From Trash to Trend: High Performance Optics Made From Recycled Plastic

In this episode, Cory talks with James Merrill, founder of Stoked Plastics and Opolis Optics, about transforming ocean‑bound and landfill‑bound plastic into high‑performance sunglasses and goggles. James shares how his experience working in vulnerable communities overseas led him to create a patented recycled‑plastic technology that boosts recycled content up to 75%. They also discuss Opolis’ growth, supply‑chain transparency, and the major setback of a $20,000 theft during an REI fulfillment—followed by strong community support.

Key Topics Discussed:

• How global counter‑extremism work revealed the link between plastic pollution, poverty, and instability.
• Development of Stoked Plastic, enabling products with 75% recycled content, far above typical levels.
• Launch of Opolis Optics to prove market demand, leading to retail partnerships with REI, L.L. Bean, and Paragon Sports.
• Transparent supply-chain partnerships with Ocean Material and #tide, supporting local cleanup communities.
• Product impact: ~10 bottles per pair of goggles; ~2 bottles per pair of sunglasses.
• The major inventory theft, financial impact, and the outdoor community rallying to help
• Upcoming product innovations: coolers, surfboard bags, knives, and building‑material applications.

Resources Mentioned:

• Stoked Plastics
• Opolis Optics 
• Ocean Material (supply‑chain partner)
• #tide (ocean‑bound plastic recovery partner)

Contact:

Instagram: Opolis Optics & Stoked Plastics
LinkedIn: James Merrill 

Closing Thoughts:

James and Cory highlight how innovation + community impact can create powerful change in the fight against plastic pollution. Even small actions—like purchasing sustainably made products—help fund cleanup efforts and support vulnerable communities around the world. The episode reinforces that great products can also be great for the planet, and that long‑form storytelling plays a key role in inspiring meaningful action.

Thank you for tuning in to Sustainable Packaging with Cory Connors!

https://anewearthproject.com/collections/new-earth-approved

https://www.linkedin.com/in/cory-connors/

I'm here to help you make your packaging more sustainable! Reach out today and I'll get back to you asap.

This podcast is an independent production and the podcast production is an original work of the author. All rights of ownership and reproduction are retained—copyright 2022.

