What if the solution to our plastics crisis isn't just about individual behavior change but building entirely new marketplaces that make plastic-free living accessible and transparent? On this episode of Earth911's Sustainability In Your Ear, discover the grassroots approach with Simona Paganetto, founder of Implasticfree.com, who has transformed her search for plastic alternatives into a curated directory of nearly 150 vetted brands committed to ditching plastic packaging and single-use products. What began as Simona's journey toward plastic-free living has evolved into a store that bridges the gap between conscious consumers and genuinely sustainable brands. Her rigorous vetting processes and careful curation has made Implasticfree.com a trusted resource for shoppers navigating the confusing landscape of sustainability claims and greenwashing.
Simona's approach differs from typical environmental activism—she's learning digital marketing while building her mission-driven venture, creating a refreshingly authentic take on environmental entrepreneurship that prioritizes transparency and continuous learning over having all the answers. We also explore the psychological barriers people face when trying to go plastic-free, from the perception that sustainable products are always more expensive to the overwhelming nature of changing deeply ingrained habits. You can explore curated plastic-free alternatives at implasticfree.com.
Simona's approach differs from typical environmental activism—she's learning digital marketing while building her mission-driven venture, creating a refreshingly authentic take on environmental entrepreneurship that prioritizes transparency and continuous learning over having all the answers. We also explore the psychological barriers people face when trying to go plastic-free, from the perception that sustainable products are always more expensive to the overwhelming nature of changing deeply ingrained habits. You can explore curated plastic-free alternatives at implasticfree.com.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Hello, good morning, good afternoon, or good evening, wherever you
are on this beautiful planet of ours. Welcome to Sustainability
in your Ear, the podcast conversation about accelerating the transition
to a sustainable carbon neutral society. I'm your host Mitt Tracliffe.
Thanks for joining the conversation. Today, we're going to be
talking small business. As the global plastics crisis intensifies, choking oceans,
(00:32):
polluting food chains, and impacting human health, a new wave
of change makers is attempting to step up to rethink
our relationship with plastic. We're going to be talking with
Simona Paganetto. She's the founder of I'mplasticfree dot com, and
she's trying to figure it all out as she goes
learning the ins and outs of online marketing while building
a platform that connects conscious consumers with brands committed to
(00:55):
ditching plastic, and what started out for her as her
own search for her plastic alternatives has evolved into a
curated directory of nearly one hundred and fifty vetted brands.
But Simona's real strength lies in her willingness to experiment,
make mistakes in her own life, and share the messy
realities of building both a business and a movement from scratch. Today,
(01:15):
we're going to explore what it's like to bootstrap a
mission driven venture while still mastering the digital marketing skills
needed to grow it. And we'll dig into the challenges
of scaling solo, the trial and error process of finding
your audience, and how staying curious rather than having all
the answers, might be the key to creating lasting change
in the fight against plastic pollution. Whether you're just plastic
(01:37):
curious or already committed to a zero waste lifestyle, Simona's
journey will offer refreshing takes on environmental activism. It's imperfect, evolving,
and absolutely authentic. You can follow her work at I
am Plasticfree dot com. That's I am just the two letters.
I am plasticfree dot com all one word, no space,
(01:58):
no dash. We're going to get to the conversation right
after this brief commercial break. Welcome to the show, Simona.
How are you doing today?
Speaker 2 (02:11):
I'm very good, Mitch, thank you for the invitation.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Well, thank you for joining us. And can you tell
everybody where you're speaking to me from, because this is
a global conversation.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Yes, absolutely, I'm speaking from the Sunshine Coast in Australia,
which is close to Brisbane. Ah.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Okay, well the Brisbane Heats my favorite cricket team. Ah.
What inspired you to start Iron Plastic Free was that?
Was there a personal experience that motivated your commitment to
a plastic free lifestyle and the idea of creating a
business around it.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Yes, it was and it all started pretty much eleven
years ago. I had left a promising career in metech
in the medical device industry in Switzerland and I landed
in Australia, in regional Australia because I'm married in Australian
and here I was in a beautiful five thousand people
town called Early Beach, and I had to reinvent myself
(03:07):
and I started volunteering for a local non for profit
going out to the beautiful with Sunday Islands which are
close to the Grand Barrier reef and I started to
volunteer for cleaning up those islands from plastic pollution. And yes,
that went on every month for several months. And it
(03:29):
was back then that I started to realize how much
plastic pollution was a problem of the whole world, and
not just of developing countries. As I initially thought before
becoming acquainted with the issue. But it wasn't only back
until twenty eighteen roughly that this problem became actually on
the global stage. Remember that video with the total and
(03:53):
deep straw stuck in the nostrils. Yes, So it was
then back then that I started to uh. I wanted
to create a business for plastic pollution, and when I started,
I started first with telescopic staying the still straws, which
I imported from overseas and installing. I started selling them
(04:13):
on global on famous marketplaces like Amazon, et cetera. But
I quickly realized that I couldn't compete with overseas seller
and that wasn't really a profitable business model that I
could scale, And so here I go. Later on, I
decided to create a third party vendor marketplace for plastic
(04:38):
free products because I thought that to truly fight plastic pollution,
we need to fight it at the source. We need
to find products that are low carbon, low waste, redesigned
into their wasste and possibly also plastic free. And so
here I go. I went to redesign this marketplace and
I launched it unfortun with a very bad timing. When
(05:02):
I launched this marketplace. It was the middle of the
global pandemic, and there could have been any worse moment
to launch a third party vendor marketplace for plastic free products.
And so it took me a little bit to realize
that it wasn't the right moment. I didn't have the
right capital, the financial resources to be able to scale
(05:24):
a marketplace like that, and I didn't have yes the
capital as well, and so pretty much that idea also failed.
So I had to reinvent the business model if I
wanted to continue. And then I met someone from the US.
Actually he is an expert in search engine optimization, and
(05:47):
he said to me, well, you've done already so much
work within this you have a dot com domain, and
you've written already very good articles. Why don't you pivot
into a platform for plastic free products but based on
the affiliate marketing business model? And then I thought it
(06:08):
was a genius idea, and I thought I had again
to sparkled into my head, you know that my vision
maybe could become reality. And so I went ahead and
then at the end of twenty twenty two, I relaunched
in the current format that it is today as a
platform for non toxic plastic alternatives.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
So Earth nine one one relies a little bit on
affiliate revenue as well. It's not an easy business. Tell
us about what you do on a regular basis to
make it an attractive place to learn about living without planting.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Yes, you're right, it's not an easy business model. It's
also not like a get reached quickly. Definitely not exactly.
If it wasn't for the passion, actually I should have
probably not gone into this type of business. But what
I found was that having spent a decade in medical
(07:04):
devices helped me reading studies. And I found that by
doing the research and writing research based article and linking
them to studies published in peer review journals, this is
what people wanted to read. They wanted to see the facts,
they wanted to see the clients backed by studies. And
then after this, after this, basically I started testing products,
(07:27):
buying products, recommended products, and people started to write to
me more and more, and I saw a spike also
an increase in interest in the topic, not just because
of plastic pollution as an environmental issue, but also about
microplastic pollution and a human health issue. I see a
(07:50):
lot of people that are now starting to become more
and more aware because they are scared about their health
and want to do to do something to reduce their
microplastics exposure rates. And I think this is where the
platform has taken a lot of traffic from and a
lot of growth.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
So you've currently got a directory of about one hundred
and fifty curated brands. So how do you select those
brands to appear on the platform? In other words, what
makes a product truly plastic free or at least sufficiently
plastic free to be qualified?
