August 13, 2025 • 34 mins
From Hollywood TV sets to replacing 656M plastics — Host Ian Peterman sits down with Repurpose Co-Founder & CEO Lauren Gropper to reveal how she built the nation’s leading compostable tableware brand, disrupted single-use plastics, and made eco-friendly living affordable and easy for millions.
💬 Question for you: What’s the single-use plastic item you’d most like to replace in your home? Comment below — we’d love to hear your ideas!
⏩ Jump to your favorite parts:
00:00 - Intro
00:33 - Meet Lauren Gropper: CEO of Repurpose
00:50 - The Origin Story of Repurpose
02:43 - Challenges and Innovations in Sustainable Products
05:38 - Creating a Brand and Market Entry
10:07 - Product Range and Market Challenges
17:01 - Composting and Material Choices
22:54 - Future of Sustainable Products
32:51 - Closing Thoughts and Contact Information
About Lauren Gropper & Repurpose
Lauren Gropper is the founder and CEO of Repurpose, the leader in compostable household goods. An eco-entrepreneur and green architecture pioneer, Lauren began her career in sustainable design. Her early success led to a surprising career in Hollywood, working as a consultant to the industry with customers like Discovery Networks. Confronted with the waste generated by craft services, Lauren had an aha moment on- set. She founded Repurpose to extend the disposable lifespan of single use products and reduce waste. Today, Lauren leads Repurpose on its quest to change the world one low-impact cup, plate and fork at a time.
Repurpose offers a range of plant-based, non-toxic, and compostable alternatives to traditional single-use products, aiming to reduce landfill waste and promote sustainability. Repurpose is the #1 eco-compostable tableware brand at U.S. grocery stores like Whole Foods, Albertson’s, Kroger and more, and is sold in 20,000 retailers nationwide. Since its founding, Repurpose has replaced 656 million pieces of plastic.
Get the “Conscious Design” book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09KNMN9BT
Learn more: https://www.consciousdesignhaus.com/
Want to turn visionary ideas into market-ready, sustainable products? 👉 https://www.petermanfirm.com/
🔗 Connect with Lauren Gropper & Repurpose:
Website: https://www.repurpose.com/
LinkedIn (Repurpose): https://www.linkedin.com/company/repurpose-compostables/
LinkedIn (Lauren): https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauren-gropper-65b3102/
Instagram (Repurpose): https://www.instagram.com/repurpose/?hl=en
Instagram (Lauren): https://www.instagram.com/laurengropper/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/repurpose/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRAe_hzGzfysi_Bgy8nZbAQ
🤝 Let’s Connect:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cdesignhaus/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@consciousdesign
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/conscious-designhaus/
X (Twitter): https://x.com/CDesignHaus
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
And if the product is great and the quality is great and the
price is reasonable, it's something that we think our
customers can afford because that's what we're all about.
How do we get more sustainable products out in the market and
reduce people's reliance on these conventional products?
(00:20):
Hello and welcome to the Conscious Design podcast.
I'm your host, Ian Peterman and I help turn product ideas into
sustainable 7 figure businesses.Join me for another episode
where sustainability meets innovation and business savvy.
Today I'm really excited to haveLauren Grover.
She's the Co founder and CEO at Repurpose.
They're a company that creates plant based, not toxic
(00:41):
alternatives to single use products to make your life
easier. Welcome to the show.
Thanks, Ian. It's good to be here.
Yeah. So everybody loves a good origin
story. So let's talk a little bit about
how in single use plastics, it'snot a small thing to tackle.
It is very large. So how did you guys decide that
(01:04):
that's what you wanted to tackleand you're going to launch a
whole company to try to help us fix that problem?
Yeah. So we've been around now about
almost 15 years and I think I'vebeen bearing into sustainability
my whole life since I was a kid.I actually studied environmental
studies in college and did a bunch of work in the
(01:26):
environmental field. After college.
On the policy side, I did some ecotourism work, but I didn't
really find, I think, my passionuntil I had done a bunch of
global travel and then really fell in love with design and our
sure and started digging into sustainable design and fell in
love with sustainable design, green building.
(01:47):
Ended up going to grad school inNew York studying environmental
design and planning, and that's when I just knew I'd kind of
found the passion. Really loved that field.
Had worked in the green buildingfield in New York, mostly a
little bit in Toronto as well, and had this random opportunity
to come to LA just over 15 yearsago to do work with sustainable
(02:10):
sex. So film and TV sets.
They're looking at kind of the fact of the design of the sets,
the energy use, the water use, the waste, etcetera, and sort of
like, how could we produce more at the time?
Amazing. I haven't even thought about
that. A whole, yeah, I mean, most
people didn't, but I was workingactually with an actor at the
time in New York on his home, and he happened to be pretty
(02:33):
active on ATV show back in the day and was interested in kind
of looking at how we could make the TV show a little more
sustainable. So that's how it all kind of
came to be. So Fast forward, we're on the
sets and one of the big issues to tackle on sets is waste
because you're constantly breaking and constantly having
a, you know, it's it's fast, it's transient, and you're using
(02:53):
some of these plastics all day. At the, at least at the time we
were, which felt to me like, Oh my God, why are we putting all
this effort into making a set more sustainable, but at the
same time breaking for meals andusing plastic all day long?
So it really just started out honestly as a research project,
like what else is out there? And I think having a sustainable
(03:16):
design background the is what I think gave me that perspective
to look for something different.Because the conventional
products that still exist today use petroleum.
So they're digging A finite resource out of the ground to
make something that we use for 5minutes and that didn't make any
sense to me. And then it also lasts forever
in a landfill, not to mention microplastics, not to mention
(03:40):
plastics in the ocean, not to mention P Foss.
So at the time, I honestly didn't know anything about any
of those issues, but it just from a design perspective, felt
like we weren't thinking about circularity at all.
And I wanted to kind of apply certain circularity and those
super design principles to this product category.
(04:00):
So the research project kind of became this second passion where
I just thought, wow, we could just find a better alternative
that wasn't so toxic or so wasteful.
That would be great. And there were some alternatives
at the time, early kind of earlydays of plant based compostable
products. They were so expensive and they
(04:22):
also didn't perform very well. So you had, you know, there were
various like plates made out of bamboo or sugar cane, things
like that, corn based cups and starch based cutlery.
But you know, the cutlery melted, the plates would seep
through with grease, or there was just nothing really was as
good as the conventional plasticalternative or foam alternative.
(04:45):
So I just put it on the shelf for a minute and thought, OK,
well, if it could be sort of priced similarly, if the
performance could be the same asconventional products, then
maybe there would be something. And I happened to meet someone
who had a connection to manufacturers in Taiwan who are
making these types of products. Taiwan was well ahead of the US
because they had banned single use plastics in 2006.
(05:09):
So by the and that's really. Out of.
The curve, yeah, they were way out of the curve.
So when I was looking at this in2010, you know, they had already
had these products in the marketin Taiwan for several years.
So I got to meet other manufacturers and an R&D group
working with the manufacturers and they were very keen on
getting these products to the US.
So I just sort of said, well, they need to meet this quality,
(05:30):
they need to meet this price point.
If you can do that, there's something there.
And that was really how we purpose was born.
And then in talking to various friends and colleagues, they
sort of said, Lauren, this is not just a research project,
This can be a business can create a brand out of this.
