#84 – How Businesses Can Go
Plastic Neutral

with CEO & Co-Founder of rePurpose, Svanika Balasubramanian

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Svanika Balasubramanian rePurpose

15 trucks of plastic flush into the oceans every single minute. How do we possibly make any sort of significant dent on the amount of plastic that’s being created and the amounts of plastic waste disposed of improperly? 

CEO of rePurpose Svanika Balasubramanian and her two fellow co-founders are doing everything they can to remove as much plastic from our environment as possible. With the world’s first plastic credit platform, the rePurpose team is helping brands and businesses get certified Plastic Neutral by removing from the environment as much plastic waste as they produce — making an important step toward a circular economy.

They accomplish this through their Global Impact Network of vetted recycling projects and circular innovations across 6 countries and 3 continents, where they deploy crucially needed finance to scale up environmental impact. 

Did you know? A majority of the waste generated in the USA is exported to third world countries. rePurpose and their partners work hard to limit the impact of this waste on the environment.

Svanika is extremely impressive. Hailing from Oman and India, she is a 2018 grad of the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.

She is a Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree and the recipient of the 2018 President’s Engagement Prize. She is fueled by two passions: pushing ahead the charge for our future’s circular economy and finding new ways to integrate podcasts into her day. 

We talk about the unique angle of this plastic waste issue that she and her team at rePurpose have chosen to focus on, and why they came across it in the first place. We talk about what led to such exceptional growth and maturation at such a young company with young founders in a short period of time.

Lastly, we talk about what has surprised Svanika about this issue of plastic waste and what she knows now that she didn’t know when starting rePurpose a little over two years ago.

Svanika is a very intentional and deliberate social entrepreneur; her ambition and dedication to personal development both as an individual and an entrepreneurial leader of an organization are well exhibited.

If you’d like to learn more about the plastic neutral movement and how you can take your business plastic neutral, visit www.plasticneutral.global.

Want more episodes on impact-driven businesses reducing plastic waste? Listen to:

Bonus Material: Download the Companion for this Episode

Co-founders Balasubramanian (middle), Peter Hjemdahl (left) and Aditya Siroya at Clinton Global Initiative University.

“The best way to get more information, the best way to see if something works, is to just do it. You can spend a long time planning it. But nothing prepares you until you actually do a test run on the ground.” -Svanika Balasubramanian

Topics Discussed: 

  • rePurpose’s unique angle to combatting plastic waste
  • How rePurpose went from an honors thesis to a full-blown company
  • What’s responsible for the company’s quick and exceptional growth
  • Svanika and her fellow co-founders’ experience being young entrepreneurs in the space
  • New Insights Svanika has learned about plastic waste on her journey
  • The importance of an intentional company culture

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