Podcast: Sustainable Materials

96: Geoship – Regenerative Architecture

“Out beyond ideas of right angles and hard lines, there’s a bioceramic dome. A place where nature, community, and healing come full circle. We’ll meet you there.” – Morgan Bierschenk, founder and CEO of Geoship, a homebuilding cooperative, owned by the people. Bioceramic domes combine the geometry/math of Buckminster (Bucky) Fuller with the material science of Rustum (Rusty) Roy – Geoship’s Founding Fathers. Bucky was a legendary American polymath and future architect. He invented Synergetic Mathematics and introduced the geodesic dome into mass awareness. Rusty was a legendary professor of material science with a focus on crystal chemistry. Morgan is knowledgeable and visionary in how regenerative architecture can be used to build living environments that reconnect human communities with the natural world. Geoship domes are built with all-ceramic composite panels, struts, and hubs. The lightweight ceramic parts are fused together on-site with ceramic mortar. The dome is repaired and resurfaced with the same highly crystalline ceramic material. Learn more by listening to our episode.
This episode is a re-air from April 13, 2021
https://geoship.is/
https://www.mindfulbusinessespodcast.com/

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Design and Innovation
96: Geoship - Regenerative Architecture
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95: Center for Chemical Upcycling of Waste Plastics (CUWP) – Chemical Upcycling of Waste Plastics

We talk with Dr. George Huber, Richard Antoine Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Wisconsin- Madison and the director of Center for Upcycling Waste Plastics (CUWP) about his research in recycling plastics. His technology offers a solution to filtrate the polymer from different plastics by applying solvents solvents. Though multi-layer plastics are more complicated his technology, solvent-targeted recovery and precipitation (STRAP), is able to use thermodynamics and solvents to disintegrate them into their constituent resins. It’s a fascinating process – the key is to capture 99% of the polymer and make sure nothing is release into the atmosphere. With consumption of plastics showing no signs of abating, it is crucial to recycle efficiently to reduce the consumption of new plastics. CUWP consists of six universities, over ten industrial partners, one national laboratory, and one industry association. They also share with scientists, engineers, policy makers, business leaders, and the general public to help them make informed decisions about the costs and benefits of new technologies for plastic recycling. Learn all this and more from Dr. George Huber.

https://cuwp.org/
https://www.mindfulbusinessespodcast.com/

Art by Xin Zou, University of Wisconsin-Madison for Hochan Chang, Min Soo Kim, George W Huber, James A Dumesic, Design of closed-loop recycling production of a Diels Alder polymer from a biomass-derived difuran as a functional additive for polyurethanes, Green Chemistry (2021) 23, 9479-9488.

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Design and Innovation
95: Center for Chemical Upcycling of Waste Plastics (CUWP) - Chemical Upcycling of Waste Plastics
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94: The Glad Products Company – ​​Doing More to Waste Less

In this episode we talk with Eric Schwarz, General Manager of The Glad Products Company. He talks about Glad’s commitment to reducing our environmental footprint, and helping consumers with their own green goals. Their sustainability journey focuses on 4 key areas: Products, Production, Packaging and Programs.
Products with less plastic – Glad has developed breakthrough technology that enables their most popular product, the drawstring kitchen trash bags to use less plastic than leading competition without sacrificing strength. They have to reduce 50% of virgin materials in Glad Trash by 2030 and have reduced it by 13% as of CY2020. Production with less pollution – they are improving manufacturing processes to reduce environmental impact. They have achieved the goal of Zero Waste to Landfill manufacturing for North American plants and utilize 100% renewable electricity in our North American plants. Packaging with less waste – reduce its environmental impact with the goal of 100% recyclable, reusable or compostable. They have achieved in making their packing 99% recyclable and have a 48% reduction in virgin packaging as of CY2020. Programs with more purpose – Glad teamed up with Recyclops to improve curbside recycling access across the U.S. Learn more in this episode.

https://www.glad.com/sustainability/
https://www.mindfulbusinessespodcast.com/

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Packaging
94: The Glad Products Company - ​​Doing More to Waste Less
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90: Better Meat Co. – Plant Proteins For A Better Planet

