April 13, 2025 • 30 mins
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Episode Transcript
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Cory Connors (00:00):
Welcome to Sustainable Packaging
(00:01):
with Cory Connors,
Brodie Vander Dussen (00:03):
and I'm Brodie Vander Dussen.
Cory Connors (00:04):
Excited to and amazing people on the
podcast today from Pregis.
We've got Ava Kaspariand Clint Smith.
Ava is the SustainablePackaging Specialist and
Clint is the Director ofGlobal Sustainability.
Welcome to you both.
Eva Caspary (00:22):
Hi, so happy to be here.
Clint Smith (00:24):
Hey, Cory.
Hey, Brody.
Thanks for having us.
Brodie Vander Dusse (00:27):
Absolutely.
I was saying this a littlebit earlier, but I am really
excited about today's episode.
I even I have had a lotof chances to talk about
sustainable packaging and justthe impact that sustainability
can have on the world.
oftentimes those conversationsreally revolve around the direct
impact on the environment,both for better, for worse.
(00:51):
but one thing I think that wecollectively as an industry
maybe don't talk about as muchas I would like is the social
impact of some of these thingsand programs and, how they
really do go hand in hand, in myopinion, with our sustainability
efforts that it's all.
All together.
It's so intertwinedand ingrained.
And so I think One of thereasons I was really excited
(01:14):
about this is because Ava,you and Clint have had such a
great experience, at PreGIS,and you guys have some really
cool programs going on andhave had such a massive impact.
before I get too excitedabout this, let me
backtrack a little bit.
Ava, Clint, for those whodon't know you, maybe can
you give us just a briefbackground as to who you guys
are and what you do at PreGIS?
Eva Caspary (01:36):
Absolutely.
Yeah.
my name is Ava.
I am Corey alreadysaid it's sustainable
packaging specialist.
I'm German originally, so Igrew up in Germany and did
my undergrad in Germany, andthen I came over to Louisiana,
of all places, and got myPhD in chemical engineering.
it's been a really wild ride.
I live in Atlanta now, and Iwork for Pregis, which has been
(01:59):
absolutely my favorite job ever.
I've really been looking fora company that has a purpose
that I can, stand behind.
And Pregis is really goodat that, and I love that.
The people I work withand what we stand for.
So what I do day in and day outis a mixture of a lot of things.
A lot of times I helpour customers, meet their
(02:20):
sustainability goals withour solutions and packaging.
But I also help our partnersunderstand how exactly we
think about sustainabilityand how are these, where,
how we can think aboutthat in all different ways.
Because It is not a 1size fits all thing.
Yeah, and I should dosome internal training
too, which I really enjoy.
(02:40):
What about you, Clint?
Clint Smith (02:42):
Yeah, so similar, Corey's fantastic
job of introducing my title.
next question typically thatI get is what does that mean?
global sustainability and sowhen you think about, pretty
just, predominantly going to beNorth American based also with
a strong presence in Europe.
And, in a small presence inAsia, but, really working
across our businesses.
And so we've got a strongprotective business.
(03:04):
We've got, a strong coatingsbusiness and, in a growing films
business, a flexible films.
but really, my backgroundis in packaging engineering.
Grew up, but just outsideof Columbia, South Carolina.
my grandfather was a dairyfarmer there, thinking about
just some of the things thatshaped me and influence me.
growing up, certainlysustainability is 1 of them.
I didn't reallyknow it at the time.
(03:25):
but just a lot of the principlesreally have been ingrained in
me and attributed that to mygrandparents on my dad's side.
both of those grandparentslived through the depression,
so it was a waste not want nottype of mentality and just,
a lot of influence from them.
on me, as I grew up,I'm thinking about how
I got into packaging.
And a lot of the principlesabout, minimization and using,
(03:47):
as little as possible, the righttypes of materials possible to
be as efficient as possible.
Just.
Probably because of mybackground really resonated with
me as far as the major goes and.
Actually, I wasthinking about my dad.
let's call he might be a toucha little bit of a hoarder,
but he keeps kept all myelementary school types, papers
and all that kind of stuff.
(04:08):
And so he brought, he broughta stack of that to me about
a month ago and I startedflipping through and I found
a paper that I'd written in.
The 4th grade aroundconservation, and so luckily,
I think I got an S or anE or even at that time.
It was an A, but I got a goodgrade on the paper, but it
was just cool to be able tohave that, that document I was
appreciative of my dad's savingall that kind of stuff, but
(04:30):
fun to go back and look at thatand just see the background
how I got into sustainabilityat pre just through packaging.
And I'm pretty just I'm focusedreally on the commercial side
of sustainability, workingwith, fantastic people like
our innovation headquarters,the commercial side of that.
So the packaging engineeringlab that all reports up through
sustainability and through me.
and really, 1 of the thingsthat we get asked a lot is,
(04:52):
packaging engineering, why doesthat fall under sustainability?
And really, as you thinkabout how we think about
packaging, it's similarto the background and the
principles, from a developmentengineering perspective.
that we apply, to, to howwe think about packaging it.
Previous.
And so just makesa ton of sense.
The number 1 thing wecan do is eliminate waste
and that's through theperformance of our products.
(05:12):
And so that's.
really what I'm focused onworking with our engineering
teams, working with on theeducation piece, working
with our associations.
as far as education andadvocacy in the marketplace,
and then with customers and,where they've got needs,
if we've got a product or asolution, work with our channel
partners with our teams to.
To bring those to marketif we don't going back and
working with the engineeringteams to how do we develop it?
(05:34):
So it's it's certainly beena fun ride, over the course
of my time with Pregis
Cory Connors (05:38):
amazing.
Nice work Yeah, Pregis hasreally been an innovator and
a leader in the sustainablepackaging space for many
years i'd love to know What?
Sustainability means to Pregiswhy is it such a an important
part of your packaging company?
Clint Smith (05:55):
Yeah, absolutely.
the way we think aboutsustainability is, I touched
on a little bit of it asecond ago, but really
thinking around, really, howdoes the packaging perform?
And so we frame up ourtenants are key tenants of
sustainability and protect,preserve and inspire.
and protect is really abouthow that packaging performs,
(06:16):
and so for our protectivebusiness, for example, it's.
How do those products,work to eliminate damage?
And when we think aboutthat, it's, using the right
types of materials, whetherit's plastic or whether it's
papers, the right amounts ofthose materials to perform and
whatever that application mightbe, it could be, cushioning,
shipping plates and glasses.
(06:36):
It could be.
shipping, automotive partsor car doors or electronics
or something like that.
But really, how do we designthat packaging to reduce
waste to eliminate damages?
So that materialworks every time.
We also think about from asustainability perspective,
the introspective look at itand really, what can we do?
How can we do our part as anorganization as a company?
(06:58):
And that's underour preserve pillar.
A preserve tenant and thinkingabout how do we manufacture
those products, generatingas little waste as possible
using clean energy where wecan, just thinking about,
from a manufacturing process.
how do we become more efficient?
and if we're generatingscrap, how do we use that
scrap or, at the worst case,how do we get it recycled
versus going to landfill?
