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Joanne Howarth

Historically, if you look at a lot of the disruptive solutions to some of the world's most pressing challenges, they're all inspired by nature. So, when I discovered that wool is so amazing, it keeps sheep warm in winter and cool in summer, I wanted to leverage those thermal properties to create a solution that would be inside a regular shipping carton that's recyclable, and to create a solution that fits within the circular economy that consumers would accept and hopefully love.

Matt C. Smith

Truth is, humanity can save itself and our planet. And right at this very moment, there’s someone who took on the challenge — and is on a path to solving an incredibly tough, global problem. This podcast was created to tell you about them.

You’re listening to Better Heroes, a show from the global EY organization about the untold stories of entrepreneurs devoting their lives to impactful innovation. I’m your host, Matt Smith.

A common component of ocean pollution is polystyrene or styrofoam. It’s highly popular for packaging due to its lightweight and insulation capabilities. But it’s made from toxic, non-renewable fossil fuels, it’s not biodegradable, and it breaks into little pieces that are often ingested by marine wildlife.

Luckily, polystyrene may soon be a thing of the past. There’s a more natural, organic alternative that is better for the environment, and Joanne Howarth has found it. Joanne is the CEO of Planet Protection Packaging, and her solution is cost-effective and furry. She’s a self-proclaimed serial entrepreneur with a kinship to the environment.

Howarth

The awareness and value of the environment was instilled in me through my parents at a very young age. I was one of five, and I had a magnificent childhood. We lived in Barren nearby in southern Sydney, and our whole lifestyle revolved around the waterways. You know, we used to have kayaks and surf skis and everything. And so, from a very, very young age, as far as I can remember, my parents were acutely aware of environmental issues and that was just the way we lived our life. And so that shaped the person that I am, I guess, and the values that I hold dear.

Smith

Entrepreneurship is something that attracts many, but very few actually take that step towards entrepreneurship. I personally believe that everyone is an idealist. We all have ideas. Many of them, you know, we wake up, we have 15 ideas a day, right? But the difference between an entrepreneur and an idealist is action. And then the next stage is the difference between an entrepreneur and someone who just becomes a business leader, is action and execution. What made you take that first step of action towards entrepreneurship as you describe yourself as a serial entrepreneur?

Howarth

So, I think that seeing a problem is the drive for all good entrepreneurs. So instilled in me is a deep desire to create an impact and to leave a legacy. And it was seven years ago, Matt, that I had a contract to set up the operation, which is now Australia's largest meal kit provider. And historically, Australia was slow to get started with e-commerce around food and polystyrene has dominated cold supply chains for seven decades. And so, when this business came to our shores and it was very disruptive at the time, the only way that we could deliver to households was by using polystyrene to insulate the food. And so, this was really the first time polystyrene had been used in a B to C application. And at that stage, this company was growing very fast, spending a lot of money on marketing and customer acquisition, and customers hated it. And so, each week I would be thinking as I dispatched a hundred thousand polystyrene boxes nationwide, I would wait for the phone to start calling. And because it's not curbside, recyclable, people would be demanding that I come and collect it. After eight weeks, they had eight polystyrene boxes and it was that, that really let me down the path of trying to find a sustainable alternative.

Smith

So, you saw a problem and it was actually a customer problem that was made aware to you.

Howarth

My background is in food, and I've had enormous exposure to polystyrene in business-to-business applications. But because this was the first time that consumers were confronted with it and because it's not recyclable. Absolutely. They just hated it so much. And a lot of this drive and the momentum that's created is around the fact that consumers are driving the change.

Smith

And where did that sort of awareness of the environment, of the value of the environment come from?

Howarth

That is part of my values and part of who I am. And I never intended to be an environmentalist or a pioneer in this space. It's just that I think when you've got that entrepreneurial flair and you see a problem, automatically, you want to resolve it. And when I saw this problem and I was experiencing such negative feedback from the customers, I knew that I had to look for a sustainable, viable alternative. And so, I went to the market looking for this product. And when it didn't exist, I needed to create it and I don't have a science background. And so, it was a case of putting together the right expertise and I pulled together a wonderful team that would look at natural fibers as a solution. And so, all I wanted was something that's not plastic or a polymer. And I didn't know at that stage what it would be like, whether I looked at cotton, bamboo and everything, and that's when I discovered the thermal properties of wool. And we always like to say Woolies, nature's smart fiber.

Smith

And just to clarify for everyone, all of us listening by wool, we mean sheep's clothing, right?