Paul Shapiro, author, entrepreneur at the age of 13 told his parents that he wanted to become a vegetarian. Until that point every meal that Paul ate had meat. From that moment on, he has been on a journey to help reduce the consumption of meat on the planet. First by lobbying for better farm and agricultural practices to writing a book and talking about it. He soon realized that people have to be offered a better, whole and cheaper alternative to stop eating meat. Convincing people to give up meat on the basis of animal cruelty and its impact on our planet isn’t sufficient. Better Meat Co grows plant based meat by fermenting Rhizas – mycoprotein, protein made from fungi. Rhiza is objectively superior to textured plant protein isolates commonly used to make plant-based meat today. When it comes to nutrition, meat-like texture, and efficiency, Rhiza is just better because of its exponentially quicker harvest cycle, while using fewer resources such as land and water. It’s also a whole food with a complete amino acid profile, not a protein isolate or fractionate. They take common ingredients like potatoes and subject them to an age-old fermentation technique. Within hours, the result is an all-natural, high-protein, whole food with the natural texture of animal meat. If you are a meat lover committed to a healthy and sustainable lifestyle, this episode is for you.
https://www.bettermeat.co/
https://www.mindfulbusinessespodcast.com/

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Food
90: Better Meat Co. - Plant Proteins For A Better Planet
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86: Forust – 3D Printing to Rematerialize Wood Waste

Every year, 15 Billion trees are cut down to produce paper, build homes, and make furniture. From this, millions of tons of wood waste are generated annually. A portion of this waste is recovered and sold to downstream markets to make particle board or wood pellets for energy. The remaining sawdust is either burned – contributing to air pollution – or sent to landfill. Though biodegradable, sawdust can be harmful to the environment in large quantities when landfilled. As it decomposes, sawdust releases high concentrations of lignin and fatty acids, which can contaminate water supplies, potentially poisoning wildlife and micro-organisms. We speak with Andrew Jeffery, Co-founder of Forust, by Desktop Metal, uses the power of high-speed, high-resolution 3D printing to give a new life to a discarded resource – creating strong, beautiful and carbon-friendly wood products from wood waste. For each tree saved, we reduce the CO2 footprint by a metric ton over the tree’s life. Learn more in our next episode.

Mentions:
Virginia San Fratello
Ronald Rael
https://www.forust.com/
https://www.mindfulbusinessespodcast.com/

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Design and Innovation
86: Forust - 3D Printing to Rematerialize Wood Waste
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84: Praan and Carboncraft Design- Purify Ambient Air and Upcycled Carbon Tiles

Countries must meet their sustainability goals and head towards net-zero. These goals cannot be achieved in silos but need cooperation, trust, and partnerships. We bring two such sustainable start-ups which are from adjacent industries with one firm goal – to reduce the carbon emissions and air pollutants from the air. Today we speak with Angad Daryani – CEO and founder of Praan – Clean Air For all, and Tejas Sidnal – founder of Carbon Craft Design – Upcycled Carbon Tiles.

Praan captures the carbon with the world’s most advanced, low-cost, filterless, and artificially intelligent outdoor air purification system. Angad who, ranked amongst the top 3 in his class, dropped out of high school in 9th grade – though he stopped formal education, he continued learning and innovating. His passion for sustainability gave rise to the patented innovation that creates hyperlocal clean air zones within open areas on corporate campuses, schools, universities, hotels, hospitals, residential complexes, malls, industrial areas, and more!

Praan captures the CO2 and carbon particulates that they hand over to Carbon Craft Designs who then creates tiles. Each tile prevents 15 minutes of car pollution – 5 kgs of carbon – dioxide equivalents. Carbon Craft Design strives to be at the intersection of Craft, Design, and Technology with the sole aim of building scalable solutions. Tejas, a practicing architect, talks about the fact that the world builds twelve New Yorks every year. Its impact and his role as an architect and being part of the problem made him uneasy. He decided to do something about it and reduce the impact of new construction projects by developing carbon-neutral building materials. A chance meeting at a conference in 2016 and mutual respect brought Angad Daryanai and Tejas Sidnal to collaborate to bring their solutions to market. Listen to this energetic duos’ passion and story in this episode.

https://www.carboncraftdesign.com/
https://www.praan.io/
https://www.mindfulbusinessespodcast.com/

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Architecture
84: Praan and Carboncraft Design- Purify Ambient Air and Upcycled Carbon Tiles
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83: Rebel Nell – One of No Other Kind

This episode has two parts – in part one, we talk with Amy Peterson, the co-founder of Rebel Nell about her inspiration and motivation to start Rebel Nell. While living next to a homeless shelter in Detroit, MI, she got to learn up-close the women who lived there and their challenges. One day out on a jog she finds a piece of graffiti that she envisioned could be repurposed into meaningful wearable art. A fusion of these two ideas gave birth to Rebel Nell. Amy with her co-founder Diana Roginson started Rebel Nell in 2013 with the mission to provide employment, equitable opportunity, and wraparound support for women with barriers to employment. They seek to embolden women, to embrace their infinite strength, and to define their own future.