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Yes, yes, we have developed a framework of values their
criterias basically that we use when we back the brands,
and these for example zero wise plastic free or they
have to be palm oil free. But we also look
at the social impact it needs to be the business
(08:43):
needs to be ethical, ruelty free, possibly obviously creating products
also that are toxing free. So how do I do
all of this? I look at the certifications of these
products and businesses. I have a list of several certifications
on the website and that I'm about to update. And
(09:05):
I also look, for example, at databases that are already existent,
so I don't reinvent the wheel There are very good databases,
especially also in the US and Europe, that have already
tested different ingredients of cosmetics. For example, made Safe is
one of them, but there are others like the EWG
(09:26):
website or beat the microbead website in Europe. And so
every time I check products, I check the ingredients in
this type of databases. So these are all kind of
tools that I use to to bet the brands, and
of course I also go back to the brands themselves.
I ask questions, I asked for certificates. Sometimes, for example,
(09:50):
for microplastic free salt, I went back to the brands
and asked for the third party lads for the products.
So this is how I do my best to select
the brands that at least have also designed products that
are not just non toxic, but they've gone one step
(10:11):
more and design waste out of their product packaging. For example,
I have some dishwashing liquid that instead of being liquid,
actually is powder, so it doesn't have any water. It
is water less, and therefore not having water, you're removing
a lot of white and a lot of carbon footprint.
And so all you have to do is take those
(10:32):
sachet which is made in home compostable packaging and they're
certified by an Australian standard and you place hot water
into a bottle and so here you have your dish
washing liquid which is low waiste, low carbon and also
home compostable, so plastic free.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
So we have climbed many of the same mountains. In
terms of trying to do this vetting products. Do you
find the brands are and this kind of scrutiny are
they Are they helping you or do you find that
you have to go digging to find the information yourself.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Usually they helped me. Yes, that's that's what I found.
At least those brands that I let it into the marketplace,
they are quite cooperative. I would say, maybe because they've
got any interest as well in coming onto the platform.
But I haven't found any any issues in this regards,
of course, if there is something that happens along the way.
(11:32):
For example, I found in a plastic in an kettle
that one part was coming in contact with the hot water,
and I was recommended kettles where the interior doesn't come
in contact with the hot water. One of the readers
also mentioned this to me, and so to be transparent,
and when I went back into the article and I
(11:53):
disclosed that little oor ring that was coming in contact
with the water. So it's yeah, every time there is
something that is an update, I try to be very
transparent and inform the readers about it.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
So I'm curious if you have you recommended a product
that later turned out to be less sustainable. I mean
to would agree you just describe that. But does that
disclosure then help you maintain trust and establish transparency with
your audience.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Yes. Absolutely. And there was a product from a brand
and the brand was led to believe that the packaging
was biodegradable, but unfortunately it wasn't biodegradable, and so yes,
I had to go back and change everything onto regarding
that packaging on the article. So sometimes it does happen.
(12:44):
There is also a lot of learning curve. I think
for a lot of manufacturers when they when they tried
to design out waste out of their packaging, and it's
not an easy challenge. And I do understand also because
I try to create a product myself. It's particularly if
you need that barrier for life shelf time, it's hard
(13:07):
to find something that leads the performance. But at the
same time, is home compostable.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
That's an important distinction, the one we always have to
explain the difference between home and industrially compostable material. The
home material can go into a compost bin and achieve
a heat that's sufficient to break down without being placed
into an industrial compost role because that reaches a much
higher temperature and can break down more. Do you find
(13:35):
that that kind of nuance is still difficult to convey
to people or are at this point or are you
readers starting to get the idea that there's a series
of steps involved in the totality of the environmental impact
of the product they're using.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Yes, it's a great question. Some of the readers, I
would say, quite well advanced, but usually it's also because
they work in sustainability themselves. But I would say maybe
the average person that is not involved in these type
of topics, they don't They don't know exactly the difference.
And this is where could I recommend to the readers
(14:15):
to look at least at the standards on the packaging.
If they just see a claim that says biodegradable here
and that without having any standard mention on the packaging,
that's already a little bit like an alarm. I would say,
it's it's not that easy to navigate. I understand, and
(14:36):
so at least having those seals of certifications helps the
consumer trying to understand which product at least have gone
through the process of the certification according to a standard
for Biodegordability and compossibility m HM.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
Is there a misconception that people have about going plastic
free that you wish that they understand? I mean something
like it's more expensive, or that your food is not
as safe. Would you like them would you like people
to change their mind about first in order to begin
this journey?
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Oh? Yes, there are a lot of misconceptions. Actually, one
that I always get asked or get commented on on
social media is, for example, oh, you can't be plastic free.
Everything is made of plastic, So what are you typing from?
Is your keyboard not made of plastic? So just as
an example, and of course it's obvious that you can't
(15:37):
go completely one hundred percent plastic free, that a lot
of products are made of plastics, But this is not
the core issue. What I'm trying to achieve by having
founded I'm Plastic Free is at least offering alternatives where
it is possible and The reason not doing this is
(15:57):
one area is the environment. Of course, we want product
that are as much as possible low waist, low carbon,
and also plastic free that you can turn back into
nature without creating microplastics. But on the other hand, there
is the whole microplastics issue. And the reason of also
going my plastic free is in order to save guard
(16:21):
your health. So I can give some examples. For example,
if you look into your kitchen, if you're still using
a pen that is coated with catuum and it's all scratched,
I would recommend not to use that any longer. And
this is well proven. You know that it's not good
for your health. And I don't mean to throw away
(16:43):
everything that you have and buy everything brand new. That's
not the idea. The idea is usually you utilize what
you have until the end of life, and then when
that product product is not available anymore, at least I
help people and readirect people on how to buy a
product that lasts a long time and it's safe for you,
(17:05):
and other recommendations. For example, for tea bags, we know
that there is plastics in certain types of tea bags,
so why not changing too. For example, organic loose leaf
that you use them with a strainer, So I flip
a bit the conversation. And this is where I think
(17:27):
I plastic free is useful to try to spark those
conversations about products and maybe ingredients food that you'd even
even think that might have plastics and might be not
so great for your health in the long run.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
So I think you're making an important point this distinction
between durable plastics and single use plastics. Are very limited
use plastics, and so the first step for you is
to look for that packaging that's going to be used
once and be thrown away. Is that is that where
if I'm a consumer that you're talking with, you would
suggest they pay attention first.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Yes, absolutely, yes, that's exactly what I say. Never go
called turkey. Just try to eliminate single use plastics from
your life. That is the first step. And I've also
built a guide on how to remove, for example, ten
items that are single use plastics. And that is good
(18:22):
usually not just for the environment, but also for your health.
And I'll give you an example. Instead of using, for example,
the coffee cups that you buy from the takeaway coffee
and so on, you can bring your reusable cup stainless
steel cup or ceramic cup. And that is good both
from the environment but still still reusing your cup, and
(18:45):
also for your health because it's proven that those takeaway
cups release microplastics everybody every time you use them. Why
because they are aligned with usually HDTP plastics. It's just
an example, but removing single use plastics from your life
helps the environment as well as your health.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
This is a great place to take a quick commercial break.