Howarth

Yes, we do. That's right.

Smith

I'm always curious where this sort of, you know, this drive comes from in some of our guests. Right. Because, you know, we have a guest on the show who has come from a very different background. Right. Coming from a corporate finance background, for example, wanting to do better versus others who have just had this internal drive and ambition to sort of do something impactful for the environment from the beginning. So, it sounds as if, you know, your environment, your nurture was very much set you and set that course towards doing something in the impact space or something that would benefit the environment.

Howarth

So, if historically if you look at a lot of the disruptive solutions to some of the world's most pressing challenges, they're all inspired by nature. And because I'd grown up in the city, I never really stopped and thought about the wool or the sheep. And so, when I discovered that wool is so amazing, it keeps sheep warm in winter and cool in summer, I wanted to leverage those thermal properties to create a solution that would be inside a regular shipping carton that's recyclable, and to create a solution that fits within the circular economy that consumers would accept and hopefully love.

Smith

Why is polystyrene so bad?

Howarth

Well, polystyrene is made of toxic non-renewable fossil fuels. It's incredible. It's sometimes the forgotten plastic. So, what happens? It's expanded with air, it's very lightweight. The wind comes along because it's not curbside, recyclable, you know, it kicks around in the backyard or on the street and it breaks down into these small micro fragments. And invariably, with wind uplift there, they make their way to the waterways and to the oceans. And they're ingested by marine life. So, they move up the food chain, they destroy aquatic habitats. Increasingly they're a threat even to human health. Just recently in Australia, it was reported two weeks ago that for the very first time, micro fragments of polystyrene have been found in human breast milk. So, a lot of marine life is compromised. And this is how it is. They stay in the ocean and these micro fragments are just destroying the ocean.

Smith

Polystyrene, you know, obviously, we you know many of us might've heard of it would be different what it in different languages but what is it typically used for? What is the greatest polluter of polystyrene into our oceans and just into our environment today?

Howarth

Cold chain. Polystyrene or like you say it is called different things in different countries, commonly referred to as Styrofoam. And so, it's dominated called supply chains since 1954. So, anything that needs cold chain transport is shipped in polystyrene. So here in Australia, there's a lot of food that's exported and shipped in polystyrene. Seafood is a very big user because they need such temperature stability and also the pharmaceutical sector, because that sector is very highly regulated, they are very focused on the temperature stability and the efficacy of the drugs that they're shipping. And so, for many years, in those sectors, anyone who is using cold chain needs insulated packaging.

Smith

Who is the biggest producer of polystyrene?

Howarth

Well, the oil companies. So, in Australia, we have 8,000 producers of polystyrene. So, these small independent operators extrude these chemicals, and the main chemical that's used is styrene. And there's been an enormous amount of research that suggests that styrene is carcinogenic. So, I don't know whether you've ever been in an environment where that strong, pervasive smell of polystyrene lingers in the air. But if you can imagine when I'm dispatching a hundred thousand boxes a week, the smell of polystyrene and the chemical smell was overwhelming in our warehouse. So, it can't be good for human health.

Smith

What were your first steps? Talk us through the sort of your ideation and how you got product-market fit and then how you developed and discovered that wool is the solution.

Howarth

At that stage, I was just intent on finding a sustainable alternative. And so, I researched numerous fibers. It started with desktop research looking at all different natural materials. I wanted to choose a product that would have a good end-of-life. It wouldn't have a negative impact on the environment. And I researched numerous different types of fibers, but wool was an outstanding fiber, and I discovered the thermal properties and I set about to replicate those inside the regular cardboard box.

Smith

What did they say when you said to them, “I want to use your wool for packaging, for the thermal benefits of it, for transporting globally.” Did they laugh you off?

Howarth

A lot of people laughed this off. And of course, as an Australian, it was always my vision that if I got this up that I would manufacture it here in Australia. And that was probably the single biggest challenge that I needed to overcome because like people didn't believe in me at that time. And that was a frustrating thing. So, a lot of Australia's manufacturing went offshore in the 1970s and eighties. So, when it came to setting up my supply chain, I guess there are two remaining wool scholars in the country and I looked at them, and scouring is the first stage of any processing of wool. So, it's the washing of the wool to remove the vegetable matter, to remove the lanolin. And I look to them to say, “will you wash these inferior-grade wool?” Because historically we've been renowned for our beautiful merino sheep and that wool is exported all around the world.

