Dresden Optics

The CRC-P program has helped Australian company Dresden Optics, in partnership with the University of New South Wales, Astor Industries, Consonic, Duromer Products, Elemental Manufacturing, JASCA Engineering and the Brien Holden Vision Institute establish a novel, advanced, fully automated manufacturing centre where recycled waste plastics are transformed into high quality, stylish, low cost spectacle frames of exceptional durability.

The novel plastic recycling technology has the potential to be applied more widely to produce other high performance products whilst reducing waste and environmental degradation. The manufacturing process is simplified, fully automated and closed loop with zero waste.

“The importance of the Australian government funding to this is that it enables a long term investment in building a core capacity”.
— Bruce Jeffreys, Founder, Dresden Optics

The partnership was awarded an Australian Government CRC Project Grant for $2.7 million over three years.

“At the moment, virgin plastics typically are cheaper than recycled plastics. So the aim of the CRC-P was to flip that, and make using waste plastics cheaper. And so, for us as an Australian manufacturer, we think this is a critical competitive edge”.
— Bruce Jeffreys, Founder, Dresden Optics

Further information

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