We're going to be right back with the conversation with
Simona Paganetto. All right, let's get back to the conversation
with Simona Paganetto, who founded I Amplasticfree dot com or
you would read it as i'mplasticfree dot com and it's
(19:28):
growing a site to provide shoppers with more than one
hundred and fifty plastic free alternatives to traditional consumer products
at this point, but wants to go much further. Simona,
when you think about your interaction with consumers, what are
the biggest psychological barriers people face when trying to go
plastic free? I mean, I remember when there wasn't a
lot of plastic and now it's a given in our lives.
(19:50):
What are people afraid of when In terms of making
a change.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Yes, I think there are a lot of psychological barriers
because plastics is absolutely everywhere, and sometimes people feel whoa well,
they don't know where to start. They don't know where
to start because everything is made of plastic. But what
I say is just select maybe one item. You can
start with one item a month that you can switch.
(20:17):
I would give you an example, you can switch your
plastic toothbrush with a bamboo toothbrush at least, and then
once you have already done that step, you go onto
your next item, and you might go instead of selecting
one item a month, you might select one item every
two weeks, and then maybe one item every week, and
that brings you to a path where by the end
(20:39):
of the year you have done a lot of swaps
and you achieve a lot of progress into your plastic
free and zero waste journey. And yes, one argument is
that they say, you know, plastic free products are expensive,
but you don't always have to have to buy new products.
You can keep wherever you can. For example, I keep
(21:00):
in my car a coffee cup that is simply made
out of a Mazzon jar used to be a Mazon jar.
Then I put some rings around in order not to
get too hot when I drink the coffee, and that
stay is always in my car and it's ready to
be used whenever I need it. It's just an example
(21:22):
that you don't always have to buy meal, you don't
always have to spend money to be sustainable and to
safeguard your health.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
Now, in April, the Banksia Foundation named I'm Plastic Free
the winner of a national sustainability word in Australia. I'm wondering,
how has that changed both the public visibility of the
site for the audience and your perceived potential among financial backers.
How's the business been evolving as a result.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
Yes, it was an amazing experience. The Banksia Foundation had
the thirty six National Sustainability Award this year and never
in my life I thought that would be one of
the winners with the Banksier People's Choice Award, which was
pretty much voted by the people and represented an award
(22:16):
that for a company that has established a good connection
with the community, and so I was extremely proud of
that award. That allowed me to reach some very good
pr media, particularly with Australian media like ABC, SBS and
(22:37):
I hope that through this recognition I can get also
further recognition in the US market, which is actually my
largest market. Having yes, it is having a dot com
domain means that my largest audience is coming from the
US and it's pretty much sixty sixty five percent of
(22:58):
the traffic is coming from the US and also Canada,
and so yes, I hope that through this opportunity talking
today as well as further opportunities in the future, there
will be more awareness on the US market as well.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
I'm curious, does do you ship from Australia or because
you're doing affiliate marketing, it will be ship from wherever
the material is produced and therefore reduce the overall impact
of transport in the environmental impact.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
Oh yes, absolutely, This is actually the beauty behind affiliate marketing.
The product ships where it is located. So I recommend
US made product mostly are US made products for the
US consumers, so that there is also less paper of
footprint in terms of transportation. Whereas to my Australian audience,
(23:56):
I recommend Australian products. So in an art usually when
I do my research, I try to recommend several options
for the US market. A few options for the UK market,
and then some options for the Australian market. So I
try to split the market this way so that no
(24:16):
matter where the English speaking audience is based, they can
locate some products, and I have some products for Canadians
as well.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
That's incredibly diligent. Congratulations on that attention to detail. I'm
curious what if you've learned about the economics of sustainable
living publishing. This is something obviously that I've thought a
lot about, But can you explain how you think you
can grow beyond affiliate marketing to other forms of revenue
that allow you to potentially go global and even serve
(24:45):
non English speaking audiences someday.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
Yes, it is a great question, and I'm thinking about
this question more and more practically with the AI coming
into play. I mean, it's just thought that every digital
business should have at this point and affiliate market It's
only one of the revenue streams for the platform. I
also have ads on the site, I do some guest posting,
(25:12):
I work with collaborations with the brands for example. I
have some ebooks as well on the site, and in
the future I'm thinking of expanding this section or having
like particularly different ebooks about different topics, and I'm also
doing some consulting within the circular economy, so hopefully in
(25:33):
terms of education, I can also do more in the
field and maybe expand also the field of drop shipping,
which would be having products directly on my side, but
only specific products, and then having them ship directly from
the manufacturers. These are the thoughts that I have so far,
(25:53):
but I'm yeah as you as you said at the beginning,
I'm still learning about, you know, the ins and out
of the digital marketing, and who knows what will happening
with AI. I will be incorporated this into my digital
business as well and maybe making suggested and personalized product
(26:15):
recommendations in the future.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
There is obviously a lot of potential. There also a
lot of opportunity for the search engines or the AI
companies these days to siphon off your traffic. How do
you establish a one to one relationship with the reader,
like you said, personalized recommendations to prevent people from going
somewhere else to find the information in the first place,
(26:37):
and start it on plasticfree dot com.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
Yes, it's a great question. I think in the future,
because of AI and because of a lot of content
maybe being unpersonalized, robotic. I think it would be more
and more important to show the human connection, and in
fact I start also a YouTube channel more recently. I
(27:02):
wish I had started way, but on top of all
the social media that I already do, I show directly
the products that I use. And I think this is
something that my audience appreciate because at least they can
see not face two fats, but they can truly see
the products how I use them. They can see the interior,
they can see the packaging, and I think this helps
(27:25):
the consumer also in their choice. I will be trying
to use more and more this system, and hopefully that
will will help having more trust with my audience. Another
way also to build trust is with the newsletter, which
I'm about to relaunch in a few days. We're starting
(27:46):
plastic Free July, and I'm thinking of creating guide for
my readers so that they can help chematic guide Basically,
they could be, for example, about how to reduce micropla
sticks in your kitchen, how to reduce your exposure to
microplastics in food, and having different traumatic guides that won't
(28:08):
be a useful content for my audience. So this is
how I hope to keep my audience engaged and loyal.
Speaker 1 (28:15):
Now you've highlighted alternatives for everything from toothpaste to cleaning supplies.
How do you and this is actually a critique I've
heard of Earth nine one one as well, how do
you balance product recommendations with the risk of encouraging over consumption,
even if it's in the name of sustainability. Do you
do you try to tease out that kind of subtlety.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
Yes, it's a great question, and I understand that obviously.