(07:18):
So we've got some goals andsome things around that.
And then the inspirepiece, that's our 3rd
kind of tenant there.
And that's really aboutpeople advocacy and education.
whether that's, employees,whether that's the communities
that we work and servein, or whether that's, the
greater global audience orthe greater global good.
certainly want to makesure we do our part there
Cory Connors (07:37):
first time.
I read that.
I thought it said perspireand I thought that's what
sustainability is right.
It's hard work.
Brodie Vander Dussen (07:42):
I like it.
I think that's so important.
Even when you talked a littlebit about how to minimize our
impact minimize, maybe thatmeans minimizing the actual
physical packaging that we have,but it's really important to
be able to balance, I think,performance and sustainability.
I'm curious, Ava, how youhave seen that work out
well, how do you, how doesPregis , how do you think
(08:06):
that we should, be balancingperformance with sustainability?
Eva Caspary (08:10):
I love that question.
because I think honestly,it is not a competition
or a balance to me.
It is part of sustainability.
It goes hand in hand for meto have a sustainable package.
It has to performfirst and foremost.
when I think about packaging,I don't just think about the
materials and what can happenwith them at the end of life.
(08:30):
I think about how isthis packaging even
designed in the 1st place.
When I get, let's say I ordera blender online and I get it
shipped to my doorstep directly,and it arrives broken and I have
to get it reshipped , there'sso much more environmental
impact associated with damagesthan the environmental impact
(08:51):
that we would get from whatthe packaging is made out of.
Not that's not important, it'svery important, but we have
to think about all of that.
So when we talkabout performance.
That is part of sustainabilityat the very core for it.
And that's why I think it'sso important for us at Pregis
to have the IQ center whereour packaging engineers
(09:11):
are sitting and where wereally think about packaging
design from the ground up.
And then, of course, we stillwork at making our materials
as sustainable as possible.
So we have our 4R framework.
Pretty sure that you'veheard some hours in this
podcast before it's thesame packaging podcast.
I'm sure so the typical onesit's material reduction,
(09:35):
recyclable, recycled contentand renewable wherever possible.
and so that means that wecontinuously work on identifying
new opportunities for, packages.
Or packaging materials, newopportunities to improve
what we currently have.
We always look to have morerecycled content and our
solutions, but we neversacrifice performance because
(09:59):
that's the very 1st thingthat you have to start with.
Clint Smith (10:01):
Yeah, it reminds me kind of thinking back
to 1 of my early coursesand a professor at Clemson.
Sometimes, from a packagingperspective, we like to, hey,
there's all these things wecan do and, build ourselves
up that we're going to do allthis fancy, engineering and
work and have all these, allthese different objectives
and efforts that go into it.
But, at the end of the day.
(10:21):
for any plump out there,if you remember the name
Leroy door, he's a professorfrom back in the 90s.
So I'm dating myself alittle bit here, but,
he made it quite simple.
He's packaging reallycomes down to 2 things.
It's the highest degree ofprotection at the lowest overall
cost and didn't really definewhat either of those 2 minutes.
whether that was, the costas far as, financially, what
(10:44):
the packaging material or thepackaging cost, or whether
that's, what is the cost ofthe environment challenged
us to think about what couldthat mean from both aspects?
And it's 1 of those things thatcertainly resonates with me.
and I think we see it through,through our company, at least.
As far as, how we think about,packaging performance, and
then the trade offs between thehighest degree of performance
(11:05):
for the application, whichthere's a million of them
out there and then, at whatcost and whether that's
environmental or financial, theyboth have to, you got to find
the right right intersectionthere for your particular
application or organization.
Eva Caspary (11:17):
And actually there is a major opportunity
still to help customersunderstand that connection.
We're all so worried aboutenvironmental impact, we all
want to reduce our carbonemissions, we want to maybe
even get to net zero, we wantto reduce our landfill waste.
And one of the major levers wecan pull is think about how are
we actually packaging our stuffand does it arrive correctly?
(11:40):
Does it arrive intact?
So it's really exciting tosit with customers and help
them understand the, just theholistic impact of packaging
and how it can have such animpact because oftentimes people
don't even think about it,so it's really great to see.
Being able to educate and helpand support out in the field
that you can make a change
Cory Connors (12:01):
and we often talk about the bottom line
and the green bottom line.
There's no reason.
These can't these thingscan't be both positively
impacted by a move to moresustainable packaging.
Speaker 5 (12:12):
Okay,
Cory Connors (12:13):
I think we wanted to talk about this
new line of packaging thatyou have the inspire line.
Can we talk about that?
Clint?
Can you tell us what,what brought it about?
What makes it different?
What's why is it differentfrom other materials?
Clint Smith (12:28):
Yeah, absolutely.
our inspire branded lineof packaging materials,
but quick little historydetour if we go back.
To a prior role, a coupleof prior roles of mine, but
actually I was a product managerat the time going back to
2015, oh man, almost 10 years.
this covid years really throwingme off as far as like the
(12:49):
scale of the numbers there.
But yeah, back in 2015, itwas 2015, 2016, really focused
on, quite frankly, consumerexperience and kind of that
whole unboxing experience.
phenomena was really startingto take off at the time, social
media platforms were evolving.
YouTube was a little bit earlierI will say it was just younger.
(13:10):
Right?
It wasn't necessarily in itsinfancy, but, you're getting
all these different influencersand everybody taking videos and
pictures of their packaging and.
really inspire started from,that kind of that focus on
that unboxing phenomenon andthen really tying in this
emerging or this evolvingpurpose driven consumer.
And so 1 of the things wewere looking for was to
(13:32):
create a brand and create aseries of products that had
together a couple of things.
Number 1, it started withour inflatable cushioning.
We call it hybrid cushioning.
but it's the inflatablecushioning that, inflates on
demand, wherever the customersusing it, but it started
in that product category.
That was the category.
I was the productmanager for and.
(13:52):
so number 1 was protective,I had to work had to protect,
for eCommerce applications.
The other thing we were reallylooking at was, sustainability.
And in that 1, when we 1ststarted out, it was this
move to really the kickoffof recyclable, plastics and
recyclable type, inflatables.
And so that the storedrop off program.
how do we make thismaterial at that time?
(14:13):
our customers were sayingsustainability to us meant.
Make it recyclable.
They're still saying thata lot today, but that was
the attribute that theywanted to see, at that time.
We had, protection.
We have a recyclable package.
And then, the other thingthat, like I mentioned,
we were really looking atwas consumer experience.
So different colors.
so we launched, theproduct with, a blue color.
We called it water blue.
And I'll get to why in a minute.
(14:34):
We also had, pink andwe had black, materials.
Those were the colors thatthe customer, our customers
were saying these are theones we wanted to go with.
and so then we had this, thiswhole phenomenon around the
early launch was in cosmeticsand beauty and into the
purpose driven companies,which were marketing towards
purpose driven consumers.
