Raised in Vancouver, Canada, Lauren Gropper’s love of the pure world grew early on — and so did her need to assist protect it. After pursuing environmental research and geography in faculty, Gropper did a variety of labor in associated fields. Then she went on to check sustainable design in graduate faculty.
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Repurpose. Lauren Gropper.
In graduate faculty, Gropper was in a horrible accident that reconfirmed her dedication to pursuing work that made a distinction, she says.
“Like many foreigners overseas, I used to be very enthusiastic about driving mopeds and bikes,” Gropper remembers, “and I used to be within the mountains of Thailand and ended up colliding right into a bus. I broke my jaw and misplaced all my enamel. It was a life-changing, near-death expertise. It cemented my [conviction to] do one thing on this planet that made an impression.”
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Gropper was decided to construct a profession with that purpose in thoughts, however beginning a enterprise wasn’t on her radar at first. She continued to realize expertise within the inexperienced constructing area consulting for giant companies, then moved to Los Angeles to do the identical work for design on movie and tv units.
“This was, no pun meant, not sustainable.”
Though Gropper had a hand in constructing sustainable units, she could not assist however discover the intense waste that unfolded on them as soon as filming began: Disposable plastic cutlery was the norm for each meal.
“Individuals needed to break to eat [and] eat shortly,” Gropper explains. “There was no means round utilizing disposable gadgets. It is simply the character of the enterprise. The whole lot’s very short-term. It simply turned apparent to me that this was, no pun meant, not sustainable.”
Together with her design background, Gropper noticed an obvious answer to the problem: A cleaner, greener product that did not final perpetually in a landfill. Gropper began researching options that already existed and found it was attainable to make comparable merchandise out of plant-based, unhazardous supplies that might break down inside 90 days.
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Repurpose
“ There was a zero-waste round answer, which embodied all the pieces that I had studied, so I obtained actually enthusiastic about that,” Gropper says. “And it felt like enterprise can be a extremely useful gizmo to enlarge the change. [I started to think about] how we might use enterprise for good or as a instrument for impression.”
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As Gropper continued her analysis into the plant-based options, she discovered that some have been way more viable than others. A lot of them not solely did not work nicely but additionally got here with prohibitive prices. Gropper wanted to determine the best way to develop a product that carried out and did not require folks to pay considerably extra.
“[It’s] principally taking plant starch and turning it right into a polymer that mimics plastic.”
Two giant chemical corporations “create the constructing blocks” for these kind of merchandise, that are sometimes produced from a mix of plant-based resin and agricultural waste, Gropper explains. Basically, the method includes taking one thing that might be burnt or discarded and giving it a second life.
“[It’s] principally taking plant starch and turning it right into a polymer that mimics plastic,” Gropper says. “That mixture is what provides you a product that may maintain as much as a standard plastic product, however then break down in a 90-day interval and be licensed by impartial our bodies as compostable.”
Within the U.S., merchandise should endure third-party certification, full with a soil take a look at and microplastic and toxin hint evaluation, to obtain the “compostable” designation.
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Gropper’s analysis led her to a Taiwan-based group ”that was sort of main the cost globally in options to single-use plastic.” The group had already been manufacturing merchandise that carried out nicely at value level; it appeared like a chance to try client adoption at mass scale, Gropper says.
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Repurpose
“ There was white area in every single place,” Gropper says, “however what felt actually compelling was the thought of making a model round all these completely different merchandise, as a result of then you definately weren’t simply making one product. You were not simply making a commodity and placing it right into a system. You might be truly making a model that would prolong into completely different product classes, that might symbolize this better-for-you, better-for-the-planet model for the fashionable client.”
“ Product high quality has at all times been paramount for us.”
Gropper’s Repurpose hit the market in late 2011 and has grown significantly during the last decade-plus. Now, the model boasts eight-figure gross sales, has changed 656 million items of plastic and affords greater than 15 various kinds of sustainable family merchandise in 20,000 shops nationwide.
Like many founders and CEOs, Gropper acknowledges the plethora of challenges that got here with constructing her firm over time: ones that usually require artistic problem-solving. There have been merchandise printed the other way up forward of an necessary retail launch, money movement constraints that main legacy gamers do not face, conflicts to navigate amongst group members and so many extra.
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Repurpose
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In keeping with Gropper, being agile sufficient to beat these obstacles as they come up has been key to Repurpose’s development and success — as has an unwavering dedication to the model’s product high quality.
“ Product high quality has at all times been paramount for us,” Gropper says. “However at a value level that is accessible. [We want this product to be] accessible to all People. [And also] as sustainable as attainable. Should you can ship on these three issues on the similar time, you will be profitable. And that’s what we have completed.”
This text is a part of our ongoing Girls Entrepreneur® collection highlighting the tales, challenges and triumphs of working a enterprise as a lady.