They partner with local organizations to seek out women who have struggled to find and retain employment. Their goal is to help the women move from a life of dependence to one of self-reliance, overcoming barriers to employment through the fruits of their own labor. Rebel Nell’s product line starts with repurposing graffiti, after it has fallen off the walls.

These are women who when hired have no background in jewelry become creative designers who make incredibly intricate and unique piece each one more beautiful than the next. In the part two we chat with one such woman – Ethel Rucker, Production Lead at Rebel Nell.

In addition to on-the-job training and guidance on how to make jewelry, Rebel Nell also provides them with life management, financial training and business education to make sure they have the confidence and knowledge that will enable them to leave homelessness/dependence behind permanently and move forward as strong independent women. Listen to this powerful story in this episode.

https://www.rebelnell.com/
To hire Ethel Rucker for your next photoshoot contact her via her website https://harteclectic.com/

https://www.mindfulbusinessespodcast.com/

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Design and Innovation
83: Rebel Nell - One of No Other Kind
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80: Ferrock – Carbon Negative Building Material

We talk with Dr. David Stone, inventor of Ferrock – Carbon Negative Building Material. David as a doctoral candidate, at the Arizona State University, researched on how to prevent iron from rusting. David realized that to prevent iron from rusting is especially challenging where iron exposed to humidity and oxygen in our atmosphere. While experimenting with silica fume as a rust-inhibitor, he saw the silica and rust reacting and bubbling. When cooled this compound became a very hard substance and David realized it could be a used as a substitute for cement. What had caused this chemical reaction? Learn more on this episode.

(David disclosed his invention and has received a patent. Ferrock is at the moment seeking investors. David can be reached at davidstone@ironshellmaterials.com)

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Carbon Capture
80: Ferrock - Carbon Negative Building Material
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78: Thaely – Don’t Just Do It – Do It Right

We talk with Ashay Bhave, founder of Thaely, who as a middle-schooler dreamt of becoming a sneaker designer. His journey begins at the Fashion Institute of Technology, New York, where disenchanted within the first year, he returned back to Dubai to pursue a degree in business at Amity University. As a designer Ashay wanted to solve problems – the problem of plastic grocery bag waste – we consume 3 trillion of them annually. After some near fires in his kitchen, he developed a product Thaely Tex. Thaely is made with 100% recycled raw materials. Each sneaker uses ThaelyTex that’s made using 10 upcycled waste plastic bags. ThaelyTex is made in collaboration with TrioTap Technologies in Gurugram, India. The waste plastic bags are collected from housing complexes, offices, and stores from in and around Gurugram, India. The lining is made with rPET (Recycled Polyethylene Terephthalate is a fabric made from recycling waste PET Plastic Bottles) using 12 Recycled waste plastic bottles. With their partnership with The Shoe Laundry, the sneakers are either refurbished or recycled. Each pair is also packaged in a reusable rPET. Every component of the shoe and its process is looked into great detail to achieve Thaely’s sustainability goals. Come along and learn more in this episode.

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Design and Innovation
78: Thaely - Don’t Just Do It - Do It Right
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76: HexcelPack – Sustainable Packing Solutions That Work

HexcelPack™ was founded in 2014 using an updated version of a 30-year-old technology developed by David Goodrich, with the idea of using paper to replace the traditional, one-use plastic products that are prevalent throughout the world in the packaging industry. HexcelPack’s™ proprietary slit paper technology was developed in the early 90’s when it was discovered that the hexagon is one of the strongest shapes to engineer, and it was possible to successfully manufacture slit paper using the hexagon shape. Back then, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch was still unknown, and most people had little awareness of the wide-ranging negative impact of plastic waste on ocean ecosystems. Today, a concern for preserving ocean ecology is the company’s driving influence – making recyclable, sustainable paper packaging products in lieu of plastic. HexcelPack™ uses specialty kraft papers that make HexcelWrap™ completely unique. We talk to Lorne Herszkowicz, Partner of Hexcel Pak about how nature inspired this sustainable innovation. Learn more in this episode.

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Design and Innovation
76: HexcelPack - Sustainable Packing Solutions That Work
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