And so we thought, can wetie in something from a
(14:54):
philanthropic or the socialaspect to the, to this brand
and to this packaging and.
So we went out, we actuallydid quite a bit of extensive
research, just looking at alot of different charitable
organizations out there.
If you can think of thespace, we probably did
some research into it.
So whether it was, supporting,cancer, whether it was
supporting, veterans causes,whether it was supporting,
(15:17):
animal causes, stuff like that.
we looked across a lot ofdifferent, a lot of different
organizations out there and.
Yeah.
1 of the things wesettled on was water is
universal to everybody.
And so we looked at quite alot of the different water
organizations out there as well.
And we really wanted tofind, something that we could
grow with an organization.
We could grow with and 1 that.
(15:38):
For us, quite frankly, wedidn't know what we had.
So we knew we had somethingthat we felt very passionate
about and a product that wefelt the market would accept.
But a lot of the big NGOs andthe charitable organizations
out there, they were, theywanted a minimum donation,
more than 4 figures, morethan 5 figures types of money.
And.
For us, in our infancyhere, we didn't really know.
(16:00):
And so I had a, some historywith, a newer water filtration,
organization called and I knewtheir founder pretty well.
And I just, hisname is bill coble.
And I talked to billand said, hey, this is
what we're thinking.
what, I don't know if we'regoing to give you, 100 bucks,
or if we're going to giveyou a 1000 bucks, but I think
we've got something here and.
His response was, you know what?
(16:21):
It doesn't matter if you giveus if you give us 5 or you
give us 50, 000, I can promiseyou, we'll put it to good use.
And so that's how we gotthe partnership together.
And then, once we had that,we were able to bring the
product line to market.
And I've been able togrow it since across,
across multiple types ofpackaging materials now.
So it's not justhybrid cushioning.
It's also, there's alsoa paper inspired product
(16:44):
line that we've got.
There's also aninflatable non inflatable.
There's a poly mailer.
the poly meters are inthat particular product
category as well.
Our paper mailers.
just 2 years ago, we're added tothat product category as well.
So all the in the stock evertech mailers now count towards
inspire and we continue tosee more and more demand for
these types of products today.
Cory Connors (17:05):
a percentage of that revenue goes to
that charity that we're
Clint Smith (17:09):
wonderful.
Yeah, you're right.
Corey, we've, we're a partof an organization called
1 percent for the planet.
And if you're not familiarwith them, what they do is they
connect businesses with thecharitable organizations and,
really serve to audits a strongword, but serve to validate
really the audit, right?
We've got to be verytransparent with them
about our contributionsand show receipts of that.
(17:31):
They're going to Zimathat we're actually.
doing what we say we're doing.
so it's a great organization tohelp us, further enhance the,
just the strength behind whatwe're doing and the inspire
brand based on that 1 percentfor the planet organization.
Nice work.
Brodie Vander D (17:46):
That's amazing.
I got to hear 1, I thinkthat's just phenomenal.
And I think there's a lotof kudos to the amount of
research that went into that.
It sounds like a very.
yeah, I'm sure that feels reallygood to have picked one and
is, been partners for so long.
Ava, I think the last timewe talked was right after
you came back from visiting,on a trip with Uzima.
(18:08):
Can you tell me a littlebit about your experience?
How did that go?
What did that look like?
Eva Caspary (18:13):
How many hours do you have?
I'm very happy to talk to youfor a very long time about this.
Yeah.
it was life changing and maybein a little bit in a little way
also life ruining because itwas just incredible to see the
impact that these water filtersthat we are donating towards
that how much of an impact theycan have on a person's life.
(18:36):
And it's hard to put thatinto words because it might
feel a little bit far away,but when you get to see
that firsthand, it's justincredible how affected a
family is when they don'thave access to clean water.
So we did a lot ofdifferent things.
We talked, we, we went into,people's houses and saw what
a water filter there can makea difference in their lives.
(18:59):
Now, they don't have to eitherbuy expensive clean water or use
other ways to clean their water.
First, for example, boiling it.
so they have this water filter.
It now provides them withclean water that they can.
Cook with, wash with,help, wash the babies
with, all those things.
It was just anincredible thing to see.
(19:19):
But more than that, we'vedone other things, too.
We saw, actually, a bunch ofdisaster areas where there
was also a donation made with,with these water filters.
And so it's not just peopleday in and day out, but also
when there is a general needor specific need, that's where
we can really help, do that.
(19:40):
And it's actually not justsomewhere far away, like
in Kenya, it can happenin our backyard too.
So when we, for example, inthe Southeast saw Hurricane
Helene and the destructionthat it brought in the North
Carolina area, we were ableto contribute to water filters
being deployed over there too.
So it does, it might feel faraway when you think about Kenya,
(20:03):
but it can be in your backyard.
But the thing that wasreally just fascinating and
interesting for me was thatbefore I started working for
Pregis, I had maybe a bit ofa cynical or jaded view about
corporate social responsibilityinitiatives, and even Brody,
before I went, we talked aboutme going and you told me to
(20:25):
read Poisonwood Bible, andit was a great book to read.
I was feeling.
I don't know if skeptical, Iwouldn't go as far as saying
skeptical, but I reallywanted to see firsthand what
kind of an impact it canmake and to see not just how
the people that work with.
It's just helpinganother person.
Brodie (20:45):
I think that's amazing.
we had that conversation inChicago, where both of us were
at lunch, just getting emotionalabout the idea of, a true
impact, and what a complete 180from our previous conversation
before you went of, reallytalking through what is, what we
thought about, corporate socialresponsibility organizations
and, the authenticity of it.
(21:06):
And, Right.
performance versus trulygiving and truly trying
to make an impact.
so I'm really excited tohear about your experience.
I know I, leave it tome to recommend a book.
If anyone knows, I read a lot.
I'm always recommending toanybody, but, yeah, I think
you were saying something aboutyour experience coming back.
(21:27):
You want to talk alittle bit about maybe
like your experience.
how, maybe yourperspective have shifted.
Eva Caspary (21:32):
Yeah, I'm happy to do that.
I think one of the things thatI want to add on top of that
too is that I talked at thevery beginning of our podcast
about, loving working forBrijes and it's because of
the people and the culture.
We were able to go on thisKenya trip together, that was
not a Brijes sponsored trip.
we went as private citizensand paid our way to go and
(21:54):
see what the impact is there.
And It was colleagues of Prejus,my boss, was with me, and we
were able to just connect in away, in a human way, it really
helped me even more understandhow important it is to work
for a company that truly cares.
And have people in itthat, that truly care.
(22:16):
And that is one of thethings that I really saw that
this is not just a farce.
This is not just a, Hey, wecan put a nice little logo
somewhere and somebody canbuy it and make us feel good.
Since I work with the commercialside, I say this to my customers
a lot because it's true.
This is a turnkey opportunityfor you to take credit for
(22:37):
our work, but I feel confidentand comfortable to say that
because I've seen firsthand.
People's lives changed.
I've had people thank me.
