A Ukrainian start-up called Ochis has developed a range called Ochis Coffee. Where glasses frames are made from coffee grounds.
The majority of glasses and sunglasses are still made from petroleum-based plastic. Ochis Coffee comes with a new sustainable alternative: a frame made from coffee grounds: the mulchy coffee bean byproduct that usually gets thrown away before your drink has cooled.
The grounds are mixed with flax and a biopolymer based on vegetable oil before being moulded into a brick shape. The frames are then cut using a computer.
Ochis glasses frames biodegrade 100 times faster than standard plastic glasses. They also transform into a natural fertilizer for new plants if you put them in water or soil.
The founder and CEO of Ochis Coffee, Maksym Havrylenko, has 15 years experience in the eyewear industry, with the business having run in his family.
Green conscious industries have already used coffee waste to produce furniture, cups, printing ink, and biofuel, but Havrylenko is unique in using it to make sunglasses.
OCHIS COFFEE’s first fund raising effort on crowdfunding platform Kickstarter raised $13,000, surpassing an initial $10,000 target and attracted customers from the United States, western Europe, Japan and Australia