I support my work also by having products sold. However,
I never really push and promote so much like discounts
or those campaigns that are often driven by consumer brands
(28:57):
like Black Friday and all of this. Uh those usually
I let them those products on the site, and when
the readers is ready to buy, they purchase. They purchase
it at their own in their own time, at their
own leisure. I'm not one of those you know brands
that is creating ads in order to urge consumer to
(29:20):
buy more. And I also give tips and tricks on
how to save money when buying those products. So this
is how our bounds.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
Do you find that that health and cost are more
important to many people than the immediate sustainability of the
product or is that actually kind of the paradox of
doing this kind of analysis.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
Yes, a lot of people they say that they can't
afford products that are, for example, more expensive in the
in the first place, I'll give you an example. We
have a very good bedding sheet company on our platform
that are incredibly They are made of organic cotton, and
(30:09):
even the dice they are made of, they're not made
with petrochemicals. They are made with plant based dice. So
if they are of course expensive, but if you think
that you're going to have those products for the rest
of your life and how many hours you spend sleeping,
that overtakes basically the cost that you pay for a
pair of very good organic sheets that are very good
(30:33):
even on sensitive skin and even for people with dormatities
and all of different other conditions. So sometimes it's about thinking, yes,
I'll spend more for this product, but that will last
me a lifetime. They warranty of one like lifetime warranty
(30:54):
for example, instead buying every three or four months a
set of bad sheet for example. This is where I
tried to educate also the audience to redirect the money
where it's worth and by setting it in the long
in the long time, in the long run.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
Well, I'm sure that you've seen plenty of products marketed
there is eco friendly that don't live up to the promise.
Do you have advice based on all research that you've
done about how to spot and avoid green washing?
Speaker 2 (31:25):
Yes, I have because I'm a marketereer, so I see
these type of claims and grainwashing also everywhere. Usually they
are products that they look greener that they are they
don't have They just have planes, but they don't have certifications.
So one step is already to look at their packaging.
If you see a lot of planes, sorry, and you
(31:48):
see that the packaging is green, but there is no
substance behind, I wouldn't buy the product. Often it means
that it's purely marketing and it's not really substance behind.
Speaker 1 (32:02):
So would you suggest a particular certification to look for.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
Yes, I think in the US it's called b c I,
and that's for example, this is for compostibility standard. But
if you're looking, for example, for cruelty free, there is
the Leaping Bunny certification. Yes, or gods, if you're looking
at textile, for example, there are different certifications, you know
(32:33):
that player role depending on the product you're looking for,
and usually you can google those certifications searched online and
they're reputable. So if you find a product that has
those certification is a good sign.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
Well, what you're describing too, is in all those certifications,
there's a variety of trade offs that people can make
choices about. They can emphasize the sourcing of the material
like gods does, for instance, the compost ability or biodegradeability
of the product. What do you think the most important
choice one can make is to reduce their environmental impact
(33:13):
in total, rather than just with regard to their plastic
Is there where would you start on that journey too?
Speaker 2 (33:20):
Yes? First of all, I would always say the most
sustainable product is the product you didn't buy, so which
means think about it before you buy something. That is
the first thing. I'm a circular economy specialist and therefore
I always think about the different r that are used
in circular economy and therefore refuse, reduce, you know, repair, repurpose,
(33:47):
which is another one that I like. And regarding sustainability
in general, there is a lot that we can do.
We can walk more and take less the car we
can buy. Obviously depends on where you live. If you're
not already vegan or vegetarian, you can reduce already your
(34:08):
meat intake. By reducing already to once a week, you
have a huge impact on the environment. There is a
lot that can be done, not just within the plastic space.
Speaker 1 (34:19):
That's certainly true. You know, as we were talking about
this interview, you mentioned you're applying for grants and looking
for additional funding. What would you put that to use
to do?
Speaker 2 (34:29):
Yes, yes, it's a great question. I hope that I
will be able to receive some further funding to continue
this project. I will use it for a market expansion.
I would like to develop some new products for the
platform to secure also a more sustainable future and create
(34:49):
also better collection of products. And I also hope to
be able to grow the audience, maybe be into other countries,
into geographical into geographical markets. Obviously I'm bound by the
English language, despite this is not my first language, as
you can hear, but you never know, they could be
(35:11):
a plastic free in a non speaking English speaking country
in one day.
Speaker 1 (35:16):
One would hope that we go plastic free in every
country in the long term, but we'll see where we go.
You're on an interesting journey. How can folks follow along
with what you're learning?
Speaker 2 (35:27):
Yes? Absolutely, you can type on Plasticfree dot com. You
can find us as well on social media for example Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn,
and if you subscribe our newsletter you will be receiving
some monthly guides on how to lower your plastic wise
(35:49):
as well as lower your microplastic exposure risks. So I
hope you'll follow along.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
Simoni, You're doing great work. Thank you very much for
taking the time to talk with me today.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
Thank you very much, Niche for the indisputation. I'm very
honored and sorry about maybe missing a couple of words.
It's nearly one am here in Australia, so maybe we.
Speaker 1 (36:13):
Appreciate you stinging up late for us very much.
Speaker 2 (36:16):
Thank you very much, my pleasure, Thank you, Welcome back.
Speaker 1 (36:25):
You've been listening to a conversation with Simona Paganetto. She's
founder of I Am Plastic Free or I'm Plastic Free
is the way you would say it. A curated e
commerce site that helps shoppers avoid plastic packaging and single
use products, and you can visit and learn more at im.
That's the letters I am plasticfree dot com. All one word,
(36:46):
no space, no dash, i'mplasticfree dot com. Recent research confirms
what many entrepreneurs and marketers have told us on the show.
Sustainability is not the first thing that a shopper looks
for in a product, but rather it comes in third
in line after price and convenience. As economic confidence is
plummeted this year, mackenzie and Company reported in June that
(37:08):
sustainability is losing importance. They wrote that quote, consumers consistently
ranked the quality, price, and convenience of products as more
important than the environmental impact of products quote, and they
went on to say that price and quality are now
more important than in twenty twenty, with more than seventy
percent of respondents saying that they are the most important
(37:28):
criteria they use when making a buying decision. Only about
a third of the respondents to McKenzie's survey ranked sustainability
above other factors. Nevertheless, about forty percent of consumers consistently
tell researchers that they're willing to pay a premium for
products with reduced environmental impacts compared to traditionally manufactured alternatives,
(37:48):
and more than sixty percent of younger people in particular,
are ready to pay a green premium. But that's not
the good news that some claim. The challenge remains to
demonstrate that sustainable products may make a meaningful difference for
the buyer and the planet. This story is challenging to
convey briefly because it requires detailing the substantiating evidence that
(38:09):
supports environmental claims and distinguishing them from greenwashing. We need
green proof, and Simona is one of those dedicated business
people investing the time to validate her stores sustainable bona fides.
It's often a thankless job, one made harder by the
appropriation of the lessons learned and the useful messaging developed
(38:30):
by these pioneers by larger retailers who usually turn the
lesson into a form of greenwashing. So we're slowly educating
ourselves to move beyond ignoring the cost of our lifestyles
to nature and future generations. While more than eighty five
percent of consumers say they want to reduce their environmental impact,
they often lack awareness of the issues or struggle to
(38:52):
find sustainable products. I'm Plasticfree dot Com, along with Made Trade,
Earth Hero and Thrive Market, are working to document the
impacts of the products they sell, and I also like
to think that Earth nine one one helps surface useful
information to help shoppers too. As more products, more travel destinations,
and more services make green claims, shopping for sustainable outcomes
(39:15):
should become easier, but supporting sources of green guidance can
help us help the curators that we need to vet
our choices and establish new rules of value that fully
integrate environmental impacts. Take some time with i'mplasticfree dot com
today and check out Earth nine one one's how and
buy section for our guidance. We can all make a difference.