I think I was very excited aboutthe idea of creating a brand
(05:50):
also because I think of my design background and didn't
know anything about consumer products, didn't know anything
about kind of the grocery industry or like, how do you get
your products onto a shelf? But I was just very young and
very naive and thought, well, ofcourse, you know, I'm going to
try. So that was always vision, you
know, create a brand around thiscategory of products, use this
(06:12):
really cool technology and deliver a product that was, you
know, not toxic, made from plants, can compost within 90
days and be available at a pricepoint that people can afford.
So not some niche Hyman product.We really want it to be kind of
an everyday product that everybody could use.
And why can't people get these products in their homes?
(06:34):
So this was around we we'd incorporated in 2010, but really
hit the market in 2012. And for us, it was all about
kind of like, how do we deliver on that promise?
How do we create this like fun and exciting brand that people
can really rally behind because they they know they're getting a
great product at a great price and it's super sustainable.
(06:54):
And I think at the time, you know, you saw this kind of
increase in organic food and increase in organic baby
products and, you know, cleaningproducts that were more
sustainable or or non-toxic. And so about like if you're
going to go to the effort to create a healthy home in a
non-toxic home, like why are youbringing plastic and foam into
(07:15):
your home? This should be the next
extension of that helping out orto work.
Taking, you know, just little bowls, forks and you're using it
at work. Or work.
Yeah, it's just it's ripe for disruption and why isn't anybody
doing it? And we should be the ones to do
it though. You know, it was very exciting
at that time. And we were a little early, I
think in terms of market readiness, you know, hitting the
(07:36):
market in 2012, there was, you know, sort of that kind of like
early adopter, highly interestedin sustainability subset of
consumers, but it certainly was not mass.
There was not like a mass appealfor sustainability in this
category. So it was a big uphill battle #1
to get kind of retail buyers andjust should #2 to, to get even,
(08:00):
you know, consumers sort of excited about what we're doing
on a mass scale. So that's been a big piece of
our journey too, is just education and awareness.
Right, well, it's it's a whole and I feel like your products
don't require a big change in behavior, which has been one of
the biggest. There's a lot of other companies
(08:21):
that are developing, you know, like you were talking about
cleaning solutions where it's you know it's a pellet, right,
you're putting in the water and then become soap that you
normally expect, right. There's there's things that are
require an adjustment, but I think it's there's so many
things that like what you're tackling where it's, it's
doesn't require this huge behavioral change as just under
(08:43):
more of understanding this and Iguess probably from so many bad
products that didn't perform very well getting people to
understand yet it's not the samesustainable product from 15
years ago. It actually works.
Walkman Challenge too, because there have been other competitor
(09:03):
that come out with an inferior product and then that's what
someone will experience and never again will they go back to
another sustainable products. And I'm like, oh, but we
actually, we care so much about our products and product
quality. Like we just launched recently,
not recently, maybe about 18 months ago with bamboo toilet
paper. And toilet paper is very
personal and toilet paper is very kind of, you know, people
(09:25):
have. Very.
Fritz is right. Very picky about their toilet
paper. So you know, there's various
ply, there's two ply, there's three ply.
We've always gone with the highest ply because we believe
it has the best quality. But there's plenty of two ply
out there. So if somebody has used 2 ply,
they may decide, oh, I don't like bamboo toilet paper, but
(09:46):
you haven't tried 3 ply. So there are those kinds of
issues, but across the board, across the board.
So yeah, that's the challenge tojust sort of overcoming that,
the experience that people had with other products that we are
really trying to get people to understand that, no, we make
great products, we really do. And please try us.
Give it at least one more try. Yeah.
(10:07):
You guys do a really broad rangeand, and I guess first great to
give give everyone listening, watching this an idea of just
how all the categories you work in.
And then I would love for you totalk a little bit about what's
the one area that's taken the most to get out there to get
traction. Great question.
(10:29):
So we make all of our products are under the umbrella, I would
say of sort of like eco household goods and everything
we make is, is plant based, is non-toxic and is compostable
within 90 days. Those are sort of the general
criteria. So under that umbrella we're
focused on I would say kind of three areas. 1 is what we call
(10:50):
disposable tabletop, which is like your disposable plates,
your cutlery, cups, straws and much of those are actually made
from up cycled waste products orthe waste product of
agriculture. We call it AG waste.
So instead of throwing away, we're using a waste product to
create another useful product. Then we also operate in kind of
(11:11):
what I would call party. So we do these really cool like
wine cups without a stem. We call them stemless cups.
They're great for events and wedding, etcetera.
We do red cup like alternative to the ubiquitous solar red cup,
but ours is paper fiber based, has no plastic lining.
It's awesome actually. And then we also operate in
(11:31):
kitchen and bath, so we do trashbags as well as bamboo toilet
paper and bamboo paper towel. So we always sort of look to
expand in those three general areas which cover a lot of kind
of what you're going to use every day in your home.
The toughest one to kind of, I think overcome that hurdle, I
would say is probably your kitchen trash bag.
(11:55):
So we sell a lot of these smaller compostable trash bags
that people use on their countertop for food scraps and
that kind of thing. But the bag that goes in your
standard kitchen garbage bag, people are used to like thick
plastic, you know, that holds everything, you know.
Yeah, half seats. And, you know, a compostable
(12:16):
bag. It just isn't, you know, if we
were to have that kind of weight, it would just be price
prohibitive. So in order to compete on price
and kind of all the things, it is a little bit thinner.
It's not sort of like apples to apples with a tall kitchen bag.
So that would make a little moreeffort to kind of be like, OK, I
understand what I'm getting into.
I know what to expect. All the other products actually
(12:39):
I think many of them are superior like our plates and our
bowls are thicker than what you would use for a standard
conventional. They're more.
Durable. Oh interest.
Yeah. I mean, they're more durable
because we're just what they're made from.
We use upcycled sugar cane, so once the sugar industry, they
extract juice from the cane, butthen the cane is typically
burned sometimes for like. Right about that, Yeah, it's a
(13:01):
massive waste. Yeah, it's waste.
So we will use that. It's actually very strong.
Those fibers are really strong. We also use post industrial
recycled wood chips to give it like that extra durability.
So it's very it's a very premiumproduct, but out of value price.
So that's what's great about those because it's a waste
product or it was it was made from waste product.
Those are great. I mean our straws, our straws
(13:22):
are not paper straws. Our straws are made with a plant
based resin called PHA to canolaseed oil derivatives and it's
feels just like plastic. It's amazing.
But it you know, it doesn't crack, doesn't break, doesn't
get soggy, nothing like that awesome product, compostable
also non-toxic NAPIPA etcetera. So that's a great one.
(13:44):
The Bevitol paper I think is also softer.
I mean way better than standard toilet paper.
It's like up there with Sharp. I love bamboo and my wife and I
are very much into there's some really amazing bamboo towels and
things like that, that you're atfirst you're like bamboo, like
really like at best at the grass, at worst, it's, you know,
it's a really hard stick and you're like this, how in the
(14:06):
world is this? Is this going to feel soft?
And then you and then you use it.
You're like, OK, I get it. It's it's nice.
The great material because like you said, it's like a grass, it
grows like a wheat. So it's it's considered
renewable. You know, you're not if you cut
down bamboo, it grows back very quickly versus, you know,
cutting down an old growth for us, it does not grow back.
(14:28):
You're losing by whatever. See it affects the entire kind
of microclimate, etcetera. So it's much more sustainable to
use bamboo than, you know, virgin paper for any of these
things or, you know, other textiles.
It's funny you mentioned that the plastic bag thing because
what I I noticed you're just in our household.