Honestly, it made me feela bit uncomfortable because
I didn't make the filters.
yes, I did fly all theway over to Kenya, but I
didn't, I do so little.
And there's so many people whodo so much, but the amount of
(22:57):
impact it can have on theirlives, not just because now
they have clean water, butalso because now they don't
have to pay for things, andcan use the money otherwise.
I think we made a calculationand seen that it makes about
a 250 impact, one filter,and that might not sound
like a lot, but when yougo, about 1 a day, then that
(23:20):
actually makes a huge impact.
And I think I'm rambling alittle bit here, but it's
only because I'm so excitedabout how real this all was.
And.
being able to not just usethat somewhere all the way
over in Kenya, but also in ourown backyard, contributing.
I think Clint, howmuch was it now?
A 1Million dollars ofcontribution so far.
(23:43):
that pre just hascontributed to separate.
Clint Smith (23:47):
Yeah, the program since its inception and really.
I think about 2016 was reallythe 1st year that we had any
types of sales on the productline or the product brand.
And in that year, I went backand looked, We contributed 960.
in the grand scheme of things,we weren't lighting the
world on fire in, in year 1,no pun intended on anything
there, but literally it was,it's true to Bill's word.
(24:08):
He's you know what?
We'll take that 960 andwe'll put it to good use.
and with that, people were ableto get clean water and it went
through some of the stats, with1 filter returning on impact
really about 250 dollars worthof, annual revenue, not revenue,
but just cost that's avoidedwhether that's from doctor's
(24:28):
visits or buying medicinesor going out and having to
buy clean water or going outand having to buy wood quite
frankly to boil your water or.
What's not counted in thereis the impact from people
actually being able to go towork 'cause they're not sick.
Or kids being able to go toschool and get an education.
for us, when we're thinkingabout it, one of the cool things
that Ava was able to see isthis is really actually helping
break the cycle of poverty.
Speaker 5 (24:49):
Yeah.
And
Clint Smith (24:50):
so to think about, how we're able to just start
small and when I say small 2016,call it a thousand bucks to now
we're consistently contributingover $200,000 a year just.
from contributionsgenerated from, sales of the
inspire product category.
To me, that's a cool thing.
And as I mentioned there,yeah, we crossed over the
(25:10):
1Million dollar, contributionline, early last year.
steaming past that and just,it's cool to see also just.
The, customers, we havethis kind of whole concept
in our head around who'sthe ideal customer that,
this is going to work for,when we're building out the
program, but to see, quitefrankly, just B2B businesses.
Adapt this product as well,and, 1 of the things we didn't
(25:31):
think about was how, thegood behind it, aligns with
other companies, the othercompanies missions and a lot
of them have, water missions.
and so it's cool to seethat and just to hear, I've
had people tell me, hey,I've got about packaging.
I want, I wanted to domore than just protect.
it's pretty cool thatit can also give back
to people as well.
So that's been rewardingto hear that as well.
Eva Caspary (25:51):
Yeah, it's true and another thing I really loved
was, you were talking aboutbreaking the cycle of poverty.
I really saw how it wasn't a.
It's honestly like the oldadage to teach a man to fish and
give a man a fish or whatever.
Obviously, I know only theGerman version as you can tell.
But I saw how much educationwas part of the process of
(26:13):
handing over water filters.
There was talk about what'shappening with personal
hygiene, why we care aboutdirty water, and dirty water
doesn't have to look dirtyfor it to be bad for you.
And so this breaking thecycle of poverty is not
just because of a donation,but also because they're
empowering these folks to bebetter about, about health,
(26:36):
that they might not have.
Previously known about andeducate the rest of their
family, maybe the rest of theirvillage around these things.
And that can really have aripple effect that you can't
even measure in dollars.
Brodie Vander D (26:49):
That's so true.
I think the more I sit hereand think about the impact
that an organization likethat can have, the, it's just
dominoes almost all the waydown, generationally too.
one person breaks outtathe poverty line and that
next generation benefitsfrom it, and then that next
generation benefits from that.
it's.
The ripple effect, it justgets greater and greater
(27:09):
the more you think aboutit and the potential.
we'll definitely include alink to Zima if anyone wants to
learn more about them or wantsto work with them directly.
but what is, what'snext for Inspire?
What's next for this line?
what are you guys excited about?
Clint Smith (27:22):
So this one builds off of, actually, we had eight
people go last year to Kenyon.
One of them just so happened tobe one of our category managers.
And if you're out there andyou think about, like, how
do I maybe influence peoplewithin the organization
to do your own thing?
You know what?
I found that influencing thecategory managers can go a
little bit of a long way here.
But, yeah, we've actuallygot 1 that went with us.
And so he's going to bringinspire product brand into
(27:45):
his product category as well.
So just, it's cool tosee, that happening
that's going to happen.
Actually, in ourIntellipaat product family.
That's our place when you thinkabout, cushioning anything
about protection, certainly, avery high degree of protection.
but it's cool to see alsojust help, through the trip
and 1 of the things that itreally resonated with Jason.
There was just.
the ability to do more.
(28:05):
And it's also really rewardingto work for an organization
that encourages us to takesome chances to try some
different things and to do more.
And so to have that abilityfor him to go out and try
something new with thatproduct category, but excited
to see where that goes withour Intellipaq inspired
branded products as well.
So that'll be something alittle bit different out there.
Brodie Vander Dussen (28:26):
Love it.
Can't wait.
Cory Connors (28:27):
So other than buying these amazing
products from one of yourfavorite partners Landsberg
what's the other ways thatpeople can get in touch
with you starting with Ava?
What's a good method?
Eva Caspary (28:38):
so you can always go to my linked in.
I am, chronically online.
So I'm always to bereached over there.
And then we really encouragefolks to go, get in contact
with our IQ, our innovationheadquarters, because, like
I said, that's where the,where everything starts.
If you have any questions,any, issues, that's
where we would go.
(28:59):
And, I'll send you awebsite that you can link.
there
Clint Smith (29:02):
yeah, so I would say similar on LinkedIn.
I'm probably.
I might not be quiteas active as Eva.
I wouldn't use the termchronically online for me,
but I'm online quite a bit.
So certainly LinkedIn is1 way to reach out to me.
and then, certainlythrough, through,
through, Pregis, as well.
email address, fairlysimple, csmith at pregis.
com.
A little bit easier than Ava's,Casperi, email address, but
(29:24):
yeah, you can get in touch witheither one of us or anybody
from Pregis or Landsberg,and we can get you connected.
Brodie V (29:30):
Yeah, highly recommend a trip to the IQ Center,
too, out in Chicagoland.
I got to go last year.
Maybe the year before, stunningit, my, I think Ava, I took
a thousand pictures and waslike, what if I did this?
I could do this.
This is cool.
I didn't know thatyou guys did this.
and so you'll leave witha lot of work to do, but
it's really cool worth
Eva Caspary (29:50):
it.
Great to have you there.
And I, yeah, you tooka lot of pictures.
I did.
Cory Connors (29:54):
Thank you both.
Appreciate you.