Transcript

0:07

Welcome to Sustainable Packaging with Cory Connors presented by Atlantic Packaging. I'm your host, Cory Connors. In today's episode, I connected with James Merrill of Stoked Plastics and Opolis. We got to talk about a grand theft they were victims of and how they are transforming recycled plastics into sexy optics, including sunglasses and goggles. I'd also like to thank our sponsors, 3M, SpecRite, and Lorax EPI. We couldn't do this show without them. Welcome to Sustainable Packaging Podcast with Cory Connors. I'm so excited today to have Mr. James Marillon. We met at the Coast Film and Music Festival in Laguna Beach, California. What a beautiful place. What an amazing event. Welcome, sir. Thanks Cory, so stoked to be here man. This is really exciting and again great to reconnect after the film festival for sure. Thank you. I was really impressed with your panel and we'll talk about that a little bit later, but let's start with your background. You've got a really interesting background of conservation, lots of optics companies that you've either ran or been a part of. Tell us how that led to Stoked Plastics and Opolis. Yeah, that's a great question. Yeah, before this whole entrepreneurship journey started, the origin story is pretty fascinating for a lot of folks. I actually started as a US government contractor, working for the State Department, the DOD, and the DOJ for over a decade. And what that meant is I was living and working in the Middle East, Asia and Africa, specifically looking at counter violence, extremism projects or helping to manage those. And what that is a fancy word for is almost counter terrorism. So my unit and my assignment was typically to address and identify communities and individuals that we thought were most at risk for radicalization recruitment. And it was, oh yeah, yeah, thank you for saying that. It was incredible to work alongside the military and just these groups in general to solve a really big problem. But it was fascinating. We were kind of tracing the value chain of violence in that. We were seeing how they were recruiting and identifying people. And we started seeing this new pattern emerge within these different groups. And it was very similar. No matter where we were going, this was kind of a new pattern. And they were basically, they were targeting. very vulnerable communities. And which that means is vulnerable communities are usually those that don't have access to jobs, livelihoods, right? There's not a lot of opportunities. And most of that laid in landfills. So landfill communities or coastlines and villages inundated by plastic pollution. So we started to see this trend of violence being connected to plastic. And so for me as just an outdoorsman, I grew up in Maine, I grew up surfing and snowboarding and camping and just this deep appreciation for the planet. then seeing that being compromised by plastic and then seeing these peaceful people choose violence over peace because there's no other opportunity for them. that's really when things started to kind of like really click and like blow my mind. I was like, okay, if there's something I can do right now to support these people from taking bribes, from taking cash to joining these groups, let's start to do that. So when we work overseas specifically with the US government, we get conflict pay or hazard pay. And it's an extra, you know, kind of per diem that we would get on top of. Yeah. Thank you. And so what I was doing with a lot of that hazard pay is that I started working with local NGOs that were focused in environmental advocacy. And so we were working on campaigns around education of plastic cleanup and plastic redemption. We grew up collecting plastic bottles to earn a little bit more cash, bringing that to the redemption bottle center, getting that cash back and going to spend it on whatever we wanted to. there is value in commoditization in plastics. So that's the kind of the education that we started to kind of employ with these interactions that we were having. And so we started to create these kinds of systems wherever we went. And it was kind of a remarkable thing where we were actually seeing some positive change, not only with the rates of recruitment declining, but people actually finding... you know, some, happiness and peace in cleaning up their environment and putting money in their pockets. And so what ended up happening is we just started developing a lot of plastic. We started collecting a lot of plastic, so much so there we had to get a warehouse in Jakarta, Indonesia to like store that pack plastic, to resell it. And so that really, Cory, inspired me to, to leave what I was doing because I thought I could address this problem in a way that was unique to me and a system that I had more control over. So I ended up leaving after a decade. And my last assignment was in Northern Nigeria in Kano. And I moved to Indonesia. I learned about plastic. I learned about supply chains. And so in this process, I started learning more about manufacturing, injection molding. And what we were finding is that there, you know, there There is a very low percentage of recycled content in recycled things, especially when it comes to hard plastic, hard performance plastic. And when we reverse engineered this process, we were only finding three to 5 % of recycled content in a fully recyclable thing. I'm doing air quotes. So I was like, you know, that seems really low. that seems really low with all the technology, the know-how we have now, that seems really low. And I was a religion major, I was a government contractor. So, you I didn't know much about polymers