We've slowly transitioned. All of our plastic bags are now
(14:52):
recyclable or biodegradable. Actually we finally gotten to
that point and the kitchen 1 wasthe last one we started with
poop bags. Feel like that's an easy
entryway? Is the poop.
Bags like it doesn't have to hold up very long.
We don't really care. We know it's immediately getting
thrown away like OK, that's easy.
And then you're like wait like this actually it doesn't fall
(15:13):
apart in 30 seconds like it's and then it was like the
bathroom trash container they'resmaller nowhere you're not
putting, you know half a watermelon it's gone bad or
something in it. So you're like, you know it can
handle the weight and then eventually it's OK.
Now we'll we've used it long enough we finally will trust it
in our kitchen trash and now we're like OK, this is great
(15:36):
This is we feel way better aboutit.
But it's funny you mention that because it's just we're very
conscious about this stuff and it took us a while before we got
to that. Absolutely.
It's just it's a different experience.
So that's just the one where it's not such like a one to one
swap where you're like, oh, OK, I just swapped this out, no
problem, easy swap. It's not the same as a thick
(15:57):
plastic bag. It's not.
Yes, hey, it's your host, Ian. I'm really glad you're enjoying
this episode. I absolutely love highlighting
amazing brands and founders for the awesome things they are
doing. I've helped hundreds of
entrepreneurs and businesses like yours turn their boldest
ideas into powerful, purpose driven brands.
(16:18):
So if you're serious about building a brand people love,
like our guests and clients too,and one that you're proud to
stand behind, I invite you to dive a bit deeper with our book
Conscious Design in Zag. You'll discover the exact
framework and steps we use to help entrepreneurs like you turn
purpose into a powerful, impact driven brand.
Brand that stands out, tracks loyal customers and drive
(16:39):
sustainable growth with social and environmental responsibility
woven into its DNA. Grab your copy today.
You can find it on our website, consciousdesignhouse.com or just
find the link below in the show notes.
Enjoy the rest of the episode and don't forget to like,
subscribe and share. You mentioned biodegradability
(17:03):
in 90 days or less, and this is a topic that a lot of people get
confusion on because there's like industrial composting
versus throw it in the ground. And I noticed that you guys are
actually approved that you can go into the loamy, which we
actually I had them on a couple months ago, I believe amazing
(17:25):
products. So I'd love for you to talk a
little bit about how like what can't do you?
Can you just toss it in your yard?
I mean, not that you want to do that with your trash, but as far
as like biodegrading, how quickly and easily does can you
use it for compost? Yeah, great question.
So there's sort of three types like you outlined, industrially
compostable, which means it likely goes into your municipal
(17:48):
compost system, gets picked up in your green bin kind of thing.
The home compost is either there's many different kinds of
home compost. You may have a backyard pile,
you may have an actual compost, you know, bin or a Tumblr or
what have you. It really depends on where you
live and how much humidity, how much kind of moisture and
(18:08):
aeration. So oxygen hits the compost.
So if you got a really big compost pile, products can
disintegrate like in several months if it's winter time and
then in a cold climate, nothing's compost.
You know it's not not gonna. Oh.
Yeah, nothing. Nothing's doing that anyway.
Naturally, yeah, there is actually a European
(18:30):
certification right now called TUV and that is this.
There is an independent third party certifier that basically
does testing. It says within 12 months your
product will break down in a backyard situation.
What's tough however is there's so many different sort of
climactic regions here in the USthat what's going to happen in
(18:52):
Alaska is not going to happen inFlorida etcetera.
I can't give like a definitive time frame, but they are
designed to break down within that 12 month period for the
four products that are home compostable.
Not all of our products are homecompostable, but about 75% of
our portfolio it's. Amazing.
OK, so you're able to get a majority of your stuff to?
Actually, your stuff is home backyard.
(19:12):
Yes, from a material standpoint for you, one of the question
that comes up is like how have you picked between the material?
Like what has made you have to pick an industrial only versus a
backyard? Some of it is, I'd say product
durability and products characteristics.
So those are the two things. If you want something clear,
(19:33):
like a clear cup, for example, or isn't currently a home
compostable clear option, you can get something that is opaque
or a solid but fully clear is not yet available as a material
for home compostability. So that's one.
And so our wine cups, for example, are industrially
compostable. And then our cutlery, we
(19:55):
actually moved to a home compostable option.
But previously to get that durability, you needed, you
know, an industrial compost withvery high levels of heat,
humidity and oxygen to break it down because you wanted that
like thick, durable. Fork and knife, right?
But now. Yeah, you're thinking with
foods. It's advanced such that actually
the with an industrial composterit's less than 90 days and in
(20:18):
the home certification it's within one year.
OK, amazing. So you're able to move now your
color is home combo. Yeah.
We are actually material agnostic is what we say.
So we are always kind of workingwith and looking for the latest
and greatest kind of technology to apply to our products.
So we shift as the technology shifts, which is great because
(20:41):
then we're not stuck with a 10 year old technology 10 years
from now when been so many amazing advances.
We want to always kind of view that piece to the consumer that,
you know, they know that our brand represents kind of the
latest innovation and quality and durability and
affordability. They can trust what we're giving
them. Yes.
So it sounds like you're the person if I invent some new
(21:03):
better sustainable materials, I should bring it to you and be
like, hey, what can you, what can you use this for?
Can we? Can you swap it exactly?
Yeah. So we have all these incredible
retail partners. We've got all these, you know,
online customers that love our products.
And if, you know, if we're launching something new, we were
sure to communicate that and say, hey, this is something new.
(21:24):
It's different than what you purchased before.
But we believe in the quality and it's just as good as what
you've used in the past and it'smore sustainable because of
these reasons. So they often get excited about
that. I mean, they'll be the first to
be able to release this new stuff.
Well, I would assume that that really helps because you've
already built that brand to brand relationship you have.
(21:45):
I saw you guys at Costco and Whole Foods and like you have
some really big brands and if you've already built that trust,
you know your product isn't getting returned every time.
Every time somebody buys it, people actually like it, then
you're able to leverage that more to go, Hey, there is this
new technology. We haven't failed you before,
(22:05):
right? Whereas, you know, if I'm a, if
I'm a brand new startup with no,no relationship, it's a lot
harder to it's a. Lot better.
It's me putting my own horn rather than you guys going.
Yeah, we tested it. We made it.
Here's the. Product.
It's, I mean, we do quite rigorous testing because we have
a lot of different sort of technology companies approaching
(22:26):
us and we're always interested to learn kind of, you know, how
we could potentially work with them.
And if the product is great and the quality is great and the
price is, is reasonable and something that we think our
customers can afford, like if there's no price impact, we're
very interested in partnering with those groups because that's
what we're all about. How do we get more sustainable
(22:46):
products out in the market and they kind of reduce people's
reliance on these conventional products?
Right. I feel like your model is a
little bit different. Most running this podcast, we
talk to a lot of different companies and a lot of times
it's a company develops materialand then they develop a product
and they try to vertically kind of integrate everything.
(23:08):
Whereas your model is more of wedon't care where it comes from
as long as better, more sustainable, delivers the same
performance or better, we want to use it and make our products
with it. Yeah.
I think for us, we've taken thatapproach because we really
consider ourselves a brand firstand foremost.
And so we want to be able to usethat platform and that brand to
(23:31):
kind of the needle with these new and amazing technologies.
Most of these technology companies are eager to
commercialize and we could do that, you know, very quickly
with them. It gives them that leg up
instead of having to do all thatwork themselves, right?
