Lauren Gropper's love for the natural world grew up early in Vancouver, Canada – and also her desire to keep her. After gropper had followed environmental studies and geography in college, he led a number of work in relatives. Then she studied a sustainable design in the graduate school.
Photo credits: with the kind permission of reuse. Lauren Gropper.
In the graduate school, Gropper was in a terrible accident that confirmed her commitment to persecution of work that made a difference, she says.
“How many foreigners abroad I was very interested in driving mopeds and motorcycles,” recalls Gropper, “and I was in the mountains of Thailand and collided on a bus. I broke my jaw and lost all my teeth. It was a life -changing, almost uniform experience. [conviction to] Do something in the world that has had an impact. “
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Gropper was determined to build a career with this goal, but at the beginning it was not the start of a company on her radar. She continued to gain experience in the Green Building Space Consulting for large companies and then moved to Los Angeles to do the same work for design in film and television devices.
“It was not intended to do a pun, not sustainable.”
Although Gropper had a hand to build sustainable sets, she couldn't help but notice the serious waste that developed on them after the shooting started: disposable plastic fish was the norm for every meal.
“People had to break to eat [and] Eat quickly, “explains Gropper.” There was no way to use disposable items. It is only the nature of the business. Everything is very temporary. It was only obvious to me that this was not intended to do this was not sustainable. “
With its design background, Gropper saw an obvious solution to the problem: a cleaner, more environmentally friendly product that did not last forever at a landfill. Gropper began researching alternatives that already existed and found that it was possible to create similar products from vegetable, non -toxic materials that would collapse within 90 days.
Photo credits: with the kind permission of reuse
“There was a circular solution with zero that embodied everything I had studied, so I was really excited,” says Gropper. “And it felt like business was a really great tool to increase the change. [I started to think about] How we could use business for good or as an instrument for impact. “
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When Gropper continued her research into herbal alternatives, she found that some were much more viable than others. Many of them not only did not work well, they also came with unaffordable costs. Gropper had to find out how to develop a product that carried out and did not have to pay much more.
“[It’s]Basically, take plant strength and transform them into a polymer that imitates plastic. “
Gropper explains two large chemical companies “Create the building blocks for these types of products, which are usually produced from a combination of plant resin and agricultural waste. The process essentially includes the absorption of something that is burned or rejected and gives it a second life.
“[It’s]Basically, she takes plant strength and transforms it into a polymer that imitates plastic, “says Gropper.” This combination gives you a product that can pose a conventional plastic product, but is then completed over a period of 90 days and is certified as compostable by independent bodies. “
In the United States, products must be certified with a soil test as well as a microplastic and toxin track assessment in order to obtain the “compostable” name.
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Gropper's research led her to a group based in Taiwan “who led the indictment worldwide to alternatives to disposable plastic”. The group had already produced products that developed well at a good price. It seemed an opportunity to try the introduction of consumers on the mass scale, says Gropper.
Photo credits: with the kind permission of reuse
“There was white space everywhere,” says Gropper, “but what was really convincing was the idea of creating a brand to create all of these different products, because then they didn't just do a product.
“The product quality has always been of the greatest importance for us.”
Groppers Repurple started the market at the end of 2011 and has grown considerably in the past ten years. The brand now has eight -tired sales, has replaced 656 million plastic pieces and offers more than 15 different types of sustainable household products in 20,000 shops nationwide.
Like many founders and CEOs, Gropper recognizes the abundance of the challenges that have been accompanied by the construction of their company over the years: those that often require creative problem solutions. Before an important introduction of cash flows, products were turned upside down with which the most important legacy players are not conflict to navigate between the team members and so much more.
Photo credits: with the kind permission of reuse
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According to Gropper, it was the key to overcome these obstacles to overcome these obstacles in order to publish the growth and success of re -rapes – as well as an unshakable commitment to the product quality of the brand.
“The product quality has always been of the greatest importance for us,” says Gropper. “But at a price that is accessible. [We want this product to be] Available for all Americans. [And also] As sustainable as possible. If you can deliver these three things at the same time, you can be successful. And we did that. “
This article is part of our ongoing series of Women Entrepreneur®, in which the stories, challenges and triumphs of the management of a company are emphasized as a woman.