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Eyewear made from recycled plastic water bottles is making a mark on Kickstarter, as Genusee launched glasses and sunglasses made from 15 re-purposed bottles each.
Co-founded in early 2016 by Ali Rose VanOverbeke and Jack Burns, Genusee’s first frame style, the Roeper, is designed to look good on a variety of face shapes and sizes.
The glasses come in either prescription eyeglasses or sunglasses and are offered in two frame colours: crystal fog and classic black.
The eyewear is made in Flint, Michigan, from 15 recycled single-use plastic bottles each.
The idea for the company came during the Flint water crisis. Beginning in 2014, high levels of lead contaminated the drinking water in the city, meaning that over 100,000 residents had to use bottled water to drink, cook with and bathe in.
In early 2017, the water quality returned to normal levels. However residents have been instructed to continue to use bottled or filtered water until all the lead pipes have been replaced, which is expected to be done by 2020.
At the height of the water crisis, the city of Flint was using more than 20 million water bottles a day to meet its needs. To counteract this environmental impact, Genusee aims to recycle these water bottles into glasses, as well as creating jobs in the city.
The company said: “We didn’t set out with the intention of building a business … rather, the desire to help. That desire led us to design a product of purpose and need that could bring a new manufacturing legacy to Flint and address the problem of plastic waste.”
The glasses have a planned retail price of 129 dollars (£92). The company has already raised around 18,500 dollar (£13,000) of their 50,000 dollars (£35,000) goal. The estimated delivery for the glasses is December 2018.
One per cent of the company’s profits are being donated to the Community Fund of Greater Flint.