How? Product category kind of looking
forward, are you planning to stay?
Is this your focus or are you looking to expand beyond the
(23:54):
home food kind of category? Yeah, great question.
We're. Always looking to expand as we
always grow. So but it's got to make sense I
think for the brand, right? Like we have a lot of different
offers for different various technologies or product
categories that we feel that maybe don't make sense or too
far of a stretch. So there's some items that we're
(24:15):
working on currently that I can't share, but you know, they
fall under those basic umbrellas.
What do you use at home all the time?
And some also some interesting new products that maybe aren't
in your sort of everyday arsenalthat could be really useful and
helpful to you that are very sustainable.
So we always, you know, I think being a company that stands for
sustainability, but making single use items is sort of a
(24:37):
difficult position at times. And our motto is really kind of
like reuse first. You should always reuse when you
can. You know, that should be from
sustainability perspective. Reuse is #1 but there's so many
occasions when you cannot reuse or where you need to have these
options that we are the most sustainable option after reuse.
So that's really where we fall in.
(24:58):
So anything that is sort of like, OK, well, if I can't
reuse, there's not a reasonable option or it's just extremely
inconvenient to do So what is itthe repurpose can provide in
that need? Yeah, I agree if.
You can reuse. If you can do that then that's
ideal because it's just better investment for your money anyway
to buy one thing and use it forever like that.
(25:19):
Much more sustainable. As well, I mean, I reuse as much
as that's kind of the first thing like what we use first and
foremost over and over again. And you know, is it made out of
material that doesn't leach toxin?
OK, great. Now that now that I have that,
you know, but there are occasions all the time where I
have to use repurpose or it's just like significantly more
(25:41):
convenient. Like I'm having 20 people over,
I don't have 20 wine glasses or I don't have like 20 forks
hanging around. So it's just much more
convenient. Kids, birthday parties, you.
Don't I mean like it's endless? I think it is a little naive to
say like, oh, let's just reuse everything.
There's just not, it's just not an option.
(26:03):
So given the modern world we live in, what can we swap for
these single use items that are really sustainable?
And that's where we come in. I love that idea, right?
If you're rather than trying to just make everything a single
use, it's really you're really focusing on what has to be a
single use. Yes, exactly because.
(26:24):
Of our. Consumer behavior and just like
you said, our modern day what people expect, right?
And I think back to, you know, picking stuff that makes it for
the most part, really not have to change your behavior because
I feel like that's, that's one of the biggest hurdles for
people to get into sustainability products has.
And, you know, if you have to add 15 steps to what you're
(26:46):
doing, it's really hard, really hard to get someone to even at
the same cost if you're spendingmore time doing it right.
Whereas you know, the things that you're offering are, well,
it there's, it's a direct replacement.
You're actually replacing something you're already used to
using. You're already know how to, you
already know how to use it. You don't have to learn
(27:06):
something new. And it's going to be more
sustainable. And, and you know, at least from
what I see, you're able to be inthat price point to where it's
not that financial hurdle. Oh, it's 10 times more expensive
to buy this and I have to be rich and care about
sustainability to to be able to even think about buying this.
(27:29):
Absolutely do not want that. As you've.
You've been doing this a while now.
What have you seen change like in in the sustainability
category for this and over the last few years?
And I guess do you have any thoughts on like how, how this
category is moving forward? Because I've I have my own
(27:52):
thoughts I'll add, but I would love to hear, love to hear your
thoughts on just this really. One of the sort of the proudest
achievements, I would say is that the majority of the
category is now sort of sustainably positioned or at
least using some kind of sustainable material.
So even that the large conventional players, the brands
(28:12):
that we were trying to trying todisrupt have adopted some kind
of sustainability aspect in their products, they're not even
positioning them and all you know, here's our sustainable
line. It's just that their products
everyday are more sustainable and the whole categories been
that way. So and, and the retailers, the
very large retailers like your Targets and your Walmarts and
(28:34):
your Costco's are demanding it. And so it's exciting to, you
know, so you actually think the.Retailer side is, demand is or
materials are. Requiring it are demanding it,
the consumers are demanding it. The categories going that way,
the largest players, the largestmanufacturers are incorporating
it into their products every day.
So to kind of be the the spark that kind of lit that fire is
(28:59):
really awesome. I feel very, very proud about
that. Yeah.
I mean, that's a. That's a huge achievement to
right There's always a goal whenyou go, hey, we want to disrupt
something. Doesn't necessarily mean that
you need to become the £500 gorilla in the category.
You just need to get all the ones that are to start moving
(29:19):
with you. Yes, exactly.
It's amazing to see. So I mean, on one hand, yes,
there's more competition, but onthe other hand I think we built
a nice ourselves and a nice brand platform and we play
alongside all these huge players.
So rising tide raises all boats.Yeah, exactly.
Looking forward to this transition.
(29:40):
It sounds like the market as a whole is really more adopting in
it. And I've kind of noticed, you
know, in the last 10 years, 10 years ago, you could just say
build more sustainable product or something like that and you
get a lot of attention. But now there's more that kind
of expectation of, oh, you are producing a product, what
(30:01):
sustainable things do are you including?
How are you addressing, addressing that?
I'm curious if you've seen the same kind of thing and start
with that. Yeah, I think now.
There are federal guidelines that outline kind of what you
can and can't say. So you can't just use these big
words like natural or eco friendly.
You actually have to quantify orqualify kind of like what makes
(30:24):
your product sustainable. And then also you need third
party independent certification to say it is certified, for
example, organic. That's and for us, it's
certified composable or certified bio base.
You can't just say, oh, let you know it's made from natural
materials without actually having a certification or that
actually outlining what it's made from.
So these are really strict guidelines.
(30:45):
They're legally enforced and I think it's great because it
prevents people from what they call greenwashing, where making
these outrageous claims that aren't verified right just.
Coloring it green and letting people imagine imagine that it
is now what's interesting too. Is, at least in California, you
can't use the word biodegradableon your products because, yeah,
(31:08):
you have to use the term compostable because compostable
has a testing method and has a timeline and you know, it has to
adhere to that testing method and timeline.
Biodegradable. I mean, like everything in the
world is biodegradable. Technically your desk is
biodegradable. You know, the the token.
It's just a matter of how long. It'll take 1000 hours.
Right. But like, yeah, there's no
(31:29):
distinct timeline. So I think people understand
that term really widely and theyuse it all the time.
And it's kind of like a great marketing term, but we actually
can't say it on a product or even like describe it, use it as
a descriptive word or anything like that.
Interesting. Yeah, as much as I do, I love
the word biodegradable. Yeah, it says a nice, it's
sounds nice, right, Compostable.I feel like has a little bit of
(31:51):
like, oh, you're on a farm or something, It's a little bit
less night. But I.
Do like that it it is more is quantifiable.
So I'll I mean hopefully hope that the IT comes federally as
well that this actually has a you can define it because
(32:11):
there's a good point right? Yeah, it is biodegradable.
Over the next 400,000 years it will.
Congratulations. Yeah, it will.
Eventually. So yeah.
That kind of clarity, which I wasn't, I wasn't aware that they
had actually passed that to makeit not possible to you,
California, I believe. In other states you can, but
(32:32):
there's some. I actually can't recall which
other states prohibit saying biodegradable, but because we
sell nationwide, we just go withthat one item and don't say
about a great more, right. Well, yeah, that seems.