Eva Caspary (29:56):
Thank you so much.
Welcome to Sustainable Packaging
(00:01):
with Cory Connors,
Brodie Vander Dussen (00:03):
and I'm Brodie Vander Dussen.
Cory Connors (00:04):
Excited to and amazing people on the
podcast today from Pregis.
We've got Ava Kaspariand Clint Smith.
Ava is the SustainablePackaging Specialist and
Clint is the Director ofGlobal Sustainability.
Welcome to you both.
Eva Caspary (00:22):
Hi, so happy to be here.
Clint Smith (00:24):
Hey, Cory.
Hey, Brody.
Thanks for having us.
Brodie Vander Dusse (00:27):
Absolutely.
I was saying this a littlebit earlier, but I am really
excited about today's episode.
I even I have had a lotof chances to talk about
sustainable packaging and justthe impact that sustainability
can have on the world.
oftentimes those conversationsreally revolve around the direct
impact on the environment,both for better, for worse.
(00:51):
but one thing I think that wecollectively as an industry
maybe don't talk about as muchas I would like is the social
impact of some of these thingsand programs and, how they
really do go hand in hand, in myopinion, with our sustainability
efforts that it's all.
All together.
It's so intertwinedand ingrained.
And so I think One of thereasons I was really excited
(01:14):
about this is because Ava,you and Clint have had such a
great experience, at PreGIS,and you guys have some really
cool programs going on andhave had such a massive impact.
before I get too excitedabout this, let me
backtrack a little bit.
Ava, Clint, for those whodon't know you, maybe can
you give us just a briefbackground as to who you guys
are and what you do at PreGIS?
Eva Caspary (01:36):
Absolutely.
Yeah.
my name is Ava.
I am Corey alreadysaid it's sustainable
packaging specialist.
I'm German originally, so Igrew up in Germany and did
my undergrad in Germany, andthen I came over to Louisiana,
of all places, and got myPhD in chemical engineering.
it's been a really wild ride.
I live in Atlanta now, and Iwork for Pregis, which has been
(01:59):
absolutely my favorite job ever.
I've really been looking fora company that has a purpose
that I can, stand behind.
And Pregis is really goodat that, and I love that.
The people I work withand what we stand for.
So what I do day in and day outis a mixture of a lot of things.
A lot of times I helpour customers, meet their
(02:20):
sustainability goals withour solutions and packaging.
But I also help our partnersunderstand how exactly we
think about sustainabilityand how are these, where,
how we can think aboutthat in all different ways.
Because It is not a 1size fits all thing.
Yeah, and I should dosome internal training
too, which I really enjoy.
(02:40):
What about you, Clint?
Clint Smith (02:42):
Yeah, so similar, Corey's fantastic
job of introducing my title.
next question typically thatI get is what does that mean?
global sustainability and sowhen you think about, pretty
just, predominantly going to beNorth American based also with
a strong presence in Europe.
And, in a small presence inAsia, but, really working
across our businesses.
And so we've got a strongprotective business.
(03:04):
We've got, a strong coatingsbusiness and, in a growing films
business, a flexible films.
but really, my backgroundis in packaging engineering.
Grew up, but just outsideof Columbia, South Carolina.
my grandfather was a dairyfarmer there, thinking about
just some of the things thatshaped me and influence me.
growing up, certainlysustainability is 1 of them.
I didn't reallyknow it at the time.
(03:25):
but just a lot of the principlesreally have been ingrained in
me and attributed that to mygrandparents on my dad's side.
both of those grandparentslived through the depression,
so it was a waste not want nottype of mentality and just,
a lot of influence from them.
on me, as I grew up,I'm thinking about how
I got into packaging.
And a lot of the principlesabout, minimization and using,
(03:47):
as little as possible, the righttypes of materials possible to
be as efficient as possible.
Just.
Probably because of mybackground really resonated with
me as far as the major goes and.
Actually, I wasthinking about my dad.
let's call he might be a toucha little bit of a hoarder,
but he keeps kept all myelementary school types, papers
and all that kind of stuff.
(04:08):
And so he brought, he broughta stack of that to me about
a month ago and I startedflipping through and I found
a paper that I'd written in.
The 4th grade aroundconservation, and so luckily,
I think I got an S or anE or even at that time.
It was an A, but I got a goodgrade on the paper, but it
was just cool to be able tohave that, that document I was
appreciative of my dad's savingall that kind of stuff, but
(04:30):
fun to go back and look at thatand just see the background
how I got into sustainabilityat pre just through packaging.
And I'm pretty just I'm focusedreally on the commercial side
of sustainability, workingwith, fantastic people like
our innovation headquarters,the commercial side of that.
So the packaging engineeringlab that all reports up through
sustainability and through me.
and really, 1 of the thingsthat we get asked a lot is,
(04:52):
packaging engineering, why doesthat fall under sustainability?
And really, as you thinkabout how we think about
packaging, it's similarto the background and the
principles, from a developmentengineering perspective.
that we apply, to, to howwe think about packaging it.
Previous.
And so just makesa ton of sense.
The number 1 thing wecan do is eliminate waste
and that's through theperformance of our products.
(05:12):
And so that's.
really what I'm focused onworking with our engineering
teams, working with on theeducation piece, working
with our associations.
as far as education andadvocacy in the marketplace,
and then with customers and,where they've got needs,
if we've got a product or asolution, work with our channel
partners with our teams to.
To bring those to marketif we don't going back and
working with the engineeringteams to how do we develop it?
(05:34):
So it's it's certainly beena fun ride, over the course
of my time with Pregis
Cory Connors (05:38):
amazing.
Nice work Yeah, Pregis hasreally been an innovator and
a leader in the sustainablepackaging space for many
years i'd love to know What?
Sustainability means to Pregiswhy is it such a an important
part of your packaging company?
Clint Smith (05:55):
Yeah, absolutely.
the way we think aboutsustainability is, I touched
on a little bit of it asecond ago, but really
thinking around, really, howdoes the packaging perform?
And so we frame up ourtenants are key tenants of
sustainability and protect,preserve and inspire.
and protect is really abouthow that packaging performs,
(06:16):
and so for our protectivebusiness, for example, it's.
How do those products,work to eliminate damage?
And when we think aboutthat, it's, using the right
types of materials, whetherit's plastic or whether it's
papers, the right amounts ofthose materials to perform and
whatever that application mightbe, it could be, cushioning,
shipping plates and glasses.
(06:36):
It could be.
shipping, automotive partsor car doors or electronics
or something like that.
But really, how do we designthat packaging to reduce
waste to eliminate damages?
So that materialworks every time.
We also think about from asustainability perspective,
the introspective look at itand really, what can we do?
How can we do our part as anorganization as a company?
(06:58):
And that's underour preserve pillar.
A preserve tenant and thinkingabout how do we manufacture
those products, generatingas little waste as possible
using clean energy where wecan, just thinking about,
from a manufacturing process.
how do we become more efficient?
and if we're generatingscrap, how do we use that
scrap or, at the worst case,how do we get it recycled
versus going to landfill?
