Innovative Recycled Plastic Products by Good Citizens® Proudly Backed by Quick Skips

In 2018, over a family dinner in Sydney, Good Citizens® was born. The goal was to untrash the planet by finding an innovative way to re-purpose plastic products. After 2500 failed attempts, clever engineering (and perseverance) led to the perfect design. The result? A recycling project that makes 100% recycled sunglasses from thrown away water bottles. Every pair of sunglasses (excluding the lenses) is made from just one 600ml water bottle. Even the sunglasses themselves are recyclable!

Quick Skips are incredibly proud to have backed Good Citizens® and applaud them for their innovation!

 An Innovative Plastic Recycling Project That is Making a Difference

For every pair of sunglasses sold, Good Citizens® recovers the weight of 45 plastic bottles from the ocean(*1,4). So far, over 315,000 water bottles have been re-purposed(*2). In addition to doing a lot of good, the designs are being recognised worldwide.

Good Citizens were awarded gold for fashion impact and best-in-class product design housewares at the International Good Design Awards(*3). The Good Awards are the premier design awards in Australia. Winning not once but twice is a huge accomplishment.

• 100% recycled and recyclable(*4).
• Australian Made (in Sydney)(*2).

With no shortage of trashed water bottles in Australia and around the world, Good Citizens® had (and continue to have) plenty of material to use.

• It takes 450 – 1000 years for one plastic water bottle to biodegrade(*5,6).
• Bottles made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET/PETE) plastic will NEVER biodegrade(*5,7,8).
• The world makes around 1.4 billion plastic water bottles every day – of which only 7% is recycled(*1).
• Up to 13 million tonnes of plastic products are released into the ocean annually(*7).

Many companies have caught on to consumer demand for more sustainable products. As a result, ‘recycled,’ and ‘recyclable’ are showing up more(*4). What is the difference and why does it matter?

Recycled indicates a percentage of the product was made of recycled products. The percentages differ between companies. Recycled does not mean every element of the product was made from recycled material(*4). With our incredible advancements in technology and engineering, we should be seeing many more 100% recycled products(*1).

Recyclable can also be misleading. Products made of different materials must be dismantled and separated to be recycled(*4). This is exactly like the process we use for our skip bins(*9). For example – bricks from demolition sites cannot be recycled into road base when mixed with the kid’s pre-Christmas toy cleanout.

Planning a cleanout or just want to be confident your trash is being recycled and disposed of responsibly? Always hire your skip bins from Quick Skips (formerly Dial-A-Tip)!

Do you want to become a Good Citizen®? You can visit the Good Citizens® website to learn more about what they are up to and buy your pair of sunnies. You can even mix and match frames, glasses arms and hinges.

References

*1. Good Citizens®. Good Citizens: Recycling Plastic Bottles Into Sunglasses. YouTube video. 2018.
*2. Good Citizens®. Good Citizens® - Untrash the Planet. 2022.
*3. Good Citizens®. International Good Design Awards. 2022.
*4. Good Citizens®. Let's Trash Talk Recycled V Recyclable. 2021.
*5. Postconsumers. How Long Does it Take a Plastic Bottle to Biodegrade? 2011.
*6. WWF Australia. The Lifecycle of Plastics. 2021.
*7. Urbanek, AK, Kosiorowska, KE & Mirończuk AM. Current Knowledge on Polyethylene Terephthalate Degradation by Genetically Modified Microorganisms. Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology. Vol. 30. No. 9. 2021.
*8. Ghatge, S, Yang, Y, Ahn, JH & Hur, HG. Biodegradation of Polyethylene: A Brief Review. Appl Biological Chemistry. Vol. 63. No. 27. 2020.
*9. Dial-A-Tip. FAQs. 2022.