To save us bet good, good to do that yeah well, I mean, this has
been really great chatting with you I love love what you guys
(32:54):
are doing I love you're taking this technology material
agnostic approach and really just being able to roll with
technology change and not getting trapped.
I think that's it's huge for huge, especially the area,
especially there's. Yeah, yeah.
So love what you're doing there for people that want to reach
(33:15):
out, find you guys pitch you a new new material to have you
guys possibly look at or you know, just buy your products.
What's the best website social? Like where?
Where's the best place for someone to reach out WWW.
Dot repurpose.com Socials are atRepurpose.
You can find us in about 15,000 stores nationwide.
(33:38):
Whole Foods, Kroger, Albertsons,Bosco, Target, kind of
everywhere you shop. So come find us.
Try us out. Amazon.
Yeah, all the places. All the places.
Love it and for everybody listening and watching, there
will be a links in the description for all of that.
And I really appreciate your time, Lauren, this has been
really fun chatting with you. Love what you're doing.
(34:00):
Excited to see what you do in the next 15 years.
Oh, thanks. Thanks.
So much great to be here. And that wraps up another.
Episode of the Conscious Design Podcast.
If today's episode inspired you to bring your product idea to
life and turn it into a sustainable 7 figure business,
visit petermanfirm.com or click the link below.
Your ideas have the power to change the world and we're here
(34:23):
to help make that happen. Thank you for joining us, and
I'll see you on the next episode.
And if the product is great and the quality is great and the
price is reasonable, it's something that we think our
customers can afford because that's what we're all about.
How do we get more sustainable products out in the market and
reduce people's reliance on these conventional products?
(00:20):
Hello and welcome to the Conscious Design podcast.
I'm your host, Ian Peterman and I help turn product ideas into
sustainable 7 figure businesses.Join me for another episode
where sustainability meets innovation and business savvy.
Today I'm really excited to haveLauren Grover.
She's the Co founder and CEO at Repurpose.
They're a company that creates plant based, not toxic
(00:41):
alternatives to single use products to make your life
easier. Welcome to the show.
Thanks, Ian. It's good to be here.
Yeah. So everybody loves a good origin
story. So let's talk a little bit about
how in single use plastics, it'snot a small thing to tackle.
It is very large. So how did you guys decide that
(01:04):
that's what you wanted to tackleand you're going to launch a
whole company to try to help us fix that problem?
Yeah. So we've been around now about
almost 15 years and I think I'vebeen bearing into sustainability
my whole life since I was a kid.I actually studied environmental
studies in college and did a bunch of work in the
(01:26):
environmental field. After college.
On the policy side, I did some ecotourism work, but I didn't
really find, I think, my passionuntil I had done a bunch of
global travel and then really fell in love with design and our
sure and started digging into sustainable design and fell in
love with sustainable design, green building.
(01:47):
Ended up going to grad school inNew York studying environmental
design and planning, and that's when I just knew I'd kind of
found the passion. Really loved that field.
Had worked in the green buildingfield in New York, mostly a
little bit in Toronto as well, and had this random opportunity
to come to LA just over 15 yearsago to do work with sustainable
(02:10):
sex. So film and TV sets.
They're looking at kind of the fact of the design of the sets,
the energy use, the water use, the waste, etcetera, and sort of
like, how could we produce more at the time?
Amazing. I haven't even thought about
that. A whole, yeah, I mean, most
people didn't, but I was workingactually with an actor at the
time in New York on his home, and he happened to be pretty
(02:33):
active on ATV show back in the day and was interested in kind
of looking at how we could make the TV show a little more
sustainable. So that's how it all kind of
came to be. So Fast forward, we're on the
sets and one of the big issues to tackle on sets is waste
because you're constantly breaking and constantly having
a, you know, it's it's fast, it's transient, and you're using
(02:53):
some of these plastics all day. At the, at least at the time we
were, which felt to me like, Oh my God, why are we putting all
this effort into making a set more sustainable, but at the
same time breaking for meals andusing plastic all day long?
So it really just started out honestly as a research project,
like what else is out there? And I think having a sustainable
(03:16):
design background the is what I think gave me that perspective
to look for something different.Because the conventional
products that still exist today use petroleum.
So they're digging A finite resource out of the ground to
make something that we use for 5minutes and that didn't make any
sense to me. And then it also lasts forever
in a landfill, not to mention microplastics, not to mention
(03:40):
plastics in the ocean, not to mention P Foss.
So at the time, I honestly didn't know anything about any
of those issues, but it just from a design perspective, felt
like we weren't thinking about circularity at all.
And I wanted to kind of apply certain circularity and those
super design principles to this product category.
(04:00):
So the research project kind of became this second passion where
I just thought, wow, we could just find a better alternative
that wasn't so toxic or so wasteful.
That would be great. And there were some alternatives
at the time, early kind of earlydays of plant based compostable
products. They were so expensive and they
(04:22):
also didn't perform very well. So you had, you know, there were
various like plates made out of bamboo or sugar cane, things
like that, corn based cups and starch based cutlery.
But you know, the cutlery melted, the plates would seep
through with grease, or there was just nothing really was as
good as the conventional plasticalternative or foam alternative.
(04:45):
So I just put it on the shelf for a minute and thought, OK,
well, if it could be sort of priced similarly, if the
performance could be the same asconventional products, then
maybe there would be something. And I happened to meet someone
who had a connection to manufacturers in Taiwan who are
making these types of products. Taiwan was well ahead of the US
because they had banned single use plastics in 2006.
(05:09):
So by the and that's really. Out of.
The curve, yeah, they were way out of the curve.
So when I was looking at this in2010, you know, they had already
had these products in the marketin Taiwan for several years.
So I got to meet other manufacturers and an R&D group
working with the manufacturers and they were very keen on
getting these products to the US.
So I just sort of said, well, they need to meet this quality,
(05:30):
they need to meet this price point.
If you can do that, there's something there.
And that was really how we purpose was born.
And then in talking to various friends and colleagues, they
sort of said, Lauren, this is not just a research project,
This can be a business can create a brand out of this.
I think I was very excited aboutthe idea of creating a brand
(05:50):
also because I think of my design background and didn't
know anything about consumer products, didn't know anything
about kind of the grocery industry or like, how do you get
your products onto a shelf? But I was just very young and
very naive and thought, well, ofcourse, you know, I'm going to
try. So that was always vision, you
know, create a brand around thiscategory of products, use this
(06:12):
really cool technology and deliver a product that was, you
know, not toxic, made from plants, can compost within 90
days and be available at a pricepoint that people can afford.
So not some niche Hyman product.We really want it to be kind of
an everyday product that everybody could use.
And why can't people get these products in their homes?
(06:34):
So this was around we we'd incorporated in 2010, but really
hit the market in 2012. And for us, it was all about
kind of like, how do we deliver on that promise?
How do we create this like fun and exciting brand that people
can really rally behind because they they know they're getting a
great product at a great price and it's super sustainable.
(06:54):
And I think at the time, you know, you saw this kind of
increase in organic food and increase in organic baby
products and, you know, cleaningproducts that were more
sustainable or or non-toxic. And so about like if you're
going to go to the effort to create a healthy home in a
non-toxic home, like why are youbringing plastic and foam into
(07:15):
your home? This should be the next
extension of that helping out orto work.
Taking, you know, just little bowls, forks and you're using it
at work. Or work.
