Funding Friday: Eyeglass Frames Made From Recycled Water Bottles

I backed this project today and bought myself a new pair of eyeglasses in the process.

#crowdfunding

Comments (Archived):

  1. jason wright

    i never buy plastic bottles. that’s the solution.NEVER BUY PLASTIC BOTTLES.

    1. harvestgrand

      I always thought that it was ok to use plastic water bottles because they would be recycled into new water bottles. I recently found out I was wrong. They transform the bottles into something else which will eventually wind up in a landfill. I kinda feel like I have been lied to all this time. There should be a new logo put on these plastic bottles “Recycle once more”

      1. Jack A. Burns

        Thanks for checking out our campaign! You can recycle bottles into bottles about 12 times before the integrity of material declines to a point at which it is unsuitable. Most manufactures do not do this and it is in part due to the fact that only 23% of single use bottles are recycled and this keeps the cost of materials comparable to that of virgin materials. If we recycle more single use plastic the cost of materials would go down and manufacturers would be incentivized to use post-use/recycled material instead of virgin plastics.

    2. Jack A. Burns

      Agreed, less single use plastic is the way to go! Unfortunately due to the Flint Water Crisis, the people are very limited choices for clean water. This has created a surplus of plastic in the area and we are creating jobs from that resource instead shipping out to places that will create more single use products.

  2. JimHirshfield

    I LOVE their vision. I see this as a big winner, clearly.

    1. Kirsten Lambertsen

      I can’t unsee this comment.

      1. JimHirshfield

        Well, then let me reframe it for you: humor is in the eye of the beholder.

        1. Salt Shaker

          Spoken like a true visionary.

        2. Kirsten Lambertsen

          Oh, I hope it’s a benign eye humor.

          1. Twain Twain

            Haha, I see you’re both eye to eye on this!

        3. Jack A. Burns

          Thank you for checking out Genusee!lol — KEEP THE PUNS COMING!!

    2. Girish Mehta

      I see what you did there.

      1. JimHirshfield

        Iris more people did

  3. Frank Clear

    Total winner.

    1. Jack A. Burns

      Hi @frankclear:disqus Thank you! please share with your friends and help us create real change in the world.

  4. Kirsten Lambertsen

    You got me again. I’m a frame freak. I always spend too much at Moscot. Backed.

    1. Jack A. Burns

      Hi Kirsten, Thank you for your support!! People like you are making a real difference in the world 🙂

  5. awaldstein

    Luv the idea and the concept. Wish they had done something so i could visualize better if they look good on me.At least they could be wearing them so I can see them over the time of the video.Neither of them wear glasses which is interesting to me.

    1. LE

      Agree and will note that they should also offer sun glasses (which everyone needs) non-prescription at a lower price point out of recycled plastic. Reading glasses as well. I buy those all the time and have them stuffed in all sorts of places as spares.

      1. Jack A. Burns

        Hi @le_on_avc:disqus , Thank you for your interest and we appreciate your thoughtful suggestion. We are using the highest quality CR-39 tinted sun lenses that come at premium. They are UV protected and light weight.

    2. Jack A. Burns

      Hi @SixgillBlog:disqus, Thanks for checking us out!! We weren’t wearing glasses in the video because the first time we shot it the glare was too heavy. We have more photos of people in the glasses on our instagram @genusee_official 🙂

      1. awaldstein

        I think the idea is great and have lots of exposure to ecommerce environmental fashion brandsThe environmental piece is never enough alonePeople care about comfort and appearance and the rest enforces that not drives it is my pointBest of luck with this

        1. Jack A. Burns

          I completely agree. The product/design needs to sell itself and the sustainability and social responsibility is just a bonus. Thanks again for taking the time to check us out and we really appreciate your feedback.

          1. awaldstein

            Allbirds did it well in the beginning but are struggling with it now as they try to scale the product line

          2. Jack A. Burns

            Their in store experience is pretty interesting too. I did not know they were struggling, but they certainly need to increase their range of styles. Nadaam is doing interesting things in the social justice supply chain side of things. Both Allbirds and Nadaam started on kickstarter companies. I love that the kickstarter platform exists.

          3. Jack A. Burns

            Ethical fashion brands like Everlane are making strides to pivot the language off of sustainability and towards ethically produced. I have mixed feelings about this, but over all I think it’s a step in the right direction.

          4. Jack A. Burns

            Also — there are more photos of the glasses in our press kit, please see the link here: https://drive.google.com/dr

  6. JLM

    .The challenge with plastic recycling is getting enough of it and being able to control the chemistry. Years ago, I installed a bunch of extruders which ran solely on re-cycled plastic.There are plastic brokers out there who will sell you whatever they can get their hands on. The best is milk bottles, but this was before the proliferation of water bottles.This was an unpatented proprietary line which first chopped the plastic into quarter inch squares, floated them across a water line to drop out all the non-plastic like rocks, and then air-veighed them to the extruder.The extruder is a long, tapered screw — thirty feet long — in a heated barrel. The barrel had to be set to 1/10000th of an inch. As the screw turns, the heat increases and the plastic becomes more dense. Additives such as “slip” make the plastic “plastic” until it is like peanut butter.The plastic plastic is pushed through a die resulting in about 60 strands of plastic which then are chilled in a water bath and pushed through a cutter which “pelletizes” them.These pellets are classified as “reclaim” which is mixed with virgin plastic to make products.In this instance, they were being use to make garbage bags, millions of garbage bags. The typical garbage bag had 15% reclaim ($0.15/lbs) and 85% virgin plastic ($0.66/lbs).Our breakthrough was we could make them with 100% reclaim by adding some chemicals. We would dye them black — this is why lawn/leaf bags are primarily dark brown or black, cause you can’t control the coloration of reclaim.Plastics.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

    1. Girish Mehta

      Mr. McGuire: I just want to say one word to you. Just one word.Benjamin: Yes, sir.Mr. McGuire: Are you listening?Benjamin: Yes sir, I am.Mr. McGuire: Plastics.

      1. JLM

        .Rats I took the “over.” I should have taken the “under.”Well played.Plastics.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

      2. Salt Shaker

        Took me a second, but I finally got it. Dustin used to live in my hood on UWS in Manhattan. Would see him occasionally. Not sure he still lives there, though. Fab movie.

  7. Vasudev Ram

    You see, they use ICs to make them, so we can see.

  8. jason wright

    ‘people’ should refuse to give interviews up on stage at web tech conferences when the water is being served up by the organisers in plastic bottles.

  9. Patrick Lawlor

    Literal coke bottle glasses

    1. Jack A. Burns

      lol… Keep the puns coming. Thank you for checking out Genusee!

    1. Jack A. Burns

      Thank you for your interest in Genusee. Bureo is an amazing company and they’re doing great things and we’re flattered to be compared to them. Yes, there are some similarities between the two companies. The big differences are that Genusee is creating sustainable living wage jobs in the US, Flint, MI to be exact and the material we are using will allow us to create a large range of colors. We’re also employing a circular economy, meaning we will buy the product back with a credit towards your next pair of glasses. This allows us to take full responsibility for the product in the ecosystem.