Sustainable Practices
Plastic: A material that was once praised as "the material of a thousand uses" has now become one of the largest environmental threats to our planet. The problem with plastic and the reason we love it so much is one and the same, it's incredibly durable. So durable, in fact, it lasts forever.
Almost every piece of plastic that has ever been produced still exists somewhere on our planet today. Every toothbrush, Barbie doll, shampoo bottle, shirt button, water bottle... it all still exists, most likely in a landfill or the ocean. When you add up all of the world's plastic, it comes out to roughly 9 billion tons! Plastic is suffocating our planet. Yet, we continue to produce more than 300 million tons of brand new plastic every year. Why!? Because our world functions on a take-make-waste economy. Products are designed to be used and then, when we're through with them, thrown out.
Here's how we're doing things differently...
CLOSED-LOOP
Can you imagine a world where we never EVER throw anything away? A world where nothing ever needs to be discarded because all goods are designed with materials that can continuously be remade into something else? This is what circularity might one day achieve and we believe it's possible.
Cocoplum sunglasses are designed with circularity in mind. When our customers are through with a pair of sunglasses they can send them back to us (shipping is on us!) and receive Cocoplum credit as a thank you for living more sustainably. Since we hand-make all of our sunglasses at our small workshop in California we are then able to shred the plastic, melt it, and turn it into a brand new pair of sunglasses.
SUSTAINABLE SOURCING
FRAMES: Cocoplum frames are made from ECONYL® regenerated nylon, which is made from nylon waste, otherwise polluting Earth. This polymer performs exactly the same as brand new nylon and can be recycled infinitely. Learn more about ECONYL® here.
LENSES: Our polyamide lenses are made from 39% bio-based raw materials that come from agricultural and wood industry waste AND they're manufactured in a facility that uses 100% renewable electricity. These sustainable practices reduce the carbon footprint by up to 50% compared to traditional lenses. Our lenses have been certified by European Commission accredited certification system REDCert.
PACKAGING: Your Cocoplum sunglasses will arrive in a Boox reusable box (AKA a "Boox") instead of a single use piece of trash. Every Boox has a QR code in it that will guide you on how to return the box so that it can be sanitized and used again and again.