Yeah, it's just it's ripe for disruption and why isn't anybody
doing it? And we should be the ones to do
it though. You know, it was very exciting
at that time. And we were a little early, I
think in terms of market readiness, you know, hitting the
(07:36):
market in 2012, there was, you know, sort of that kind of like
early adopter, highly interestedin sustainability subset of
consumers, but it certainly was not mass.
There was not like a mass appealfor sustainability in this
category. So it was a big uphill battle #1
to get kind of retail buyers andjust should #2 to, to get even,
(08:00):
you know, consumers sort of excited about what we're doing
on a mass scale. So that's been a big piece of
our journey too, is just education and awareness.
Right, well, it's it's a whole and I feel like your products
don't require a big change in behavior, which has been one of
the biggest. There's a lot of other companies
(08:21):
that are developing, you know, like you were talking about
cleaning solutions where it's you know it's a pellet, right,
you're putting in the water and then become soap that you
normally expect, right. There's there's things that are
require an adjustment, but I think it's there's so many
things that like what you're tackling where it's, it's
doesn't require this huge behavioral change as just under
(08:43):
more of understanding this and Iguess probably from so many bad
products that didn't perform very well getting people to
understand yet it's not the samesustainable product from 15
years ago. It actually works.
Walkman Challenge too, because there have been other competitor
(09:03):
that come out with an inferior product and then that's what
someone will experience and never again will they go back to
another sustainable products. And I'm like, oh, but we
actually, we care so much about our products and product
quality. Like we just launched recently,
not recently, maybe about 18 months ago with bamboo toilet
paper. And toilet paper is very
personal and toilet paper is very kind of, you know, people
(09:25):
have. Very.
Fritz is right. Very picky about their toilet
paper. So you know, there's various
ply, there's two ply, there's three ply.
We've always gone with the highest ply because we believe
it has the best quality. But there's plenty of two ply
out there. So if somebody has used 2 ply,
they may decide, oh, I don't like bamboo toilet paper, but
(09:46):
you haven't tried 3 ply. So there are those kinds of
issues, but across the board, across the board.
So yeah, that's the challenge tojust sort of overcoming that,
the experience that people had with other products that we are
really trying to get people to understand that, no, we make
great products, we really do. And please try us.
Give it at least one more try. Yeah.
(10:07):
You guys do a really broad rangeand, and I guess first great to
give give everyone listening, watching this an idea of just
how all the categories you work in.
And then I would love for you totalk a little bit about what's
the one area that's taken the most to get out there to get
traction. Great question.
(10:29):
So we make all of our products are under the umbrella, I would
say of sort of like eco household goods and everything
we make is, is plant based, is non-toxic and is compostable
within 90 days. Those are sort of the general
criteria. So under that umbrella we're
focused on I would say kind of three areas. 1 is what we call
(10:50):
disposable tabletop, which is like your disposable plates,
your cutlery, cups, straws and much of those are actually made
from up cycled waste products orthe waste product of
agriculture. We call it AG waste.
So instead of throwing away, we're using a waste product to
create another useful product. Then we also operate in kind of
(11:11):
what I would call party. So we do these really cool like
wine cups without a stem. We call them stemless cups.
They're great for events and wedding, etcetera.
We do red cup like alternative to the ubiquitous solar red cup,
but ours is paper fiber based, has no plastic lining.
It's awesome actually. And then we also operate in
(11:31):
kitchen and bath, so we do trashbags as well as bamboo toilet
paper and bamboo paper towel. So we always sort of look to
expand in those three general areas which cover a lot of kind
of what you're going to use every day in your home.
The toughest one to kind of, I think overcome that hurdle, I
would say is probably your kitchen trash bag.
(11:55):
So we sell a lot of these smaller compostable trash bags
that people use on their countertop for food scraps and
that kind of thing. But the bag that goes in your
standard kitchen garbage bag, people are used to like thick
plastic, you know, that holds everything, you know.
Yeah, half seats. And, you know, a compostable
(12:16):
bag. It just isn't, you know, if we
were to have that kind of weight, it would just be price
prohibitive. So in order to compete on price
and kind of all the things, it is a little bit thinner.
It's not sort of like apples to apples with a tall kitchen bag.
So that would make a little moreeffort to kind of be like, OK, I
understand what I'm getting into.
I know what to expect. All the other products actually
(12:39):
I think many of them are superior like our plates and our
bowls are thicker than what you would use for a standard
conventional. They're more.
Durable. Oh interest.
Yeah. I mean, they're more durable
because we're just what they're made from.
We use upcycled sugar cane, so once the sugar industry, they
extract juice from the cane, butthen the cane is typically
burned sometimes for like. Right about that, Yeah, it's a
(13:01):
massive waste. Yeah, it's waste.
So we will use that. It's actually very strong.
Those fibers are really strong. We also use post industrial
recycled wood chips to give it like that extra durability.
So it's very it's a very premiumproduct, but out of value price.
So that's what's great about those because it's a waste
product or it was it was made from waste product.
Those are great. I mean our straws, our straws
(13:22):
are not paper straws. Our straws are made with a plant
based resin called PHA to canolaseed oil derivatives and it's
feels just like plastic. It's amazing.
But it you know, it doesn't crack, doesn't break, doesn't
get soggy, nothing like that awesome product, compostable
also non-toxic NAPIPA etcetera. So that's a great one.
(13:44):
The Bevitol paper I think is also softer.
I mean way better than standard toilet paper.
It's like up there with Sharp. I love bamboo and my wife and I
are very much into there's some really amazing bamboo towels and
things like that, that you're atfirst you're like bamboo, like
really like at best at the grass, at worst, it's, you know,
it's a really hard stick and you're like this, how in the
(14:06):
world is this? Is this going to feel soft?
And then you and then you use it.
You're like, OK, I get it. It's it's nice.
The great material because like you said, it's like a grass, it
grows like a wheat. So it's it's considered
renewable. You know, you're not if you cut
down bamboo, it grows back very quickly versus, you know,
cutting down an old growth for us, it does not grow back.
(14:28):
You're losing by whatever. See it affects the entire kind
of microclimate, etcetera. So it's much more sustainable to
use bamboo than, you know, virgin paper for any of these
things or, you know, other textiles.
It's funny you mentioned that the plastic bag thing because
what I I noticed you're just in our household.
We've slowly transitioned. All of our plastic bags are now
(14:52):
recyclable or biodegradable. Actually we finally gotten to
that point and the kitchen 1 wasthe last one we started with
poop bags. Feel like that's an easy
entryway? Is the poop.
Bags like it doesn't have to hold up very long.
We don't really care. We know it's immediately getting
thrown away like OK, that's easy.
And then you're like wait like this actually it doesn't fall
(15:13):
apart in 30 seconds like it's and then it was like the
bathroom trash container they'resmaller nowhere you're not
putting, you know half a watermelon it's gone bad or
something in it. So you're like, you know it can
handle the weight and then eventually it's OK.
Now we'll we've used it long enough we finally will trust it
in our kitchen trash and now we're like OK, this is great
(15:36):
This is we feel way better aboutit.
But it's funny you mention that because it's just we're very
conscious about this stuff and it took us a while before we got
to that. Absolutely.
It's just it's a different experience.
So that's just the one where it's not such like a one to one
swap where you're like, oh, OK, I just swapped this out, no
problem, easy swap. It's not the same as a thick
(15:57):
plastic bag. It's not.
Yes, hey, it's your host, Ian. I'm really glad you're enjoying
this episode. I absolutely love highlighting
amazing brands and founders for the awesome things they are
doing. I've helped hundreds of
entrepreneurs and businesses like yours turn their boldest
ideas into powerful, purpose driven brands.