or polymers or chemistry in general. So I ended up meeting who is now my chief scientist officer, Ashish Lamba, and I brought this thesis to him and I was like, look, if I fund this experiment, this thesis, could you and your team figure something out? And so after about two years, we figured out a way to basically rebuild the broken polymers or the genetic makeup in that plastic to increase it from three to five to about 25 % and beyond and recycle things. And so we developed what we patent now called Stoked Plastic, is an extender. or what we call a glue that fuses about 25 % new plastic with 75 % recycled plastic. that's a game changer, right? That's 10 times more than what's on the current market. But it was really interesting, Cory, I was like, wunderbar, we figured this thing out and we're like, we're gonna change the world, but it's so much harder than that. And you guys know that. And in the outdoor industry, I thought, would be a good way, a good category to introduce the plastic too, because there's an equivalent for folks to pay more attention to the environment. They have a little bit more cash to buy premium things. But it wasn't going as well as I thought. So I ended up creating OPLIS Optics as essentially a Skunk Works, proof of concept for the plastic. You know, I was like, well, if you know, if no one's going to buy our plastic for me, maybe then we can just show them and prove to them that the market wants it, the consumers want it and the people and it works exactly. So we launched Opolis Optics, which is an eyewear, fully sustainable eyewear company that's fully powered by Stoked Plastic. You know, it's like the Intel inside. So we ended up making sunglasses and skiing snowboard goggles, you know, high performance premium stuff. We ended up going to the outdoor retailer and a few other discovery trade shows. And we got picked up by REI, Elo Bean, Paragon Sports. And we're like, wow, we have something here. People care about the mission. They care about the product. And so that was something that we really couldn't ignore, Cory. And as much as I didn't want to run two startups at the same time, it kind of just... happened, right? Because one is supporting the other, Opolis is marketing and supporting the technology and the mission behind Stoked Plastics and vice versa. it has been a very interesting journey in terms of like, know, splitting up time, resources, investment, and all that jazz to focus on two companies. So that's a long winded answer of the origin story, but kind of just kind of shows you. where we came from and where we're kind of at at this point. Well, it's a great answer. And I really appreciate your background and didn't know that you had been in such scary places really, and doing such important work for our world uh security. I truly believe that sustainability and environmental causes are directly tied to health issues and security of communities. And I think you've proven that with your work saying, Hey, if, these people don't have opportunities, they're gonna take any opportunity that comes along. that's oftentimes uh a nefarious group doing bad things. and that's so, and I've had the president of Kenya's waste pickers association on this show. And John told, he told me about some of that same kind of thought is, well, if we don't give these people great opportunities, or at least a fair wage, Yep. look elsewhere and it's probably not gonna be legal. And that's, you know, just the matter of fact really. So really interesting. I did wanna talk about your panel at the Coast Film and Music Festival. I thought with our friend, Talley from New Earth Project, my coworker and great friend, she was an awesome moderator and you all had incredible stories. I wish it was twice as long. because I felt like we didn't get enough time to explore all these things. tell us about that experience in Laguna Beach. Yeah, was such a nice kind of reunion, I suppose, for all of us and to include Lynn on that was incredible. But to have, you know, Dave and Gary and Chase, know, from STEMs and Bureo and Soongi Watch, was a great way just to see each other and reconnect. So we did the same panel last year, Modern Alchemy last year, um you know, Don and New Earth. packaging has had us on and was just an incredible panel. And I talked to Don a couple months ago before Don Meeks before the panel. And I said, you know, it would be really great just to reconnect, not even, you know, on a panel, but just informally with everybody that we had, is there a way to do that? And Don's like, you know what, you know, light bulb went off in his head and he's like, let's just, let's, let's do a recap. Let's do a modern alchemy recap at the summit and just see what what has happened within that year since seeing each other, since the panel. And it was an incredible reminder of not only how fast time flies, Cory, right? Like within a year. But yeah, exactly. But it was a really incredible reminder of, I think a lot of us, because we're so busy and get wrapped up or caught up with the everyday today thing, we forget. all the successes, all the little wins, you know? And I think for us, it was a great exercise to see, wow, you know, we've definitely struggled with some things, but there's a lot of important reminders here to celebrate and to be able to do that recap with these guys, to celebrate those little wins, to... to share some of that trials and tribulations that they're going through as well, it was a pretty kind of unifying thing. David from DeBoreo, they're a much bigger operation now than Stemz and Chase and mine. But to see that they're still going through the same type of