there is no value placed on the this material. To create the value chain we need to show that consumers will want to purchase goods made with ocean plastic, resulting in the material being viewed as the valuable resource it is. Creating and selling sunglasses is our first step toward this goal.’
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