(16:18):
So if you're serious about building a brand people love,
like our guests and clients too,and one that you're proud to
stand behind, I invite you to dive a bit deeper with our book
Conscious Design in Zag. You'll discover the exact
framework and steps we use to help entrepreneurs like you turn
purpose into a powerful, impact driven brand.
Brand that stands out, tracks loyal customers and drive
(16:39):
sustainable growth with social and environmental responsibility
woven into its DNA. Grab your copy today.
You can find it on our website, consciousdesignhouse.com or just
find the link below in the show notes.
Enjoy the rest of the episode and don't forget to like,
subscribe and share. You mentioned biodegradability
(17:03):
in 90 days or less, and this is a topic that a lot of people get
confusion on because there's like industrial composting
versus throw it in the ground. And I noticed that you guys are
actually approved that you can go into the loamy, which we
actually I had them on a couple months ago, I believe amazing
(17:25):
products. So I'd love for you to talk a
little bit about how like what can't do you?
Can you just toss it in your yard?
I mean, not that you want to do that with your trash, but as far
as like biodegrading, how quickly and easily does can you
use it for compost? Yeah, great question.
So there's sort of three types like you outlined, industrially
compostable, which means it likely goes into your municipal
(17:48):
compost system, gets picked up in your green bin kind of thing.
The home compost is either there's many different kinds of
home compost. You may have a backyard pile,
you may have an actual compost, you know, bin or a Tumblr or
what have you. It really depends on where you
live and how much humidity, how much kind of moisture and
(18:08):
aeration. So oxygen hits the compost.
So if you got a really big compost pile, products can
disintegrate like in several months if it's winter time and
then in a cold climate, nothing's compost.
You know it's not not gonna. Oh.
Yeah, nothing. Nothing's doing that anyway.
Naturally, yeah, there is actually a European
(18:30):
certification right now called TUV and that is this.
There is an independent third party certifier that basically
does testing. It says within 12 months your
product will break down in a backyard situation.
What's tough however is there's so many different sort of
climactic regions here in the USthat what's going to happen in
(18:52):
Alaska is not going to happen inFlorida etcetera.
I can't give like a definitive time frame, but they are
designed to break down within that 12 month period for the
four products that are home compostable.
Not all of our products are homecompostable, but about 75% of
our portfolio it's. Amazing.
OK, so you're able to get a majority of your stuff to?
Actually, your stuff is home backyard.
(19:12):
Yes, from a material standpoint for you, one of the question
that comes up is like how have you picked between the material?
Like what has made you have to pick an industrial only versus a
backyard? Some of it is, I'd say product
durability and products characteristics.
So those are the two things. If you want something clear,
(19:33):
like a clear cup, for example, or isn't currently a home
compostable clear option, you can get something that is opaque
or a solid but fully clear is not yet available as a material
for home compostability. So that's one.
And so our wine cups, for example, are industrially
compostable. And then our cutlery, we
(19:55):
actually moved to a home compostable option.
But previously to get that durability, you needed, you
know, an industrial compost withvery high levels of heat,
humidity and oxygen to break it down because you wanted that
like thick, durable. Fork and knife, right?
But now. Yeah, you're thinking with
foods. It's advanced such that actually
the with an industrial composterit's less than 90 days and in
(20:18):
the home certification it's within one year.
OK, amazing. So you're able to move now your
color is home combo. Yeah.
We are actually material agnostic is what we say.
So we are always kind of workingwith and looking for the latest
and greatest kind of technology to apply to our products.
So we shift as the technology shifts, which is great because
(20:41):
then we're not stuck with a 10 year old technology 10 years
from now when been so many amazing advances.
We want to always kind of view that piece to the consumer that,
you know, they know that our brand represents kind of the
latest innovation and quality and durability and
affordability. They can trust what we're giving
them. Yes.
So it sounds like you're the person if I invent some new
(21:03):
better sustainable materials, I should bring it to you and be
like, hey, what can you, what can you use this for?
Can we? Can you swap it exactly?
Yeah. So we have all these incredible
retail partners. We've got all these, you know,
online customers that love our products.
And if, you know, if we're launching something new, we were
sure to communicate that and say, hey, this is something new.
(21:24):
It's different than what you purchased before.
But we believe in the quality and it's just as good as what
you've used in the past and it'smore sustainable because of
these reasons. So they often get excited about
that. I mean, they'll be the first to
be able to release this new stuff.
Well, I would assume that that really helps because you've
already built that brand to brand relationship you have.
(21:45):
I saw you guys at Costco and Whole Foods and like you have
some really big brands and if you've already built that trust,
you know your product isn't getting returned every time.
Every time somebody buys it, people actually like it, then
you're able to leverage that more to go, Hey, there is this
new technology. We haven't failed you before,
(22:05):
right? Whereas, you know, if I'm a, if
I'm a brand new startup with no,no relationship, it's a lot
harder to it's a. Lot better.
It's me putting my own horn rather than you guys going.
Yeah, we tested it. We made it.
Here's the. Product.
It's, I mean, we do quite rigorous testing because we have
a lot of different sort of technology companies approaching
(22:26):
us and we're always interested to learn kind of, you know, how
we could potentially work with them.
And if the product is great and the quality is great and the
price is, is reasonable and something that we think our
customers can afford, like if there's no price impact, we're
very interested in partnering with those groups because that's
what we're all about. How do we get more sustainable
(22:46):
products out in the market and they kind of reduce people's
reliance on these conventional products?
Right. I feel like your model is a
little bit different. Most running this podcast, we
talk to a lot of different companies and a lot of times
it's a company develops materialand then they develop a product
and they try to vertically kind of integrate everything.
(23:08):
Whereas your model is more of wedon't care where it comes from
as long as better, more sustainable, delivers the same
performance or better, we want to use it and make our products
with it. Yeah.
I think for us, we've taken thatapproach because we really
consider ourselves a brand firstand foremost.
And so we want to be able to usethat platform and that brand to
(23:31):
kind of the needle with these new and amazing technologies.
Most of these technology companies are eager to
commercialize and we could do that, you know, very quickly
with them. It gives them that leg up
instead of having to do all thatwork themselves, right?
How? Product category kind of looking
forward, are you planning to stay?
Is this your focus or are you looking to expand beyond the
(23:54):
home food kind of category? Yeah, great question.
We're. Always looking to expand as we
always grow. So but it's got to make sense I
think for the brand, right? Like we have a lot of different
offers for different various technologies or product
categories that we feel that maybe don't make sense or too
far of a stretch. So there's some items that we're
(24:15):
working on currently that I can't share, but you know, they
fall under those basic umbrellas.
What do you use at home all the time?
And some also some interesting new products that maybe aren't
in your sort of everyday arsenalthat could be really useful and
helpful to you that are very sustainable.
So we always, you know, I think being a company that stands for
sustainability, but making single use items is sort of a
(24:37):
difficult position at times. And our motto is really kind of
like reuse first. You should always reuse when you
can. You know, that should be from
sustainability perspective. Reuse is #1 but there's so many
occasions when you cannot reuse or where you need to have these
options that we are the most sustainable option after reuse.
So that's really where we fall in.
(24:58):
So anything that is sort of like, OK, well, if I can't
reuse, there's not a reasonable option or it's just extremely
inconvenient to do So what is itthe repurpose can provide in
that need? Yeah, I agree if.
You can reuse. If you can do that then that's
ideal because it's just better investment for your money anyway
to buy one thing and use it forever like that.
