Raised in Vancouver, Canada, Lauren Gropper’s love of the natural world grew early on — and so did her desire to help preserve it. After pursuing environmental studies and geography in college, Gropper did a range of work in related fields. Then she went on to study sustainable design in graduate school.
Image Credit: Courtesy of Repurpose. Lauren Gropper.
In graduate school, Gropper was in a terrible accident that reconfirmed her commitment to pursuing work that made a difference, she says.
“Like many foreigners abroad, I was very interested in riding mopeds and motorcycles,” Gropper recalls, “and I was in the mountains of Thailand and ended up colliding into a bus. I broke my jaw and lost all my teeth. It was a life-changing, near-death experience. It cemented my [conviction to] do something in the world that made an impact.”
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Gropper was determined to build a career with that goal in mind, but starting a business wasn’t on her radar in the beginning. She continued to gain experience in the green building space consulting for large firms, then moved to Los Angeles to do the same work for design on film and television sets.
“This was, no pun intended, not sustainable.”
Although Gropper had a hand in building sustainable sets, she couldn’t help but notice the serious waste that unfolded on them once filming started: Disposable plastic cutlery was the norm for every meal.
“People had to break to eat [and] eat quickly,” Gropper explains. “There was no way around using disposable items. It’s just the nature of the business. Everything’s very temporary. It just became obvious to me that this was, no pun intended, not sustainable.”
With her design background, Gropper saw an apparent solution to the issue: A cleaner, greener product that didn’t last forever in a landfill. Gropper started researching alternatives that already existed and discovered it was possible to make similar products out of plant-based, nontoxic materials that would break down within 90 days.
Image Credit: Courtesy of Repurpose
“ There was a zero-waste circular solution, which embodied everything that I had studied, so I got really excited about that,” Gropper says. “And it felt like business would be a really great tool to magnify the change. [I started to think about] how we could use business for good or as a tool for impact.”
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As Gropper continued her research into the plant-based alternatives, she found that some were much more viable than others. Many of them not only didn’t work well but also came with prohibitive costs. Gropper needed to figure out how to develop a product that performed and didn’t require people to pay significantly more.
“[It’s] basically taking plant starch and turning it into a polymer that mimics plastic.”
Two large chemical companies “create the building blocks” for these types of products, which are typically made from a combination of plant-based resin and agricultural waste, Gropper explains. Essentially, the process involves taking something that would be burnt or discarded and giving it a second life.
“[It’s] basically taking plant starch and turning it into a polymer that mimics plastic,” Gropper says. “That combination is what gives you a product that can hold up to a conventional plastic product, but then break down in a 90-day period and be certified by independent bodies as compostable.”
In the U.S., products must undergo third-party certification, complete with a soil test and microplastic and toxin trace assessment, to receive the “compostable” designation.
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Gropper’s research led her to a Taiwan-based group ”that was kind of leading the charge globally in alternatives to single-use plastic.” The group had already been manufacturing products that performed well at a good price point; it seemed like an opportunity to attempt consumer adoption at mass scale, Gropper says.
Image Credit: Courtesy of Repurpose
“ There was white space everywhere,” Gropper says, “but what felt really compelling was the idea of creating a brand around all these different products, because then you weren’t just making one product. You weren’t just making a commodity and putting it into a system. You are actually creating a brand that could extend into different product categories, that would represent this better-for-you, better-for-the-planet brand for the modern consumer.”
“ Product quality has always been paramount for us.”
Gropper’s Repurpose hit the market in late 2011 and has grown considerably over the last decade-plus. Now, the brand boasts eight-figure sales, has replaced 656 million pieces of plastic and offers more than 15 different types of sustainable household products in 20,000 stores nationwide.
Like many founders and CEOs, Gropper acknowledges the plethora of challenges that came with building her company over the years: ones that often require creative problem-solving. There have been products printed upside down ahead of an important retail launch, cash flow constraints that major legacy players don’t face, conflicts to navigate among team members and so many more.
Image Credit: Courtesy of Repurpose
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According to Gropper, being agile enough to overcome those obstacles as they arise has been key to Repurpose’s growth and success — as has an unwavering commitment to the brand’s product quality.
“ Product quality has always been paramount for us,” Gropper says. “But at a price point that’s accessible. [We want this product to be] available to all Americans. [And also] as sustainable as possible. If you can deliver on those three things at the same time, you can be successful. And that is what we’ve done.”
This article is part of our ongoing Women Entrepreneur® series highlighting the stories, challenges and triumphs of running a business as a woman.