like situations and obstacles. kind of was like, okay, well, we're in good company. And, you know, it kind of is like a mirror of ourselves and our company is of like, okay, look, if David and Bureo are having the same struggles, we are too, and we can get through it together. And it was one of those things at the end of the day is that everyone that was on that panel is doing incredible things and we're doing it together, whether we know it or not, it's a unified front. And it just... We just need to do it more. I think, you we're so siloed because we're so, you know, heads in the dirt, heads in the sand, and we forget to use our community and to forget our network, you know. So it was so nice to come together at the Coast Summit to get the heads out of the sand and to kind of unify and talk through some of these big things and wins. So that was really amazing. I think that's an important point that we need to look back and say, Hey, we we've done a really good job or, Whoa, that was a big mistake, but we learned from it. And I think this is, I hope they'll do it again next year. This would be really cool to see the third year and then, you know, and just do it every year. Uh, because all of you have incredible stories that I think are inspiring a lot of people. Uh, even if you don't realize that I think, They say only 90 % of people look at social media and they don't interact with it. So even let's say you get 10 likes, you actually had a hundred, you know, that those 90 % are often inspired by you. And I think we need to remember that as people that are working kind of in these niche communities, trying to do good things. So keep up the great work. I appreciate that. Yeah. Well, like, and that's why I think I'm appreciating podcasts more and what you're doing, Cory, with the storytelling, because there is a trend and I think we heard Cody Townshend even say this, right? That the long form storytelling now is becoming the new vehicle for engagement and communication. know, so the YouTube and the podcasts, right? So it's this Instagram, this 11 second engagement is no longer really serving people. So that's why this is so important that these shows, your channel continues and that people like engage in a really authentic way. And I think that's kind of a nice trend to see. I don't know if you agree, but. Oh, totally agree. I've made thousands of Tik Toks and they were great and they served a purpose and they were quick, quick points about what we're talking about things that are sustainable packaging, things like that. But I get so much satisfaction out of people listening to a whole 20, 25 minute podcast about a real story about a company like yours. That's making a real positive impact. It means even more to me. oh it's more genuine that way for sure. Yeah. Well, let's talk about your, companies. Where does, where does the, can you walk us through a little bit of the nuts and bolts? Like where does the, the plastic come from? How does it get, uh, who gathers it? You talked about, paying people to pick it up and bring it in. How do they sort it? How do they clean it? Things like that. Yeah, so when we first started, was very, it was a very local, it was very localized. So we worked with very small NGOs on the ground in Indonesia, the Philippines, where we would work with local organizations that would employ individuals that were living in the landfills, living in these coastlines to basically pick, pick and sort and clean a lot of the plastic bottles that we required for our raw material, which is our pet or a P E T the water bottle. And so for a while that was fine because the quantities we required was so low. We were such a small company. But now that Stoked Plastics has gotten some traction and we're piloting with some very, very big brands and companies, that volume has to be very significant. So we are now partnering with third party partners. Ocean Material is an incredible partner of us and hashtag Tide. And they're both European, but they have footprints and infrastructures all around Asia and Africa. And so what we really love about them is that their infrastructure includes the local community cleanup, right? So it includes that story, that blockchain and authenticity transparency that we require while we're working. So we can ensure that if hashtag tide or ocean material is cleaning up around Bali. that they're employing and giving back to those people that is supporting that effort because we always want to make sure that every single person that's connected to the supply chain is impacted in a positive way. So working with them has been incredible because not only can they extract, uh employ and engage with the communities that are directly impacted, but they can actually have, they have compounding capabilities. So essentially what that means, Cory, is like, we can give them our recipe for our blend, right? And so on site in country, they can create that compound right after collecting that plastic and they can pelletize, you know, make the little beads. So right after that collection, extraction, cleaning, pelletization, they can then send it to our partners to wherever they're manufacturing their products. And so it's a really cool, efficient process for us and for us as a small startup, it makes us asset light and less overhead, which is, as you know, it's really important for us to continue to keep the lights on. But what brands really love to partner us with about too is that because of the blockchain associated with the extraction and the pelletization of our products is that we can go to a brand and we can tell them exactly how many bottles were used to