Ocean plastic never looked as good as it does on your face. Thanks to Norton Point, the recyclable trash found in the sea is being turned into glasses that help you see a bit better in the sun. The Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts-based company is the first to develop a line of eyewear made from recovered high-density polyethylene (HDPE) ocean plastics. The result? Shades that’ll make you feel as good as you look.
“We believe that the 8 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 company said in its Kickstarter campaign, which ultimately raised an impressive $55,367 from 509 backers. But Norton Point wants to do more than just rid the oceans of this plastic — rather, it wants to repurpose it in the name of fashion.
The sunglasses themselves are chic, well-designed pieces for both men and women that would certainly complement just about any style or aesthetic. But when you buy a pair of sunglasses from Norton Point, you’re doing a lot more than making a purchase – you’re helping fulfill a promise. “For every product, we sell we are committing to you to clean up 1 pound of plastic from the ocean,” Norton Point said. “We have also chosen to give back 5 percent of net profits to global cleanup, education, and remediation practices,” specifically to organizations like the Ocean Conservancy.
“As a company, our mission is to help create a value chain for the reuse of ocean plastic,” the company noted on Kickstarter. Without a sustainable solution to reducing the tons of plastic that enter our planet’s bodies of water every year, the ocean could contain one pound of plastic for every three pounds of fish by 2025. But not if Norton Point has anything to say about it.