Smith

So, you're washing the wool so that the actual process of extracting the wool is obviously not harmful to the animal. This is actually due to sort of the seasons, right? The wool gets taken, sheared off, used for merino, jumpers, for other different things spun. And there are different elements of the wool, though, right? What part of the wool where you're using?

Howarth

It's the type of sheep. So merino is of very beautiful quality, and it's exported. But more and more, as Australia's population has changed, so too is the sheep population. And in Australia, we have a lot of sheep, as they do all around the world, that are being bred for their meat rather than their wool. And these are crossbred sheep and so the fleece is more wirier. It has a lot of modulated fibers and it's really not suitable for the textile industry. It's very coarse. And so ordinarily this wool is destined for landfill. When I set about trying to watch this wool, these two wool scouts in Australia were like, no, thank you, God forbid that one of your entire inferior fibers would contaminate the beautiful wool that we're sending over to Europe, and we can't have anything to do with you and good luck and like, see you later. So that was a big, big challenge. But this is wonderful because this wool is not suitable for the textile industry, it's a waste stream. So, our product is made out of a waste stream. We've diverted it from the landfill. We've monetized it yet, given it a second life as packaging it. Also, at the same time, we're replacing this insidious polystyrene that is devastating the oceans and waterways.

Smith

This wool fiber is a waste product that is replacing a non-biodegradable substance, which is pretty remarkable. Planet Protector is not only preventing the production of polystyrene packaging but they’re also diverting inferior wool from landfills with their liners.

Howarth

The wool. It looks like a piece of blanket. So, there's two interlocking liners that goes inside a regular shipping carton. The first one goes across the base and up the side of the carton, and the second one covers the three remaining walls of the carton. Now, the wool is what we called like almost like filtered. So, it's carded, and its needle punched. And in the final stages, we enclose it in a compostable film. And that compostable film is to make sure that it's all food safe. It has no odor. It absorbs moisture, it's antibacterial. You know, polystyrene as a plastic breeds bacteria. Wool is antibacterial like wool ticks everyone. It has the most amazing attributes, and it ticks every one of the desirable characteristics for cold chain transport. So, you know, our product was used in New Zealand to ship the vaccines across the country, so it couldn't have done that. It was approved by Medsafe and it couldn't have done that unless it ticks all the boxes in terms of compliance.

Smith

If you compare the two products, you know, we've got all, you know, polystyrene packaging, the traditional old-school method and your packaging, the wool packaging. How do they compare on par with each other?

Howarth

Well, the most important attribute is the thermal performance. So, for many years, for 70 years, in fact, many people have tried to come up with an alternative to polystyrene, but they've not been able to do it. They've come up with products, but not products that have the right performance. So wool is the best natural insulator on the planet. And thermally, we outperform polystyrene, which is amazing. So, it comes at a cost premium. So, it's between 5% to 10% more expensive than a regular polystyrene box. But having said that, when you factor in all the inherent cost savings, the fact that more fits on a pallet for transport, it's less materials handling, less storage space, less freight, all of those things.

Smith

Planet Protector Packaging takes up just 20 percent of the box space that polystyrene packaging would.

Howarth

When you factor in those, we are actually cheaper than polystyrene and we come with these unrivaled green credentials. And wool breaks down at its end of life to deliver valuable nutrients into the soil.

Smith

It’s nature positive.

Howarth

It is nature positive. And for years, I have to say, our new king has been a very big advocate for wool.

Smith

Joanne is from Australia so she’s talking about King Charles of the United Kingdom.

Howarth

He has a global campaign for wool. And there's a YouTube video that very much inspires me, that he goes into the grounds of Clarence House and there he buries a 100% wool sweater and next to it he buries a polyester sweater. He goes back six months later with the shovel to dig these two out and where the wool sweater it was completely broken down and delivered these valuable nutrients into the soil where the polyester sweater is he could dig it out in the washing machine and wear it for dinner that night. And that's really the essence of what I'm trying to do.

Smith

Is there enough wool forming in the world to allow you to make enough products to feed and replace polystyrene?