(39:36):
It's just going to take a while to get there,
and I hope you'll take a look at the other
episodes of Sustainability in your ear that we've published. We've
got more than five hundred shows to share with your friends,
your family, your coworkers. Writing review by the way on
your favorite podcast platform will help your neighbors find us. Folks,
you're the amplifiers that can spread more ideas to create
(39:57):
less waste. So tell your friends, family, the people you
meet on the street that they can find us on
Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Audible and other fine purveyors of
podcast goodness. Thanks for your support. I'm Metracliffe. This is
sustainability in your ear and we will be back with
another innovator interview soon. In the meantime, folks, take care
(40:18):
of yourself, take care of one another, and let's all
take care of this beautiful planet of ours. Have a
green day.
Hello, good morning, good afternoon, or good evening, wherever you
are on this beautiful planet of ours. Welcome to Sustainability
in your Ear, the podcast conversation about accelerating the transition
to a sustainable carbon neutral society. I'm your host Mitt Tracliffe.
Thanks for joining the conversation. Today, we're going to be
talking small business. As the global plastics crisis intensifies, choking oceans,
(00:32):
polluting food chains, and impacting human health, a new wave
of change makers is attempting to step up to rethink
our relationship with plastic. We're going to be talking with
Simona Paganetto. She's the founder of I'mplasticfree dot com, and
she's trying to figure it all out as she goes
learning the ins and outs of online marketing while building
a platform that connects conscious consumers with brands committed to
(00:55):
ditching plastic, and what started out for her as her
own search for her plastic alternatives has evolved into a
curated directory of nearly one hundred and fifty vetted brands.
But Simona's real strength lies in her willingness to experiment,
make mistakes in her own life, and share the messy
realities of building both a business and a movement from scratch. Today,
(01:15):
we're going to explore what it's like to bootstrap a
mission driven venture while still mastering the digital marketing skills
needed to grow it. And we'll dig into the challenges
of scaling solo, the trial and error process of finding
your audience, and how staying curious rather than having all
the answers, might be the key to creating lasting change
in the fight against plastic pollution. Whether you're just plastic
(01:37):
curious or already committed to a zero waste lifestyle, Simona's
journey will offer refreshing takes on environmental activism. It's imperfect, evolving,
and absolutely authentic. You can follow her work at I
am Plasticfree dot com. That's I am just the two letters.
I am plasticfree dot com all one word, no space,
(01:58):
no dash. We're going to get to the conversation right
after this brief commercial break. Welcome to the show, Simona.
How are you doing today?
Speaker 2 (02:11):
I'm very good, Mitch, thank you for the invitation.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Well, thank you for joining us. And can you tell
everybody where you're speaking to me from, because this is
a global conversation.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Yes, absolutely, I'm speaking from the Sunshine Coast in Australia,
which is close to Brisbane. Ah.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Okay, well the Brisbane Heats my favorite cricket team. Ah.
What inspired you to start Iron Plastic Free was that?
Was there a personal experience that motivated your commitment to
a plastic free lifestyle and the idea of creating a
business around it.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Yes, it was and it all started pretty much eleven
years ago. I had left a promising career in metech
in the medical device industry in Switzerland and I landed
in Australia, in regional Australia because I'm married in Australian
and here I was in a beautiful five thousand people
town called Early Beach, and I had to reinvent myself
(03:07):
and I started volunteering for a local non for profit
going out to the beautiful with Sunday Islands which are
close to the Grand Barrier reef and I started to
volunteer for cleaning up those islands from plastic pollution. And yes,
that went on every month for several months. And it
(03:29):
was back then that I started to realize how much
plastic pollution was a problem of the whole world, and
not just of developing countries. As I initially thought before
becoming acquainted with the issue. But it wasn't only back
until twenty eighteen roughly that this problem became actually on
the global stage. Remember that video with the total and
(03:53):
deep straw stuck in the nostrils. Yes, So it was
then back then that I started to uh. I wanted
to create a business for plastic pollution, and when I started,
I started first with telescopic staying the still straws, which
I imported from overseas and installing. I started selling them
(04:13):
on global on famous marketplaces like Amazon, et cetera. But
I quickly realized that I couldn't compete with overseas seller
and that wasn't really a profitable business model that I
could scale, And so here I go. Later on, I
decided to create a third party vendor marketplace for plastic
(04:38):
free products because I thought that to truly fight plastic pollution,
we need to fight it at the source. We need
to find products that are low carbon, low waste, redesigned
into their wasste and possibly also plastic free. And so
here I go. I went to redesign this marketplace and
I launched it unfortun with a very bad timing. When
(05:02):
I launched this marketplace. It was the middle of the
global pandemic, and there could have been any worse moment
to launch a third party vendor marketplace for plastic free products.
And so it took me a little bit to realize
that it wasn't the right moment. I didn't have the
right capital, the financial resources to be able to scale
(05:24):
a marketplace like that, and I didn't have yes the
capital as well, and so pretty much that idea also failed.
So I had to reinvent the business model if I
wanted to continue. And then I met someone from the US.
Actually he is an expert in search engine optimization, and
(05:47):
he said to me, well, you've done already so much
work within this you have a dot com domain, and
you've written already very good articles. Why don't you pivot
into a platform for plastic free products but based on
the affiliate marketing business model? And then I thought it
(06:08):
was a genius idea, and I thought I had again
to sparkled into my head, you know that my vision
maybe could become reality. And so I went ahead and
then at the end of twenty twenty two, I relaunched
in the current format that it is today as a
platform for non toxic plastic alternatives.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
So Earth nine one one relies a little bit on
affiliate revenue as well. It's not an easy business. Tell
us about what you do on a regular basis to
make it an attractive place to learn about living without planting.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Yes, you're right, it's not an easy business model. It's
also not like a get reached quickly. Definitely not exactly.
If it wasn't for the passion, actually I should have
probably not gone into this type of business. But what
I found was that having spent a decade in medical
(07:04):
devices helped me reading studies. And I found that by
doing the research and writing research based article and linking
them to studies published in peer review journals, this is
what people wanted to read. They wanted to see the facts,
they wanted to see the clients backed by studies. And
then after this, after this, basically I started testing products,
(07:27):
buying products, recommended products, and people started to write to
me more and more, and I saw a spike also
an increase in interest in the topic, not just because
of plastic pollution as an environmental issue, but also about
microplastic pollution and a human health issue. I see a
(07:50):
lot of people that are now starting to become more
and more aware because they are scared about their health
and want to do to do something to reduce their
microplastics exposure rates. And I think this is where the
platform has taken a lot of traffic from and a
lot of growth.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
So you've currently got a directory of about one hundred
and fifty curated brands. So how do you select those
brands to appear on the platform? In other words, what
makes a product truly plastic free or at least sufficiently
plastic free to be qualified?
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Yes, yes, we have developed a framework of values their
criterias basically that we use when we back the brands,
and these for example zero wise plastic free or they
have to be palm oil free. But we also look
at the social impact it needs to be the business
(08:43):
needs to be ethical, ruelty free, possibly obviously creating products
also that are toxing free. So how do I do
all of this? I look at the certifications of these
products and businesses. I have a list of several certifications
on the website and that I'm about to update. And
(09:05):
I also look, for example, at databases that are already existent,
so I don't reinvent the wheel There are very good databases,
especially also in the US and Europe, that have already
tested different ingredients of cosmetics. For example, made Safe is
one of them, but there are others like the EWG
(09:26):
website or beat the microbead website in Europe. And so
every time I check products, I check the ingredients in
this type of databases. So these are all kind of
tools that I use to to bet the brands, and
of course I also go back to the brands themselves.
