We at NAKED Optics have set ourselves the goal of manufacturing all of our glasses from sustainable, biologically-based plastic by 2025, without sacrificing our high quality standards and the longevity of the products. As a team, we love to be out and about in nature - whether on the mountain, in the forest or on the water. This is exactly why it is important to us to make a sustainable contribution and to minimize our ecological footprint in the long term. We are proud to say that we have switched the production of our new sports sunglasses and ski goggles to the CO2RE® material blend.
CO 2 RE®: What are the components of the innovative plastic?
The composition of the new material is a combination of conventional petroleum-based plastic and renewable raw materials of plant origin. Our ski goggles The STORM and The NOVA already consist of 65% of the bio-plastic mixture CO 2 RE®. We are still testing with our athletes and ski instructors to increase the individual composition every year.
What are the advantages of the new material mixture?
The idea behind the CO 2 RE® material is to use renewable raw materials as the starting point for our sports glasses instead of a conventional petroleum-based plastic. The advantage of renewable resources as a starting material is that, in contrast to petroleum-based plastic, no new CO 2 is released into the atmosphere. This is because plants take the CO 2 out of the air beforehand and use it to grow ( keyword photosynthesis). This is a great advantage, especially when disposing old products (which are often incinerated in waste incineration plants), as no "fresh" CO 2 is emitted into the atmosphere. For this reason, our CO 2 RE® stands for "Carbon-Dioxide Recirculated Material".
How are the raw materials for the material obtained?
In principle, any plant can be used as a starting point for oil production. At NAKED Optics we chose the non-edible castor bean plant because it is a very fast growing and widespread plant species. In the course of photosynthesis, the plant absorbs sunlight, CO2 and H2O and then releases oxygen and starch. The chestnut-like fruits (non-edible) then serve as the starting point for the oil production of the plastic.
You can see the exact process in the graphic below.
