Cyclists spend more unfiltered time outdoors than almost anyone else with a hobby. A road ride or a gravel loop puts you directly on the verges, trailheads and river crossings where litter collects which is probably why World Cleanup Day, on 20 September this year, tends to land differently for riders than it does for most people scrolling past it on social media. Its not an abstract cause. Its the ditch you rode past on Tuesday.The event itself is bigger than a single day of picking up trash. What started in Estonia in 2008 as a country cleanup initiative has grown into a UN-recognised international day. Last years edition brought out an estimated 25 million volunteers across roughly 190 countries and territories. For cyclists, the more useful takeaway isnt the one day of action its the prompt to ask whats already happening the other 364 days, starting with what the stuff strapped to your head or hanging off your handlebars is actually made of.Thats a fair question to ask, and eyewear is a great place to start. Swiss-founded performance eyewear brand, VALLON, has built two sunglasses models, Watchtowers, and Ventures around that question: How can we make performance eyewear that has classic style, maximum performance, and is more sustainable than other models on the market? Both styles are built using frame materials that readily hold up against standard synthetic materials, while also carrying eco-credentials: These are sunglasses for riders who want to spend more time outside, while carrying and using gear ready to live up to whatever is thrown at them, and that do their part for the planet.Whats in the frame?Start with VALLONs Watchtowers: Their frame is made 85% recycled fishing nets fused into durable nylon-6. The lens tech is a wraparound shield made by ZEISS, with a RiPel coating so that sweat and rain bead off rather than smearing the lens. They are Cat. 3, block 100% UV400, and offer shatterproof eye protection worth knowing on a gravel line where kicked-up stones are a regular part of the adventure.The Ventures have Bio TR90 frames made of 45% recycled materials making them exceptionally lightweight and versatile for lighter cycling days hopping on and off the bike. VALLONs V52 polarized lenses with an ABBE value of 52 provide exceptional visual acuity and less distortion at the edge of the lens useful when youre scanning a descent rather than staring straight ahead also Cat. 3 and UV400 protected. At 26 grams, theyre light enough to disappear on a long ride. Between the two, its an easy case for choosing the lower-impact frame without giving up anything on performance.Tried and testedBIKEs team put the Watchtowers through testing and came away impressed. The read was that these sunglasses earn their keep on a genuinely tough ride: protective enough to trust on a fast, loose descent, comfortable enough to forget about after a few hours, and, more than one tester noted, good-looking enough to stay in rotation on the easy days too. The recycled-net build took on testing without any give on durability, which was the detail that stuck with the team most worth noting, the fixed lens cant be swapped for different light conditions, so riders who go out in everything from bright sun to flat overcast may want to weigh that trade-off. Read the full Watchtowers review for the whole gear download.Beyond the frameSeparately from the frame material, VALLON funds the recovery of 1kg of ocean-bound plastic waste, through accredited partner CleanHub, for every pair of eyewear sold. VALLON puts the cumulative total recovered by its customers at the equivalent of more than 10.9 million plastic bottles.A better way to gear up this yearBeing a more eco-conscious cyclist doesnt have to mean a trade-off between performance and principle. Gear built from reclaimed fishing nets or bio-based stock, backed by ZEISS or V52 optics that hold up on a genuinely hard ride, checks the performance box and the materials box at the same time. Add a cleanup programme funded by every sale, and whats left is a purchase that performs on the ride, looks good doing it, and is easy to feel good about afterwards too which, heading into World Cleanup Day, is about as much as anyone could ask of a pair of sunglasses.