(25:19):
Much more sustainable. As well, I mean, I reuse as much
as that's kind of the first thing like what we use first and
foremost over and over again. And you know, is it made out of
material that doesn't leach toxin?
OK, great. Now that now that I have that,
you know, but there are occasions all the time where I
have to use repurpose or it's just like significantly more
(25:41):
convenient. Like I'm having 20 people over,
I don't have 20 wine glasses or I don't have like 20 forks
hanging around. So it's just much more
convenient. Kids, birthday parties, you.
Don't I mean like it's endless? I think it is a little naive to
say like, oh, let's just reuse everything.
There's just not, it's just not an option.
(26:03):
So given the modern world we live in, what can we swap for
these single use items that are really sustainable?
And that's where we come in. I love that idea, right?
If you're rather than trying to just make everything a single
use, it's really you're really focusing on what has to be a
single use. Yes, exactly because.
(26:24):
Of our. Consumer behavior and just like
you said, our modern day what people expect, right?
And I think back to, you know, picking stuff that makes it for
the most part, really not have to change your behavior because
I feel like that's, that's one of the biggest hurdles for
people to get into sustainability products has.
And, you know, if you have to add 15 steps to what you're
(26:46):
doing, it's really hard, really hard to get someone to even at
the same cost if you're spendingmore time doing it right.
Whereas you know, the things that you're offering are, well,
it there's, it's a direct replacement.
You're actually replacing something you're already used to
using. You're already know how to, you
already know how to use it. You don't have to learn
(27:06):
something new. And it's going to be more
sustainable. And, and you know, at least from
what I see, you're able to be inthat price point to where it's
not that financial hurdle. Oh, it's 10 times more expensive
to buy this and I have to be rich and care about
sustainability to to be able to even think about buying this.
(27:29):
Absolutely do not want that. As you've.
You've been doing this a while now.
What have you seen change like in in the sustainability
category for this and over the last few years?
And I guess do you have any thoughts on like how, how this
category is moving forward? Because I've I have my own
(27:52):
thoughts I'll add, but I would love to hear, love to hear your
thoughts on just this really. One of the sort of the proudest
achievements, I would say is that the majority of the
category is now sort of sustainably positioned or at
least using some kind of sustainable material.
So even that the large conventional players, the brands
(28:12):
that we were trying to trying todisrupt have adopted some kind
of sustainability aspect in their products, they're not even
positioning them and all you know, here's our sustainable
line. It's just that their products
everyday are more sustainable and the whole categories been
that way. So and, and the retailers, the
very large retailers like your Targets and your Walmarts and
(28:34):
your Costco's are demanding it. And so it's exciting to, you
know, so you actually think the.Retailer side is, demand is or
materials are. Requiring it are demanding it,
the consumers are demanding it. The categories going that way,
the largest players, the largestmanufacturers are incorporating
it into their products every day.
So to kind of be the the spark that kind of lit that fire is
(28:59):
really awesome. I feel very, very proud about
that. Yeah.
I mean, that's a. That's a huge achievement to
right There's always a goal whenyou go, hey, we want to disrupt
something. Doesn't necessarily mean that
you need to become the £500 gorilla in the category.
You just need to get all the ones that are to start moving
(29:19):
with you. Yes, exactly.
It's amazing to see. So I mean, on one hand, yes,
there's more competition, but onthe other hand I think we built
a nice ourselves and a nice brand platform and we play
alongside all these huge players.
So rising tide raises all boats.Yeah, exactly.
Looking forward to this transition.
(29:40):
It sounds like the market as a whole is really more adopting in
it. And I've kind of noticed, you
know, in the last 10 years, 10 years ago, you could just say
build more sustainable product or something like that and you
get a lot of attention. But now there's more that kind
of expectation of, oh, you are producing a product, what
(30:01):
sustainable things do are you including?
How are you addressing, addressing that?
I'm curious if you've seen the same kind of thing and start
with that. Yeah, I think now.
There are federal guidelines that outline kind of what you
can and can't say. So you can't just use these big
words like natural or eco friendly.
You actually have to quantify orqualify kind of like what makes
(30:24):
your product sustainable. And then also you need third
party independent certification to say it is certified, for
example, organic. That's and for us, it's
certified composable or certified bio base.
You can't just say, oh, let you know it's made from natural
materials without actually having a certification or that
actually outlining what it's made from.
So these are really strict guidelines.
(30:45):
They're legally enforced and I think it's great because it
prevents people from what they call greenwashing, where making
these outrageous claims that aren't verified right just.
Coloring it green and letting people imagine imagine that it
is now what's interesting too. Is, at least in California, you
can't use the word biodegradableon your products because, yeah,
(31:08):
you have to use the term compostable because compostable
has a testing method and has a timeline and you know, it has to
adhere to that testing method and timeline.
Biodegradable. I mean, like everything in the
world is biodegradable. Technically your desk is
biodegradable. You know, the the token.
It's just a matter of how long. It'll take 1000 hours.
Right. But like, yeah, there's no
(31:29):
distinct timeline. So I think people understand
that term really widely and theyuse it all the time.
And it's kind of like a great marketing term, but we actually
can't say it on a product or even like describe it, use it as
a descriptive word or anything like that.
Interesting. Yeah, as much as I do, I love
the word biodegradable. Yeah, it says a nice, it's
sounds nice, right, Compostable.I feel like has a little bit of
(31:51):
like, oh, you're on a farm or something, It's a little bit
less night. But I.
Do like that it it is more is quantifiable.
So I'll I mean hopefully hope that the IT comes federally as
well that this actually has a you can define it because
(32:11):
there's a good point right? Yeah, it is biodegradable.
Over the next 400,000 years it will.
Congratulations. Yeah, it will.
Eventually. So yeah.
That kind of clarity, which I wasn't, I wasn't aware that they
had actually passed that to makeit not possible to you,
California, I believe. In other states you can, but
(32:32):
there's some. I actually can't recall which
other states prohibit saying biodegradable, but because we
sell nationwide, we just go withthat one item and don't say
about a great more, right. Well, yeah, that seems.
To save us bet good, good to do that yeah well, I mean, this has
been really great chatting with you I love love what you guys
(32:54):
are doing I love you're taking this technology material
agnostic approach and really just being able to roll with
technology change and not getting trapped.
I think that's it's huge for huge, especially the area,
especially there's. Yeah, yeah.
So love what you're doing there for people that want to reach
(33:15):
out, find you guys pitch you a new new material to have you
guys possibly look at or you know, just buy your products.
What's the best website social? Like where?
Where's the best place for someone to reach out WWW.
Dot repurpose.com Socials are atRepurpose.
You can find us in about 15,000 stores nationwide.
(33:38):
Whole Foods, Kroger, Albertsons,Bosco, Target, kind of
everywhere you shop. So come find us.
Try us out. Amazon.
Yeah, all the places. All the places.
Love it and for everybody listening and watching, there
will be a links in the description for all of that.
And I really appreciate your time, Lauren, this has been
really fun chatting with you. Love what you're doing.
(34:00):
Excited to see what you do in the next 15 years.
Oh, thanks. Thanks.
So much great to be here. And that wraps up another.
Episode of the Conscious Design Podcast.
If today's episode inspired you to bring your product idea to
life and turn it into a sustainable 7 figure business,
visit petermanfirm.com or click the link below.
Your ideas have the power to change the world and we're here
(34:23):
to help make that happen. Thank you for joining us, and
I'll see you on the next episode.
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