(07:18):
So we've got some goals andsome things around that.
And then the inspirepiece, that's our 3rd
kind of tenant there.
And that's really aboutpeople advocacy and education.
whether that's, employees,whether that's the communities
that we work and servein, or whether that's, the
greater global audience orthe greater global good.
certainly want to makesure we do our part there
Cory Connors (07:37):
first time.
I read that.
I thought it said perspireand I thought that's what
sustainability is right.
It's hard work.
Brodie Vander Dussen (07:42):
I like it.
I think that's so important.
Even when you talked a littlebit about how to minimize our
impact minimize, maybe thatmeans minimizing the actual
physical packaging that we have,but it's really important to
be able to balance, I think,performance and sustainability.
I'm curious, Ava, how youhave seen that work out
well, how do you, how doesPregis , how do you think
(08:06):
that we should, be balancingperformance with sustainability?
Eva Caspary (08:10):
I love that question.
because I think honestly,it is not a competition
or a balance to me.
It is part of sustainability.
It goes hand in hand for meto have a sustainable package.
It has to performfirst and foremost.
when I think about packaging,I don't just think about the
materials and what can happenwith them at the end of life.
(08:30):
I think about how isthis packaging even
designed in the 1st place.
When I get, let's say I ordera blender online and I get it
shipped to my doorstep directly,and it arrives broken and I have
to get it reshipped , there'sso much more environmental
impact associated with damagesthan the environmental impact
(08:51):
that we would get from whatthe packaging is made out of.
Not that's not important, it'svery important, but we have
to think about all of that.
So when we talkabout performance.
That is part of sustainabilityat the very core for it.
And that's why I think it'sso important for us at Pregis
to have the IQ center whereour packaging engineers
(09:11):
are sitting and where wereally think about packaging
design from the ground up.
And then, of course, we stillwork at making our materials
as sustainable as possible.
So we have our 4R framework.
Pretty sure that you'veheard some hours in this
podcast before it's thesame packaging podcast.
I'm sure so the typical onesit's material reduction,
(09:35):
recyclable, recycled contentand renewable wherever possible.
and so that means that wecontinuously work on identifying
new opportunities for, packages.
Or packaging materials, newopportunities to improve
what we currently have.
We always look to have morerecycled content and our
solutions, but we neversacrifice performance because
(09:59):
that's the very 1st thingthat you have to start with.
Clint Smith (10:01):
Yeah, it reminds me kind of thinking back
to 1 of my early coursesand a professor at Clemson.
Sometimes, from a packagingperspective, we like to, hey,
there's all these things wecan do and, build ourselves
up that we're going to do allthis fancy, engineering and
work and have all these, allthese different objectives
and efforts that go into it.
But, at the end of the day.
(10:21):
for any plump out there,if you remember the name
Leroy door, he's a professorfrom back in the 90s.
So I'm dating myself alittle bit here, but,
he made it quite simple.
He's packaging reallycomes down to 2 things.
It's the highest degree ofprotection at the lowest overall
cost and didn't really definewhat either of those 2 minutes.
whether that was, the costas far as, financially, what
(10:44):
the packaging material or thepackaging cost, or whether
that's, what is the cost ofthe environment challenged
us to think about what couldthat mean from both aspects?
And it's 1 of those things thatcertainly resonates with me.
and I think we see it through,through our company, at least.
As far as, how we think about,packaging performance, and
then the trade offs between thehighest degree of performance
(11:05):
for the application, whichthere's a million of them
out there and then, at whatcost and whether that's
environmental or financial, theyboth have to, you got to find
the right right intersectionthere for your particular
application or organization.
Eva Caspary (11:17):
And actually there is a major opportunity
still to help customersunderstand that connection.
We're all so worried aboutenvironmental impact, we all
want to reduce our carbonemissions, we want to maybe
even get to net zero, we wantto reduce our landfill waste.
And one of the major levers wecan pull is think about how are
we actually packaging our stuffand does it arrive correctly?
(11:40):
Does it arrive intact?
So it's really exciting tosit with customers and help
them understand the, just theholistic impact of packaging
and how it can have such animpact because oftentimes people
don't even think about it,so it's really great to see.
Being able to educate and helpand support out in the field
that you can make a change
Cory Connors (12:01):
and we often talk about the bottom line
and the green bottom line.
There's no reason.
These can't these thingscan't be both positively
impacted by a move to moresustainable packaging.
Speaker 5 (12:12):
Okay,
Cory Connors (12:13):
I think we wanted to talk about this
new line of packaging thatyou have the inspire line.
Can we talk about that?
Clint?
Can you tell us what,what brought it about?
What makes it different?
What's why is it differentfrom other materials?
Clint Smith (12:28):
Yeah, absolutely.
our inspire branded lineof packaging materials,
but quick little historydetour if we go back.
To a prior role, a coupleof prior roles of mine, but
actually I was a product managerat the time going back to
2015, oh man, almost 10 years.
this covid years really throwingme off as far as like the
(12:49):
scale of the numbers there.
But yeah, back in 2015, itwas 2015, 2016, really focused
on, quite frankly, consumerexperience and kind of that
whole unboxing experience.
phenomena was really startingto take off at the time, social
media platforms were evolving.
YouTube was a little bit earlierI will say it was just younger.
(13:10):
Right?
It wasn't necessarily in itsinfancy, but, you're getting
all these different influencersand everybody taking videos and
pictures of their packaging and.
really inspire started from,that kind of that focus on
that unboxing phenomenon andthen really tying in this
emerging or this evolvingpurpose driven consumer.
And so 1 of the things wewere looking for was to
(13:32):
create a brand and create aseries of products that had
together a couple of things.
Number 1, it started withour inflatable cushioning.
We call it hybrid cushioning.
but it's the inflatablecushioning that, inflates on
demand, wherever the customersusing it, but it started
in that product category.
That was the category.
I was the productmanager for and.
(13:52):
so number 1 was protective,I had to work had to protect,
for eCommerce applications.
The other thing we were reallylooking at was, sustainability.
And in that 1, when we 1ststarted out, it was this
move to really the kickoffof recyclable, plastics and
recyclable type, inflatables.
And so that the storedrop off program.
how do we make thismaterial at that time?
(14:13):
our customers were sayingsustainability to us meant.
Make it recyclable.
They're still saying thata lot today, but that was
the attribute that theywanted to see, at that time.
We had, protection.
We have a recyclable package.
And then, the other thingthat, like I mentioned,
we were really looking atwas consumer experience.
So different colors.
so we launched, theproduct with, a blue color.
We called it water blue.
And I'll get to why in a minute.
(14:34):
We also had, pink andwe had black, materials.
Those were the colors thatthe customer, our customers
were saying these are theones we wanted to go with.
and so then we had this, thiswhole phenomenon around the
early launch was in cosmeticsand beauty and into the
purpose driven companies,which were marketing towards
purpose driven consumers.
And so we thought, can wetie in something from a
(14:54):
philanthropic or the socialaspect to the, to this brand
and to this packaging and.