I ask questions, I asked for certificates. Sometimes, for example,
(09:50):
for microplastic free salt, I went back to the brands
and asked for the third party lads for the products.
So this is how I do my best to select
the brands that at least have also designed products that
are not just non toxic, but they've gone one step
(10:11):
more and design waste out of their product packaging. For example,
I have some dishwashing liquid that instead of being liquid,
actually is powder, so it doesn't have any water. It
is water less, and therefore not having water, you're removing
a lot of white and a lot of carbon footprint.
And so all you have to do is take those
(10:32):
sachet which is made in home compostable packaging and they're
certified by an Australian standard and you place hot water
into a bottle and so here you have your dish
washing liquid which is low waiste, low carbon and also
home compostable, so plastic free.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
So we have climbed many of the same mountains. In
terms of trying to do this vetting products. Do you
find the brands are and this kind of scrutiny are
they Are they helping you or do you find that
you have to go digging to find the information yourself.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Usually they helped me. Yes, that's that's what I found.
At least those brands that I let it into the marketplace,
they are quite cooperative. I would say, maybe because they've
got any interest as well in coming onto the platform.
But I haven't found any any issues in this regards,
of course, if there is something that happens along the way.
(11:32):
For example, I found in a plastic in an kettle
that one part was coming in contact with the hot water,
and I was recommended kettles where the interior doesn't come
in contact with the hot water. One of the readers
also mentioned this to me, and so to be transparent,
and when I went back into the article and I
(11:53):
disclosed that little oor ring that was coming in contact
with the water. So it's yeah, every time there is
something that is an update, I try to be very
transparent and inform the readers about it.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
So I'm curious if you have you recommended a product
that later turned out to be less sustainable. I mean
to would agree you just describe that. But does that
disclosure then help you maintain trust and establish transparency with
your audience.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Yes. Absolutely. And there was a product from a brand
and the brand was led to believe that the packaging
was biodegradable, but unfortunately it wasn't biodegradable, and so yes,
I had to go back and change everything onto regarding
that packaging on the article. So sometimes it does happen.
(12:44):
There is also a lot of learning curve. I think
for a lot of manufacturers when they when they tried
to design out waste out of their packaging, and it's
not an easy challenge. And I do understand also because
I try to create a product myself. It's particularly if
you need that barrier for life shelf time, it's hard
(13:07):
to find something that leads the performance. But at the
same time, is home compostable.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
That's an important distinction, the one we always have to
explain the difference between home and industrially compostable material. The
home material can go into a compost bin and achieve
a heat that's sufficient to break down without being placed
into an industrial compost role because that reaches a much
higher temperature and can break down more. Do you find
(13:35):
that that kind of nuance is still difficult to convey
to people or are at this point or are you
readers starting to get the idea that there's a series
of steps involved in the totality of the environmental impact
of the product they're using.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Yes, it's a great question. Some of the readers, I
would say, quite well advanced, but usually it's also because
they work in sustainability themselves. But I would say maybe
the average person that is not involved in these type
of topics, they don't They don't know exactly the difference.
And this is where could I recommend to the readers
(14:15):
to look at least at the standards on the packaging.
If they just see a claim that says biodegradable here
and that without having any standard mention on the packaging,
that's already a little bit like an alarm. I would say,
it's it's not that easy to navigate. I understand, and
(14:36):
so at least having those seals of certifications helps the
consumer trying to understand which product at least have gone
through the process of the certification according to a standard
for Biodegordability and compossibility m HM.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
Is there a misconception that people have about going plastic
free that you wish that they understand? I mean something
like it's more expensive, or that your food is not
as safe. Would you like them would you like people
to change their mind about first in order to begin
this journey?
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Oh? Yes, there are a lot of misconceptions. Actually, one
that I always get asked or get commented on on
social media is, for example, oh, you can't be plastic free.
Everything is made of plastic, So what are you typing from?
Is your keyboard not made of plastic? So just as
an example, and of course it's obvious that you can't
(15:37):
go completely one hundred percent plastic free, that a lot
of products are made of plastics, But this is not
the core issue. What I'm trying to achieve by having
founded I'm Plastic Free is at least offering alternatives where
it is possible and The reason not doing this is
(15:57):
one area is the environment. Of course, we want product
that are as much as possible low waist, low carbon,
and also plastic free that you can turn back into
nature without creating microplastics. But on the other hand, there
is the whole microplastics issue. And the reason of also
going my plastic free is in order to save guard
(16:21):
your health. So I can give some examples. For example,
if you look into your kitchen, if you're still using
a pen that is coated with catuum and it's all scratched,
I would recommend not to use that any longer. And
this is well proven. You know that it's not good
for your health. And I don't mean to throw away
(16:43):
everything that you have and buy everything brand new. That's
not the idea. The idea is usually you utilize what
you have until the end of life, and then when
that product product is not available anymore, at least I
help people and readirect people on how to buy a
product that lasts a long time and it's safe for you,
(17:05):
and other recommendations. For example, for tea bags, we know
that there is plastics in certain types of tea bags,
so why not changing too. For example, organic loose leaf
that you use them with a strainer, So I flip
a bit the conversation. And this is where I think
(17:27):
I plastic free is useful to try to spark those
conversations about products and maybe ingredients food that you'd even
even think that might have plastics and might be not
so great for your health in the long run.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
So I think you're making an important point this distinction
between durable plastics and single use plastics. Are very limited
use plastics, and so the first step for you is
to look for that packaging that's going to be used
once and be thrown away. Is that is that where
if I'm a consumer that you're talking with, you would
suggest they pay attention first.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Yes, absolutely, yes, that's exactly what I say. Never go
called turkey. Just try to eliminate single use plastics from
your life. That is the first step. And I've also
built a guide on how to remove, for example, ten
items that are single use plastics. And that is good
(18:22):
usually not just for the environment, but also for your health.
And I'll give you an example. Instead of using, for example,
the coffee cups that you buy from the takeaway coffee
and so on, you can bring your reusable cup stainless
steel cup or ceramic cup. And that is good both
from the environment but still still reusing your cup, and
(18:45):
also for your health because it's proven that those takeaway
cups release microplastics everybody every time you use them. Why
because they are aligned with usually HDTP plastics. It's just
an example, but removing single use plastics from your life
helps the environment as well as your health.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
This is a great place to take a quick commercial break.
We're going to be right back with the conversation with
Simona Paganetto. All right, let's get back to the conversation
with Simona Paganetto, who founded I Amplasticfree dot com or
you would read it as i'mplasticfree dot com and it's
(19:28):
growing a site to provide shoppers with more than one
hundred and fifty plastic free alternatives to traditional consumer products
at this point, but wants to go much further. Simona,
when you think about your interaction with consumers, what are
the biggest psychological barriers people face when trying to go
plastic free? I mean, I remember when there wasn't a
lot of plastic and now it's a given in our lives.