make that product. where it came from and how it's impacting that community. it is kind of like, you know, it's almost like an organic food label. We can almost like give that breakdown very precisely. So people know that when they engage with Stoked Plastic, that it's actually coming exactly where it's coming from, it's supporting and it's impacting in a really beautiful way. So. So that's really the nuts and bolts of that. And most of our supply chain comes from Bali for the moment now in the Philippines. And we're trying to move it into Kenya. That's why it was so great to reconnect with Gary, know, because of Soongi Watch and all the amazing things that they're doing in the river systems and the river mouth, so the oceans in Bali. So I actually have a call with Gary later today, which is ironic. way to reconnect. And then essentially for the OPLIS Optics thing, the eyewear company, we have our manufacturers in Vietnam and those pellets from those cleanups are sent there, their injection molded into our molds and then they're created and pushed out and actually packaged by you guys. ah We were able to like, you know, we work with JJ, you know, who's been great. And so we've really created these beautiful curbside recycling. you know, shipping boxes and product boxes that just really complements what we're doing because we can't, we can't do what we're doing and then produce, you know, the packaging and the shipping with single use plastic. It's just counter, you know, counter everything we've done. So it's been really incredible to like, you know, this relationship with you guys full circle to not only have this relationship in the community, but then to actually have the product complimenting what we're already doing. really a wonderful thing. Yeah. JJ is the best. I'm so stoked to work with him and a New Earth project and Atlantic packaging. It's, it's, it's an incredible team. And we're, uh, I hear about these projects and I think, wow, what a, that's really cool. I get to be on that team that's doing that stuff. So for people listening, I think a lot of us may be interested to, learn. Like, first of all, shout out to your marketing team, beautiful stuff, what they're doing. How, how many. bottles would it it take to make a pair of goggles? Do you know that number? Is that a challenge? it's approximately, it's about 10 water bottles, but the 10 water bottles, what it incorporates is, so we do the frames and the straps and the buckles. The lenses are the only thing that are not made out of RPAT. But then the cases that it comes in, we can turn the RPAT into a thread. And so we can make that the soft goods that it comes in, the micro- pouches and the cases that it comes in with the thread from water bottles as well. So if you're looking at it as a complete purchase or buy, you're essentially extracting 10 water bottles to make that one thing, which is a pretty nice thing for people. They can actually visualize and touch and hold that. And for sunglasses, it's about two water bottles per pair of sunglasses, which is pretty cool. That's really important to understand that, that people think, I have to collect thousands of these. No, you don't. And you can, you can make a big impact by gathering a few. And like you and I, I live in Oregon where we have a 10 cent deposit. Maine has a 10 cent deposit. That's, you know, 20 cents of material equals one pair of sunglasses. That's, that's incredible. You know, from, a recycling standpoint. done. yeah, that's the, you know, for a lot of people, know, the climate is like a doom and gloom thing right now, you know? And so I think a lot of people are getting so bogged down on how huge the plastic problem is, where like, at least with this, we're providing some opportunities and optimism that people like just at a very small scale can really help. And even if you're not into sustainability, Cory, you can still. buy a cool product and you're still buying into the movement, right? Regardless if you're into it or not, you're still supporting it. So that's been a of a wonderful thing too. we talk about that a lot. Sustainable products need to be great first and sustainable. You know, this is an end then because people want to buy beautiful things. want to buy things that are going to last. They want to buy things that are, that work well. It must perform and, and be beautiful and sustainable. So are you a part of the design process at all? You have, make some really awesome products. Yeah, so I don't know, I've never been a recreative, but I've always been into gear and appreciation for art, I suppose, and a little bit of fashion. So essentially how this works is if I get an idea, I'll literally sketch something on a little napkin or something, or post it, and I'll send it to my designer, Carol Agueroa. She's the mastermind behind. everything that you guys see and everything that we put forward to our partners, whether it's a cooler or surfboard bag or really anything, it's that design that is so important, Cory, as you know, because you need to be able to visualize these things, right? You need to be able to take a water bottle and then visualize it into something beautiful. And she's able to do that. And I think that's really where we captivate a lot of the brands that we're working with now. And end result is usually pretty beautiful. Yeah, I would like to take as much credit as possible, but I can't. mean, you work with smarter and more talented people and put them around you, right? And it's essentially, that's kind of what I've tried to do. You, it reflects on YouTube because you're, you're, you're hiring the right people. So you told a