So we went out, we actuallydid quite a bit of extensive
research, just looking at alot of different charitable
organizations out there.
If you can think of thespace, we probably did
some research into it.
So whether it was, supporting,cancer, whether it was
supporting, veterans causes,whether it was supporting,
(15:17):
animal causes, stuff like that.
we looked across a lot ofdifferent, a lot of different
organizations out there and.
Yeah.
1 of the things wesettled on was water is
universal to everybody.
And so we looked at quite alot of the different water
organizations out there as well.
And we really wanted tofind, something that we could
grow with an organization.
We could grow with and 1 that.
(15:38):
For us, quite frankly, wedidn't know what we had.
So we knew we had somethingthat we felt very passionate
about and a product that wefelt the market would accept.
But a lot of the big NGOs andthe charitable organizations
out there, they were, theywanted a minimum donation,
more than 4 figures, morethan 5 figures types of money.
And.
For us, in our infancyhere, we didn't really know.
(16:00):
And so I had a, some historywith, a newer water filtration,
organization called and I knewtheir founder pretty well.
And I just, hisname is bill coble.
And I talked to billand said, hey, this is
what we're thinking.
what, I don't know if we'regoing to give you, 100 bucks,
or if we're going to giveyou a 1000 bucks, but I think
we've got something here and.
His response was, you know what?
(16:21):
It doesn't matter if you giveus if you give us 5 or you
give us 50, 000, I can promiseyou, we'll put it to good use.
And so that's how we gotthe partnership together.
And then, once we had that,we were able to bring the
product line to market.
And I've been able togrow it since across,
across multiple types ofpackaging materials now.
So it's not justhybrid cushioning.
It's also, there's alsoa paper inspired product
(16:44):
line that we've got.
There's also aninflatable non inflatable.
There's a poly mailer.
the poly meters are inthat particular product
category as well.
Our paper mailers.
just 2 years ago, we're added tothat product category as well.
So all the in the stock evertech mailers now count towards
inspire and we continue tosee more and more demand for
these types of products today.
Cory Connors (17:05):
a percentage of that revenue goes to
that charity that we're
Clint Smith (17:09):
wonderful.
Yeah, you're right.
Corey, we've, we're a partof an organization called
1 percent for the planet.
And if you're not familiarwith them, what they do is they
connect businesses with thecharitable organizations and,
really serve to audits a strongword, but serve to validate
really the audit, right?
We've got to be verytransparent with them
about our contributionsand show receipts of that.
(17:31):
They're going to Zimathat we're actually.
doing what we say we're doing.
so it's a great organization tohelp us, further enhance the,
just the strength behind whatwe're doing and the inspire
brand based on that 1 percentfor the planet organization.
Nice work.
Brodie Vander D (17:46):
That's amazing.
I got to hear 1, I thinkthat's just phenomenal.
And I think there's a lotof kudos to the amount of
research that went into that.
It sounds like a very.
yeah, I'm sure that feels reallygood to have picked one and
is, been partners for so long.
Ava, I think the last timewe talked was right after
you came back from visiting,on a trip with Uzima.
(18:08):
Can you tell me a littlebit about your experience?
How did that go?
What did that look like?
Eva Caspary (18:13):
How many hours do you have?
I'm very happy to talk to youfor a very long time about this.
Yeah.
it was life changing and maybein a little bit in a little way
also life ruining because itwas just incredible to see the
impact that these water filtersthat we are donating towards
that how much of an impact theycan have on a person's life.
(18:36):
And it's hard to put thatinto words because it might
feel a little bit far away,but when you get to see
that firsthand, it's justincredible how affected a
family is when they don'thave access to clean water.
So we did a lot ofdifferent things.
We talked, we, we went into,people's houses and saw what
a water filter there can makea difference in their lives.
(18:59):
Now, they don't have to eitherbuy expensive clean water or use
other ways to clean their water.
First, for example, boiling it.
so they have this water filter.
It now provides them withclean water that they can.
Cook with, wash with,help, wash the babies
with, all those things.
It was just anincredible thing to see.
(19:19):
But more than that, we'vedone other things, too.
We saw, actually, a bunch ofdisaster areas where there
was also a donation made with,with these water filters.
And so it's not just peopleday in and day out, but also
when there is a general needor specific need, that's where
we can really help, do that.
(19:40):
And it's actually not justsomewhere far away, like
in Kenya, it can happenin our backyard too.
So when we, for example, inthe Southeast saw Hurricane
Helene and the destructionthat it brought in the North
Carolina area, we were ableto contribute to water filters
being deployed over there too.
So it does, it might feel faraway when you think about Kenya,
(20:03):
but it can be in your backyard.
But the thing that wasreally just fascinating and
interesting for me was thatbefore I started working for
Pregis, I had maybe a bit ofa cynical or jaded view about
corporate social responsibilityinitiatives, and even Brody,
before I went, we talked aboutme going and you told me to
(20:25):
read Poisonwood Bible, andit was a great book to read.
I was feeling.
I don't know if skeptical, Iwouldn't go as far as saying
skeptical, but I reallywanted to see firsthand what
kind of an impact it canmake and to see not just how
the people that work with.
It's just helpinganother person.
Brodie (20:45):
I think that's amazing.
we had that conversation inChicago, where both of us were
at lunch, just getting emotionalabout the idea of, a true
impact, and what a complete 180from our previous conversation
before you went of, reallytalking through what is, what we
thought about, corporate socialresponsibility organizations
and, the authenticity of it.
(21:06):
And, Right.
performance versus trulygiving and truly trying
to make an impact.
so I'm really excited tohear about your experience.
I know I, leave it tome to recommend a book.
If anyone knows, I read a lot.
I'm always recommending toanybody, but, yeah, I think
you were saying something aboutyour experience coming back.
(21:27):
You want to talk alittle bit about maybe
like your experience.
how, maybe yourperspective have shifted.
Eva Caspary (21:32):
Yeah, I'm happy to do that.
I think one of the things thatI want to add on top of that
too is that I talked at thevery beginning of our podcast
about, loving working forBrijes and it's because of
the people and the culture.
We were able to go on thisKenya trip together, that was
not a Brijes sponsored trip.
we went as private citizensand paid our way to go and
(21:54):
see what the impact is there.
And It was colleagues of Prejus,my boss, was with me, and we
were able to just connect in away, in a human way, it really
helped me even more understandhow important it is to work
for a company that truly cares.
And have people in itthat, that truly care.
(22:16):
And that is one of thethings that I really saw that
this is not just a farce.
This is not just a, Hey, wecan put a nice little logo
somewhere and somebody canbuy it and make us feel good.
Since I work with the commercialside, I say this to my customers
a lot because it's true.
This is a turnkey opportunityfor you to take credit for
(22:37):
our work, but I feel confidentand comfortable to say that
because I've seen firsthand.
People's lives changed.
I've had people thank me.
Honestly, it made me feela bit uncomfortable because
I didn't make the filters.
yes, I did fly all theway over to Kenya, but I
didn't, I do so little.
