Costa Sunglasses is rolling out a new collection of sunglass frames made entirely from recycled fishing nets.
Costa, which initiated the Kick Plastic campaign several years ago, has partnered with Bureo, a Chilean company specializing in recycled fishnet products, to introduce the Untangled Collection, which includes four frame styles (two male and two female). Discarded fishing nets and gear account for 10 percent of ocean plastic pollution, which grows by an estimated 640,000 tons every year.
“Healthy oceans have always been a crucial part of our core mission at Costa,” said Costa CEO Holly Rush. "The Untangled Collection is helping to raise awareness and provide a solution to keep discarded fishing nets from being lost in our oceans each year. Through this important program, we will also help Bureo scale and replicate its net collection program to a growing number of fishing communities.”
Each new style of shades will feature mineral glass polarized lenses, recycled aluminum Costa logos, PLUSfoam recyclable temple and nose pads, and a unique tumbled finish.
“Aligning with partners that really want to support us and expand our mission is how we’ve grown over the past five years,” said David Stover, CEO and co-founder of Bureo, which has collected 220,000 pounds of discarded fishing nets to date. “Working with Costa to develop the Untangled Collection is another step in the right direction—not only for us, but for the replication of solutions to secure a healthy future for our ocean and its ecosystems.”
Once collected, the discarded fishing nets are washed and prepared for a mechanical recycling process. Within this process, they are shredded and fed through a pelletizer where they are melted and cut into small recycled pellets. These pellets are then injected into steel molds to form products, including sunglasses.
To learn more, visit www.costadelmar.com/untangleouroceans.
Check out the short film about the initiative below.