(19:50):
What are people afraid of when In terms of making
a change.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Yes, I think there are a lot of psychological barriers
because plastics is absolutely everywhere, and sometimes people feel whoa well,
they don't know where to start. They don't know where
to start because everything is made of plastic. But what
I say is just select maybe one item. You can
start with one item a month that you can switch.
(20:17):
I would give you an example, you can switch your
plastic toothbrush with a bamboo toothbrush at least, and then
once you have already done that step, you go onto
your next item, and you might go instead of selecting
one item a month, you might select one item every
two weeks, and then maybe one item every week, and
that brings you to a path where by the end
(20:39):
of the year you have done a lot of swaps
and you achieve a lot of progress into your plastic
free and zero waste journey. And yes, one argument is
that they say, you know, plastic free products are expensive,
but you don't always have to have to buy new products.
You can keep wherever you can. For example, I keep
(21:00):
in my car a coffee cup that is simply made
out of a Mazzon jar used to be a Mazon jar.
Then I put some rings around in order not to
get too hot when I drink the coffee, and that
stay is always in my car and it's ready to
be used whenever I need it. It's just an example
(21:22):
that you don't always have to buy meal, you don't
always have to spend money to be sustainable and to
safeguard your health.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
Now, in April, the Banksia Foundation named I'm Plastic Free
the winner of a national sustainability word in Australia. I'm wondering,
how has that changed both the public visibility of the
site for the audience and your perceived potential among financial backers.
How's the business been evolving as a result.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
Yes, it was an amazing experience. The Banksia Foundation had
the thirty six National Sustainability Award this year and never
in my life I thought that would be one of
the winners with the Banksier People's Choice Award, which was
pretty much voted by the people and represented an award
(22:16):
that for a company that has established a good connection
with the community, and so I was extremely proud of
that award. That allowed me to reach some very good
pr media, particularly with Australian media like ABC, SBS and
(22:37):
I hope that through this recognition I can get also
further recognition in the US market, which is actually my
largest market. Having yes, it is having a dot com
domain means that my largest audience is coming from the
US and it's pretty much sixty sixty five percent of
(22:58):
the traffic is coming from the US and also Canada,
and so yes, I hope that through this opportunity talking
today as well as further opportunities in the future, there
will be more awareness on the US market as well.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
I'm curious, does do you ship from Australia or because
you're doing affiliate marketing, it will be ship from wherever
the material is produced and therefore reduce the overall impact
of transport in the environmental impact.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
Oh yes, absolutely, This is actually the beauty behind affiliate marketing.
The product ships where it is located. So I recommend
US made product mostly are US made products for the
US consumers, so that there is also less paper of
footprint in terms of transportation. Whereas to my Australian audience,
(23:56):
I recommend Australian products. So in an art usually when
I do my research, I try to recommend several options
for the US market. A few options for the UK market,
and then some options for the Australian market. So I
try to split the market this way so that no
(24:16):
matter where the English speaking audience is based, they can
locate some products, and I have some products for Canadians
as well.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
That's incredibly diligent. Congratulations on that attention to detail. I'm
curious what if you've learned about the economics of sustainable
living publishing. This is something obviously that I've thought a
lot about, But can you explain how you think you
can grow beyond affiliate marketing to other forms of revenue
that allow you to potentially go global and even serve
(24:45):
non English speaking audiences someday.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
Yes, it is a great question, and I'm thinking about
this question more and more practically with the AI coming
into play. I mean, it's just thought that every digital
business should have at this point and affiliate market It's
only one of the revenue streams for the platform. I
also have ads on the site, I do some guest posting,
(25:12):
I work with collaborations with the brands for example. I
have some ebooks as well on the site, and in
the future I'm thinking of expanding this section or having
like particularly different ebooks about different topics, and I'm also
doing some consulting within the circular economy, so hopefully in
(25:33):
terms of education, I can also do more in the
field and maybe expand also the field of drop shipping,
which would be having products directly on my side, but
only specific products, and then having them ship directly from
the manufacturers. These are the thoughts that I have so far,
(25:53):
but I'm yeah as you as you said at the beginning,
I'm still learning about, you know, the ins and out
of the digital marketing, and who knows what will happening
with AI. I will be incorporated this into my digital
business as well and maybe making suggested and personalized product
(26:15):
recommendations in the future.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
There is obviously a lot of potential. There also a
lot of opportunity for the search engines or the AI
companies these days to siphon off your traffic. How do
you establish a one to one relationship with the reader,
like you said, personalized recommendations to prevent people from going
somewhere else to find the information in the first place,
(26:37):
and start it on plasticfree dot com.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
Yes, it's a great question. I think in the future,
because of AI and because of a lot of content
maybe being unpersonalized, robotic. I think it would be more
and more important to show the human connection, and in
fact I start also a YouTube channel more recently. I
(27:02):
wish I had started way, but on top of all
the social media that I already do, I show directly
the products that I use. And I think this is
something that my audience appreciate because at least they can
see not face two fats, but they can truly see
the products how I use them. They can see the interior,
they can see the packaging, and I think this helps
(27:25):
the consumer also in their choice. I will be trying
to use more and more this system, and hopefully that
will will help having more trust with my audience. Another
way also to build trust is with the newsletter, which
I'm about to relaunch in a few days. We're starting
(27:46):
plastic Free July, and I'm thinking of creating guide for
my readers so that they can help chematic guide Basically,
they could be, for example, about how to reduce micropla
sticks in your kitchen, how to reduce your exposure to
microplastics in food, and having different traumatic guides that won't
(28:08):
be a useful content for my audience. So this is
how I hope to keep my audience engaged and loyal.
Speaker 1 (28:15):
Now you've highlighted alternatives for everything from toothpaste to cleaning supplies.
How do you and this is actually a critique I've
heard of Earth nine one one as well, how do
you balance product recommendations with the risk of encouraging over consumption,
even if it's in the name of sustainability. Do you
do you try to tease out that kind of subtlety.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
Yes, it's a great question, and I understand that obviously.
I support my work also by having products sold. However,
I never really push and promote so much like discounts
or those campaigns that are often driven by consumer brands
(28:57):
like Black Friday and all of this. Uh those usually
I let them those products on the site, and when
the readers is ready to buy, they purchase. They purchase
it at their own in their own time, at their
own leisure. I'm not one of those you know brands
that is creating ads in order to urge consumer to
(29:20):
buy more. And I also give tips and tricks on
how to save money when buying those products. So this
is how our bounds.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
Do you find that that health and cost are more
important to many people than the immediate sustainability of the
product or is that actually kind of the paradox of
doing this kind of analysis.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
Yes, a lot of people they say that they can't
afford products that are, for example, more expensive in the
in the first place, I'll give you an example. We
have a very good bedding sheet company on our platform
that are incredibly They are made of organic cotton, and
(30:09):
even the dice they are made of, they're not made
with petrochemicals. They are made with plant based dice. So
if they are of course expensive, but if you think
that you're going to have those products for the rest
of your life and how many hours you spend sleeping,
that overtakes basically the cost that you pay for a
pair of very good organic sheets that are very good
(30:33):
even on sensitive skin and even for people with dormatities
and all of different other conditions. So sometimes it's about thinking, yes,
I'll spend more for this product, but that will last
me a lifetime. They warranty of one like lifetime warranty
(30:54):
for example, instead buying every three or four months a
set of bad sheet for example. This is where I
tried to educate also the audience to redirect the money
where it's worth and by setting it in the long
in the long time, in the long run.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
Well, I'm sure that you've seen plenty of products marketed
there is eco friendly that don't live up to the promise.