And there's so many people whodo so much, but the amount of
(22:57):
impact it can have on theirlives, not just because now
they have clean water, butalso because now they don't
have to pay for things, andcan use the money otherwise.
I think we made a calculationand seen that it makes about
a 250 impact, one filter,and that might not sound
like a lot, but when yougo, about 1 a day, then that
(23:20):
actually makes a huge impact.
And I think I'm rambling alittle bit here, but it's
only because I'm so excitedabout how real this all was.
And.
being able to not just usethat somewhere all the way
over in Kenya, but also in ourown backyard, contributing.
I think Clint, howmuch was it now?
A 1Million dollars ofcontribution so far.
(23:43):
that pre just hascontributed to separate.
Clint Smith (23:47):
Yeah, the program since its inception and really.
I think about 2016 was reallythe 1st year that we had any
types of sales on the productline or the product brand.
And in that year, I went backand looked, We contributed 960.
in the grand scheme of things,we weren't lighting the
world on fire in, in year 1,no pun intended on anything
there, but literally it was,it's true to Bill's word.
(24:08):
He's you know what?
We'll take that 960 andwe'll put it to good use.
and with that, people were ableto get clean water and it went
through some of the stats, with1 filter returning on impact
really about 250 dollars worthof, annual revenue, not revenue,
but just cost that's avoidedwhether that's from doctor's
(24:28):
visits or buying medicinesor going out and having to
buy clean water or going outand having to buy wood quite
frankly to boil your water or.
What's not counted in thereis the impact from people
actually being able to go towork 'cause they're not sick.
Or kids being able to go toschool and get an education.
for us, when we're thinkingabout it, one of the cool things
that Ava was able to see isthis is really actually helping
break the cycle of poverty.
Speaker 5 (24:49):
Yeah.
And
Clint Smith (24:50):
so to think about, how we're able to just start
small and when I say small 2016,call it a thousand bucks to now
we're consistently contributingover $200,000 a year just.
from contributionsgenerated from, sales of the
inspire product category.
To me, that's a cool thing.
And as I mentioned there,yeah, we crossed over the
(25:10):
1Million dollar, contributionline, early last year.
steaming past that and just,it's cool to see also just.
The, customers, we havethis kind of whole concept
in our head around who'sthe ideal customer that,
this is going to work for,when we're building out the
program, but to see, quitefrankly, just B2B businesses.
Adapt this product as well,and, 1 of the things we didn't
(25:31):
think about was how, thegood behind it, aligns with
other companies, the othercompanies missions and a lot
of them have, water missions.
and so it's cool to seethat and just to hear, I've
had people tell me, hey,I've got about packaging.
I want, I wanted to domore than just protect.
it's pretty cool thatit can also give back
to people as well.
So that's been rewardingto hear that as well.
Eva Caspary (25:51):
Yeah, it's true and another thing I really loved
was, you were talking aboutbreaking the cycle of poverty.
I really saw how it wasn't a.
It's honestly like the oldadage to teach a man to fish and
give a man a fish or whatever.
Obviously, I know only theGerman version as you can tell.
But I saw how much educationwas part of the process of
(26:13):
handing over water filters.
There was talk about what'shappening with personal
hygiene, why we care aboutdirty water, and dirty water
doesn't have to look dirtyfor it to be bad for you.
And so this breaking thecycle of poverty is not
just because of a donation,but also because they're
empowering these folks to bebetter about, about health,
(26:36):
that they might not have.
Previously known about andeducate the rest of their
family, maybe the rest of theirvillage around these things.
And that can really have aripple effect that you can't
even measure in dollars.
Brodie Vander D (26:49):
That's so true.
I think the more I sit hereand think about the impact
that an organization likethat can have, the, it's just
dominoes almost all the waydown, generationally too.
one person breaks outtathe poverty line and that
next generation benefitsfrom it, and then that next
generation benefits from that.
it's.
The ripple effect, it justgets greater and greater
(27:09):
the more you think aboutit and the potential.
we'll definitely include alink to Zima if anyone wants to
learn more about them or wantsto work with them directly.
but what is, what'snext for Inspire?
What's next for this line?
what are you guys excited about?
Clint Smith (27:22):
So this one builds off of, actually, we had eight
people go last year to Kenyon.
One of them just so happened tobe one of our category managers.
And if you're out there andyou think about, like, how
do I maybe influence peoplewithin the organization
to do your own thing?
You know what?
I found that influencing thecategory managers can go a
little bit of a long way here.
But, yeah, we've actuallygot 1 that went with us.
And so he's going to bringinspire product brand into
(27:45):
his product category as well.
So just, it's cool tosee, that happening
that's going to happen.
Actually, in ourIntellipaat product family.
That's our place when you thinkabout, cushioning anything
about protection, certainly, avery high degree of protection.
but it's cool to see alsojust help, through the trip
and 1 of the things that itreally resonated with Jason.
There was just.
the ability to do more.
(28:05):
And it's also really rewardingto work for an organization
that encourages us to takesome chances to try some
different things and to do more.
And so to have that abilityfor him to go out and try
something new with thatproduct category, but excited
to see where that goes withour Intellipaq inspired
branded products as well.
So that'll be something alittle bit different out there.
Brodie Vander Dussen (28:26):
Love it.
Can't wait.
Cory Connors (28:27):
So other than buying these amazing
products from one of yourfavorite partners Landsberg
what's the other ways thatpeople can get in touch
with you starting with Ava?
What's a good method?
Eva Caspary (28:38):
so you can always go to my linked in.
I am, chronically online.
So I'm always to bereached over there.
And then we really encouragefolks to go, get in contact
with our IQ, our innovationheadquarters, because, like
I said, that's where the,where everything starts.
If you have any questions,any, issues, that's
where we would go.
(28:59):
And, I'll send you awebsite that you can link.
there
Clint Smith (29:02):
yeah, so I would say similar on LinkedIn.
I'm probably.
I might not be quiteas active as Eva.
I wouldn't use the termchronically online for me,
but I'm online quite a bit.
So certainly LinkedIn is1 way to reach out to me.
and then, certainlythrough, through,
through, Pregis, as well.
email address, fairlysimple, csmith at pregis.
com.
A little bit easier than Ava's,Casperi, email address, but
(29:24):
yeah, you can get in touch witheither one of us or anybody
from Pregis or Landsberg,and we can get you connected.
Brodie V (29:30):
Yeah, highly recommend a trip to the IQ Center,
too, out in Chicagoland.
I got to go last year.
Maybe the year before, stunningit, my, I think Ava, I took
a thousand pictures and waslike, what if I did this?
I could do this.
This is cool.
I didn't know thatyou guys did this.
and so you'll leave witha lot of work to do, but
it's really cool worth
Eva Caspary (29:50):
it.
Great to have you there.
And I, yeah, you tooka lot of pictures.
I did.
Cory Connors (29:54):
Thank you both.
Appreciate you.
Eva Caspary (29:56):
Thank you so much.
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