Howarth

Yes Matt, I love this question. Everybody always asks this question. But yes, there is definitely. So, when you think about wool, it's really abundant and renewable biomass. So, sheep are shorn at least once every year. In Australia, we have 40 million sheep. But Australia and New Zealand are just very small markets together they comprise just 1.3% of the global market for packaging in Asia, all these developing nations, this is where our solution is most needed. Of all the polystyrene in the world, it comes from just ten rivers and eight of those are in Asia, and India is one of the largest markets. So, India manufactures 60% of the world's pharmaceuticals and as I said, that's a highly regulated industry that really needs temperature stability. And so, there's an enormous opportunity for us to go to India. And in fact, we've been exploring that and doing a business case study. We just recently had an opportunity to go there, spent a month doing a trade show, and the response was overwhelming. It was my first trip to India and quite aside from being an amazing experience, you can see India transforming before your very eyes. And so, we have a project over there where we're going to be working. So, this is where we need to get out of Australia. We love it here and it's been our base at our start. But to really accelerate our impact we need to move internationally and that's what we're doing.

Smith

Now that she’s proven that Planet Protector Packaging works, Joanne is looking to continue innovating, scaling, and expanding into other markets and sectors.

Howarth

I’m focused very much on developing new products for our own range, and that means tackling new industry sectors. And what's one thing that's a very big opportunity is the wine industry. Wine is a premium product. And I never knew until recently that wine is spoiled by temperature fluctuations, in transit. And so, there are a lot of Australian wineries that have lost volume. And so, as this industry scrambles to find new markets, they're looking for new types of packaging. And we've just developed a whole range of packaging solutions for the winery, from insulated transport to gifting solutions, cellar door, like really interesting products, and a lot of that we've done using kangaroo leather. So, the pelts from the kangaroo, the waste and the offcuts. And so, this product is a combination of Australian wool and kangaroo leather.

Smith

Kangaroos. Give us a little context for the non-Aussies listening to this. Kangaroos we know and love their national emblem. Your rugby team is called the Wallabies for a reason. Do you farm them and is this leather does this come from sort of a natural process such as obviously the wool from the sheep or how is it produced?

Howarth

No, they're not farmed, they're wild. And I think many people have an expectation that they're going to come to Sydney and walk down the main street and meet a kangaroo. That's far from the truth. So, the kangaroos are in the rural setting. They're wild. And in fact, I love kangaroos, but a lot of people, a lot of people in farming, really, they're a pest and a lot of people want to eliminate them. We work with this company that goes out into the wild and gets the kangaroos and brings them back. And, you know, they're like an animal, like the sheep. So, their fleece has got to be removed before they can use the leather. And so, we're doing a lot of experiments working together with this company because their fleece, like the wool, if you like, the fur on the kangaroo could be blended with some of our wool too, you know, to make a different product or different applications. So, we're very heavily involved in looking at all different natural types of fibers. We have multiple collaborations going with several universities, and one of the things that we're striving to achieve is to reduce some costs out of our solution. It would take a lot of costs. It makes us more cost competitive, which enables us to get more traction and accelerate our impact. And everything we do is impact driven.

Smith

Joanne has used her years of knowledge in the food industry, as well as her passion to save the environment to come up with an alternative to polystyrene using wool. While this may not be the path for most, there are ways that the average person can help reduce polystyrene waste.

Howarth

Well, I think we all can't do everything, but we can all do something. And I think by being vocal, when you receive products that are in polystyrene and plastics more and more in the post-COVID-19 world, I think that there's been a reset and people are conscious of the need to make a change. And you can do something by voicing your sentiments through your purchasing decisions. So, we should all be dealing with companies that are driven by ESG and want to be aware of the environment. And, you know, like we all need to value that insight. It was interesting for me. We've bootstrapped up until now Matt, which means we've funded our own business and we're still a mature start-up, but we're poised to scale it. Last year, our runway was getting fairly short, and it was COVID-19. We had huge demand during COVID-19 as people transferred to e-commerce. And we really needed this, the single biggest risk in our business was our reliance upon China. So, we were shipping containers from China to Australia previously at $4,000, and then it increased to $24,000. And so that we didn't let our customers down. We had to invest in a huge amount of stock because of the disruptions in the supply chain. And in doing so, we needed cash. So, we went to the market, and we did a small equity crowdfunding, which was really interesting, and I personally resisted that because I know how intense it is and how much work, you know, driving the social media and everything. But we made the decision to do it overnight. And in honesty, it was the best thing that we've ever done because we said to the market, we want to raise AU$1,000,000. And we did it through a platform here in Australia and we raised AU$1.2 million in fact over the course of a week and I guess it was in the middle of winter and I was so grateful and so inspired that people had the confidence and trust to give us the money that they believed so much in what we're doing. So, I sat down over two weekends and I made a pledge to myself that I would connect verbally and not just write an email, but I wanted to say thank you and I wanted to understand what was their motivation anyway. The amazing thing is that I spoke to incredible people, passionate about what we're doing. Passionate about the sheep industry, but more particularly the environment. And there were lots of grandparents that shared, you know, their desire to leave a legacy for the next generation and everything. And it was absolutely so inspiring.