Do you have advice based on all research that you've
done about how to spot and avoid green washing?
Speaker 2 (31:25):
Yes, I have because I'm a marketereer, so I see
these type of claims and grainwashing also everywhere. Usually they
are products that they look greener that they are they
don't have They just have planes, but they don't have certifications.
So one step is already to look at their packaging.
If you see a lot of planes, sorry, and you
(31:48):
see that the packaging is green, but there is no
substance behind, I wouldn't buy the product. Often it means
that it's purely marketing and it's not really substance behind.
Speaker 1 (32:02):
So would you suggest a particular certification to look for.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
Yes, I think in the US it's called b c I,
and that's for example, this is for compostibility standard. But
if you're looking, for example, for cruelty free, there is
the Leaping Bunny certification. Yes, or gods, if you're looking
at textile, for example, there are different certifications, you know
(32:33):
that player role depending on the product you're looking for,
and usually you can google those certifications searched online and
they're reputable. So if you find a product that has
those certification is a good sign.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
Well, what you're describing too, is in all those certifications,
there's a variety of trade offs that people can make
choices about. They can emphasize the sourcing of the material
like gods does, for instance, the compost ability or biodegradeability
of the product. What do you think the most important
choice one can make is to reduce their environmental impact
(33:13):
in total, rather than just with regard to their plastic
Is there where would you start on that journey too?
Speaker 2 (33:20):
Yes? First of all, I would always say the most
sustainable product is the product you didn't buy, so which
means think about it before you buy something. That is
the first thing. I'm a circular economy specialist and therefore
I always think about the different r that are used
in circular economy and therefore refuse, reduce, you know, repair, repurpose,
(33:47):
which is another one that I like. And regarding sustainability
in general, there is a lot that we can do.
We can walk more and take less the car we
can buy. Obviously depends on where you live. If you're
not already vegan or vegetarian, you can reduce already your
(34:08):
meat intake. By reducing already to once a week, you
have a huge impact on the environment. There is a
lot that can be done, not just within the plastic space.
Speaker 1 (34:19):
That's certainly true. You know, as we were talking about
this interview, you mentioned you're applying for grants and looking
for additional funding. What would you put that to use
to do?
Speaker 2 (34:29):
Yes, yes, it's a great question. I hope that I
will be able to receive some further funding to continue
this project. I will use it for a market expansion.
I would like to develop some new products for the
platform to secure also a more sustainable future and create
(34:49):
also better collection of products. And I also hope to
be able to grow the audience, maybe be into other countries,
into geographical into geographical markets. Obviously I'm bound by the
English language, despite this is not my first language, as
you can hear, but you never know, they could be
(35:11):
a plastic free in a non speaking English speaking country
in one day.
Speaker 1 (35:16):
One would hope that we go plastic free in every
country in the long term, but we'll see where we go.
You're on an interesting journey. How can folks follow along
with what you're learning?
Speaker 2 (35:27):
Yes? Absolutely, you can type on Plasticfree dot com. You
can find us as well on social media for example Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn,
and if you subscribe our newsletter you will be receiving
some monthly guides on how to lower your plastic wise
(35:49):
as well as lower your microplastic exposure risks. So I
hope you'll follow along.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
Simoni, You're doing great work. Thank you very much for
taking the time to talk with me today.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
Thank you very much, Niche for the indisputation. I'm very
honored and sorry about maybe missing a couple of words.
It's nearly one am here in Australia, so maybe we.
Speaker 1 (36:13):
Appreciate you stinging up late for us very much.
Speaker 2 (36:16):
Thank you very much, my pleasure, Thank you, Welcome back.
Speaker 1 (36:25):
You've been listening to a conversation with Simona Paganetto. She's
founder of I Am Plastic Free or I'm Plastic Free
is the way you would say it. A curated e
commerce site that helps shoppers avoid plastic packaging and single
use products, and you can visit and learn more at im.
That's the letters I am plasticfree dot com. All one word,
(36:46):
no space, no dash, i'mplasticfree dot com. Recent research confirms
what many entrepreneurs and marketers have told us on the show.
Sustainability is not the first thing that a shopper looks
for in a product, but rather it comes in third
in line after price and convenience. As economic confidence is
plummeted this year, mackenzie and Company reported in June that
(37:08):
sustainability is losing importance. They wrote that quote, consumers consistently
ranked the quality, price, and convenience of products as more
important than the environmental impact of products quote, and they
went on to say that price and quality are now
more important than in twenty twenty, with more than seventy
percent of respondents saying that they are the most important
(37:28):
criteria they use when making a buying decision. Only about
a third of the respondents to McKenzie's survey ranked sustainability
above other factors. Nevertheless, about forty percent of consumers consistently
tell researchers that they're willing to pay a premium for
products with reduced environmental impacts compared to traditionally manufactured alternatives,
(37:48):
and more than sixty percent of younger people in particular,
are ready to pay a green premium. But that's not
the good news that some claim. The challenge remains to
demonstrate that sustainable products may make a meaningful difference for
the buyer and the planet. This story is challenging to
convey briefly because it requires detailing the substantiating evidence that
(38:09):
supports environmental claims and distinguishing them from greenwashing. We need
green proof, and Simona is one of those dedicated business
people investing the time to validate her stores sustainable bona fides.
It's often a thankless job, one made harder by the
appropriation of the lessons learned and the useful messaging developed
(38:30):
by these pioneers by larger retailers who usually turn the
lesson into a form of greenwashing. So we're slowly educating
ourselves to move beyond ignoring the cost of our lifestyles
to nature and future generations. While more than eighty five
percent of consumers say they want to reduce their environmental impact,
they often lack awareness of the issues or struggle to
(38:52):
find sustainable products. I'm Plasticfree dot Com, along with Made Trade,
Earth Hero and Thrive Market, are working to document the
impacts of the products they sell, and I also like
to think that Earth nine one one helps surface useful
information to help shoppers too. As more products, more travel destinations,
and more services make green claims, shopping for sustainable outcomes
(39:15):
should become easier, but supporting sources of green guidance can
help us help the curators that we need to vet
our choices and establish new rules of value that fully
integrate environmental impacts. Take some time with i'mplasticfree dot com
today and check out Earth nine one one's how and
buy section for our guidance. We can all make a difference.
(39:36):
It's just going to take a while to get there,
and I hope you'll take a look at the other
episodes of Sustainability in your ear that we've published. We've
got more than five hundred shows to share with your friends,
your family, your coworkers. Writing review by the way on
your favorite podcast platform will help your neighbors find us. Folks,
you're the amplifiers that can spread more ideas to create
(39:57):
less waste. So tell your friends, family, the people you
meet on the street that they can find us on
Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Audible and other fine purveyors of
podcast goodness. Thanks for your support. I'm Metracliffe. This is
sustainability in your ear and we will be back with
another innovator interview soon. In the meantime, folks, take care
(40:18):
of yourself, take care of one another, and let's all
take care of this beautiful planet of ours. Have a
green day.
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