How this former Dubai expat makes sunglasses from plastic trash

Anish Malpani, the man behind the idea, believes his venture will make a direct social, economic, and environmental change, and claims that the product is a world-first, which it appears to be. Perhaps that’s why he chose to call his venture a social enterprise. He has hired six to seven garbage collectors who work part-time for his startup.

Previously, plastic waste from the ocean depths was scoured to make eyewear. That effort, though noble, was hard to sustain and we are back to the question of how to make discarded plastic of all kinds fantastic for use again.

The former Indian expat’s enterprise could set in motion a waste-to-use revolution if his plan gains steam with adequate funding. More importantly, the local community is involved.

Based in the Western Indian city of Pune, Anish also hopes to export his plastic waste-to-eyewear sunglasses to the UAE where he lived until his late teens. Recalling his formative years in Dubai, he says: “I even got an article published in Young Times.”

He later made the rounds of corporate America, Africa and the UAE, in a variety of roles, including data and finance. Now that the social innovator in him has been awakened, Anish sees the world in a new light through WITHOUT, the sunglasses brand that has been inspired by trash.

The eyewear has been converted from impossible-to-recycle chips' packets by Ashaya, his startup that also ensures dignity of labour for garbage collectors.

These workers work part-time, for three hours daily, and have seen their incomes triple for a year now. Once the packets are collected from the garbage, it’s a technical and complicated process but Anish is adept at breaking it down for the uninitiated.

“These packets are made from 3-5 different types of materials, including multiple types of plastic (PP, PE, PET), metal and sometimes cellulose fused together,” he says.

They are put through a shredding and washing process, after which, a (patent-pending) chemo-mechanical extraction procedure separates the materials and breaks them down. These are then made into compounds of high-quality materials which are then injection-molded into specific products (like sunglasses).”

The lenses, however, aren’t made from plastic packets but are sourced from a local supplier in Pune. They have UV protection and are polarised. The beta version of these sunglasses is on sale for Rs1,099 in India (inclusive of taxes and shipping). The company is seeking customer feedback and hopes to retail them for Rs3,000 soon.

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