PET is short for Polyethylene Terephthalate. Sounds scary, but it’s just the chemical name for polyester. The main difference between PET and rPET is that rPET stands for recycled PET which has direct affiliation with outbound plastic or plastic found in the environment. Because we are committed to clean our oceans and landfills we have chosen to use rPET as our material source.

Look, 9 million TONS of plastic waste spill into our oceans every year, and PET is one of the most commonly used plastics out there. It’s found in most water and soda bottles, and some packaging materials. Have you ever seen the #1 in the triangular “chasing arrows code” on your Poland Springs bottle? That signifies a PET material. It’s usually intended for single-use applications, which is why our oceans and landfills are RIDDLED with it.

Opolis’ network of advocates in Bali, Nairobi, and Manila collect this ocean and landfill plastic, whereupon bottles are cleaned, heated, sorted, and the usable plastics are broken down. The rPET/upcycled materials are then shipped via climate-neutral shipping to our facilities in China, where Opolis eyewear is manufactured. Browse Opolis’ rPET collection and give the world’s most useful plastic a second life.