really tough story during the panel about being robbed right out of your truck on, on the, on the road, uh, you were doing a transfer or loading some trucks to, to ship product to, to, you know, one these big orders that you got right at your, at the beginning. Tell us about that story and then tell us how you, the fan base recovered with you. yeah, that was that was a really humbling moment for me. So we had we had secured a big account with with REI, you know, and there's all this excitement, you know, that's the anticipation of that. But there's also so much that goes into into that order. Right. There's protocols. There's there's all these kind of logistics that go into that. And since we're a small small company, we do a lot of the pick packing and shipping ourselves. But when we're talking about like 500 units that need to be laid labeled, sorted and categorized in a specific way, it's a pretty, pretty big operation. And so my little bungalow here in Venice Beach, California, I had my my CEO, COO come over Casey, and we started to go through that process. And so we add our truck, you know, on the street, And it's just, you know, street parking. And we started to just pack everything up. And it's not like we just left it out there. when everything was packed up, we just started walking it out. And I had forgotten a label for one of the boxes. So I went inside quickly to print it out, literally just print it out on my computer. We went back out and I look at Casey and I was like, wow, the truck looks light. So we recounted and it turns out that there had been like a truck that had just passed by and just got into our truck and just started throwing boxes into their vehicle. And so that equated to around $20,000 worth of stolen property. So it was, I don't know, it was one of those things where like I was devastated, but I was like, okay, we have to figure this out now, right? There's not a lot of time. because REI has a deadline for receiving goods as well. So then we had to into our inventory. You guys know this. Yeah, no pressure. So then we had to tap into our inventory that we were going to sell under direct to consumers. So not only was it a $20,000 loss, but then it ate into another probably $40,000 to$50,000 revenue stream that we were relying on. So it was a really humbling experience. Obviously we reported a stolen, it was grand theft, grand larceny, given the dollar amount. oh But it was one of those things we reported it to detectives. We went through the system. They really weren't hopeful and helpful. And at Quarry, actually found them being sold on OfferUp and Facebook Marketplace. And we were almost trying to create our own sting. because we were communicating with the people that sold it. And Cory, it was so funny, they didn't even try to hide it. There's like Opolis Optics for sale, but they're like in Compton and Inglewood and like all these places, like who's gonna buy ski and snowboard goggles there? So that was a really kind of humbling, like I said, humbling experience, but it's one of those things where it's so out of our control at that point that you just kind of need to move on. But I ended up posting it on LinkedIn, Cory, You know, our little outdoor networking community is so fantastic that, you know, we did end up making a lot of sales during the holiday season to have some type of, you know, we did recover some of that loss. Yeah, it does help a lot. And it's just incredible to like when you're, when times are tough, your, community or tribe comes in and supports you. But yeah, I don't, so this, this year core, we got a three PL, we had everything delivered to them in a warehouse and then yeah. So you live and learn as well. So that's kind of what happened with that for sure. Right on. Well, we're just about out of time here. But I wanted to give you an opportunity to tell us what's next. Any new products coming out that you want to pitch? How do we buy these things? They're beautiful. I think we need to kind of lead them towards the websites. Sure. Yeah. So for Opolis, we've had some, lot of great opportunities. We're actually doing a lot of customization now for not only for our sunglasses, but our goggles. We actually just secured a deal with the Yellowstone club, you know, that exclusive resort and membership in Yellowstone, Montana, where we did all of their customized goggles. We're doing another one with a resort in Japan and another one in Aspen. So that's been kind of a really cool thing to see that materialized because Our MOQs for doing this type of things are so small. So they're much smaller than the bigger eyewear brands out there. And so we can turn these things around pretty well for this experience that people can have with the customization. But then we're also, we're rolling out some cool products on Stoked Plastics. We're coming out with coolers. We're coming out with surfboard bags for different companies, oh even knives. And we're doing a... we're becoming a replacement for some building materials and a renovation of a Sprinter van company. So that's going to be really exciting to roll out officially and we'll be announcing that. But for the most part, everybody can kind of tune in and whatnot through our socials and then our website, opolisoptics.com and stokeplastics.com. We're pretty active and a lot of cool stuff coming out there. So people can be on the lookout there. Thanks again, James, really excited and I should say stoked to see you and have you on the show. But man, I can't wait to post this and uh really appreciate what you're doing. Keep up the great work. Cool, thanks so much, Cory, for having me, appreciate that.