Waterhaul introduces special edition sunglass collection

Newquay-based social enterprise Waterhaul has partnered with the conservation organisation, SeaTrees, to launch a special edition range of 100% recycled sunglasses to raise funds to help restore threatened Mangrove Forests in West Papua, Indonesia.

SeaTrees is a non-profit organisation that believes the ocean is key to reversing climate change through the absorption of carbon dioxide from the Earth’s atmosphere, which is known as Blue Carbon.

The limited-edition sunglasses have been made from 100% recycled fishing nets in Cornwall and feature an exclusive blue-grey colouration that has been designed to represent the Blue Carbon initiative. The colouring is exclusive to the sunglasses, Waterhaul confirmed.

For each pair of the special edition ‘Blue Carbon’ sunglasses sold, Waterhaul will plant five mangrove trees in the SeaTrees restoration site in Indonesia in order to support the local communities and ecosystem, as well as the global Blue Carbon initiative.

Speaking about the collaboration, Waterhaul’s founder and CEO Harry Dennis explained: “At Waterhaul, we take our carbon footprint seriously. By recycling fishing gear we’re not only addressing our core focus of removing plastic from the ocean, but also the carbon footprint of recycled nylon is ~97% lower than creating virgin plastic. However, reducing alone isn’t enough. There’s always still an impact, and that’s why we’re looking to support projects that can help take CO2 out of the atmosphere."

He added: “The Blue Carbon range is a limited-edition collection, and once they’re gone, they’re gone. Unfortunately, the same applies to mangroves – once destroyed, the entire coastline changes and reverting to a mangrove system becomes extremely unlikely – which is why the work SeaTrees does to prevent habitat loss is so important.”

Waterhaul was established in 2018 and transforms waste and plastic found in the ocean into eyewear and other equipment.