Smith

Soft funding, we like to call that.

Howarth

It is indeed, but. With that money, we are establishing a state-of-the-art wool processing facility. It will be a total game changer for our business. First of all, it reduces our reliance on China and eliminates that risk in our business and we'll vertically integrate. We'll own our own supply chain. It will drive our R&D initiatives. And once we've got this facility up, there are so many more opportunities because wool is such a superior insulator. We're driven with lots of R&D at the moment and we've developed a building insulation product using wool. We've developed a product that will be used in cool rooms in commercial kitchens. I'm sure that you're not aware, but polystyrene is used in lots of cool rooms. And if you're a business with a cool room like that, you pay a 60% premium on your insurance. So polystyrene is highly flammable because it is chemical based. So, these are the opportunities that we saw in India to insulate transport fleets, last-mile delivery trucks. You know, whatever we can do at this all reduces emissions, and all helps towards the goals around climate change.

Smith

There's a really beautiful message, Joanne, in what you did with the crowdfunding, actually. And I think there's a question I always like to ask our guests, which is, you know, how can we all support as consumers? A lot of the businesses we speak to are B2B. You know, they sell to businesses and they're working in your case as well in supply chain and delivery and transportation and insulation, not something we as a consumer are involved with on a regular basis. Right. So, we feel like, oh, well, I can't really make an impact. However, as you said, you can make an impact. But Joanne, what do you say to people who believe that it's too late to reverse the plastic waste problem in our environment?

Howarth

There are lot of people that do maintain that it is too late, but it's definitely not too late. We're right on the precipice. And so that's the reason that we urgently need to act now. And I believe that it is the thing that's driving it. More people are aware and there's always the opportunity to reverse what's been the damage to date. But a big part of it resolves around eliminating problematic plastics. So, you know, this is the world working towards zero emissions and all of these things. But you know, like at an individual level, we all need to look it's a collective effort that will create the change and that drives the momentum. And we all need to look at what we can do in our own personal lives. So, it's never too late.

Smith

Perfectly well said, Joanne. Thank you. And Joanne, I wanted to sort of finish on the last point of hope. You know, this is an aspirational, inspirational podcast. You know, you've been incredible in giving us your take on how you're making an impact in all of this and what gives you hope and what drives you.

Howarth

What drives me is I'm surrounded, and I work in a community of passionate people and my team inspires me every day. I could not do what I do without having the support of the incredible people around me, most of whom have been on this journey with me since our business inception. So, I have a team of very talented, very well-credentialed academics like, you know, sustainability management, environmental science. And they share the passion. And this is wonderful to look at the new generation realizing that they're wanting to drive this as much as I am. So, unless we are all pushing in one direction, I never feel like, Matt, that I've got, and I've felt like this sometimes in the past with previous businesses that you're leading from the front and dragging everybody from behind you. But I don't feel like this. We are all on this journey together and we work in a community of passionate people who are advocating for change. And that's what inspires me to get up and do what I do every day.

Smith

Joanne, thanks so much for inspiring us to think twice next time we all throw something in the wastebasket.

Howarth

Thank you, Matt. Thank you for the opportunity. It's been a pleasure to chat with you.

Smith

Thank you all for joining me on this episode of Better Heroes. You can learn more about Planet Protector Packaging at planetprotectorpackaging.com. And you can learn more about EY Ripples and all of our impact entrepreneurs at www.ey.com/eyripples. Links are in our show notes.

Please don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast, Better Heroes wherever you listen to podcasts. You can also rate and leave our show a review to help others find out about the amazing work of our impact entrepreneurs. Before we go, we’d like to thank our podcast producers Hueman Group Media, who helped us bring this show to life (pronounced ‘human’).

That’s it for today’s episode. We’ll be back next week.

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Better Heroes is a project of EY Ripples, a global program to mobilize people across the EY network to help solve the world's most urgent social and environmental challenges. By extending EY skills, knowledge and experience to impact entrepreneurs on a not-for-profit basis and forging collaborations with like-minded organizations, EY Ripples is helping scale new technologies and business models that are purposefully driving progress toward the UN’s 17 sustainable development goals.

The views of third parties set out in this podcast are not necessarily the views of the global EY organization or its member firms. Moreover, they should be seen in the context of the time they were made.

 

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