The Ocean Cleanup, an organization founded by Dutch inventor Boyan Slat in 2013, is on a mission to rid the oceans of plastic waste. The organization has developed technology that uses the ocean’s currents to drift throughout the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, where it follows the same movement and patterns as the plastic, only slightly more slowly. The difference in speed enables the plastics to be captured in the system. The Ocean Cleanup has also developed what it calls the Interceptor - a barrier and conveyor belt system that concentrates and extracts plastic from the rivers to prevent plastic from ever reaching the seas in the first place.
The organization has now introduced its first product made from the plastic removed from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in 2019. Designed in California by Yves Béhar and made in Italy by Safilo, the sunglasses are made from fully traceable material and are easily recyclable.
The sunglasses are colored blue using biobased color concentrates from Holland Colours.
The colorants and masterbatch supplier has worked closely with The Ocean Cleanup over the past months to tailor its biobased color concentrates to the requirements of the organization. The idea was to create an effect to mimic the color of the ocean, which was achieved by developing two shades of blue that could be dosed simultaneously to create a swirl pattern.
According to Holland Colours, partnering with The Ocean Cleanup perfectly aligns with its commitment to sustainability today, but also with its roots as a company. Holland Colours was founded in 1979 and launched a coloring technology that used encapsulated pigments instead of powders.
“Our technology product benefits include lower pigment dosing and better pigment distribution, which together reduce the amount of pigment required. Crucially and uniquely, the carrier used can be either naturally sourced product, recycled material or biobased material,” explained Gina Provó Kluit, global marketing director of Holland Colours.
“We are delighted to be a The Ocean Cleanup partner. We need to move to a more sustainable world, so we want to help such initiatives where we can by adding value to their recycled end product.”
The Ocean Cleanup estimates that an area equivalent to 24 football fields of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch can be cleaned from the proceeds of just one pair of sunglasses.
100 percent of proceeds go back to The Ocean Cleanup to fund the continuation of the cleanup.