Ralph Bianculli - Emerald Ecovations

What this episode covers

Ralph Bianculli explains that it all began in the late 1990s. He was a paper and plastics industry executive and wanted to change the trajectory of wastes. He recounts about that era... marked by incessant foam coffee cups and all manner of single-use disposables. Now he manufacturers and sells 370+ products... all of which are made from natural, organic materials, and all of which are easily composted. Today, his company can boast about major, positive environmental impacts.... avoiding the use of 43 million pounds of plastics, keeping 7.7 million kg of CO2 from being released into the atmosphere, and he has saved over a half million trees... not to mention 74 million pounds of landfill waste.Ralph recounts his prior career in the food service industry, at odds with the planet. "I was part of the problem," he laments, and he wanted to change that. He had a rude awakening traveling the world where he recognized that other countries were well ahead of us in adapting to the functionality of products and disposables. America was relentless using virgin materials then and throwing them away. Emerald Ecovation's product portolio today covers food service compostables, facility supplies, janitorial products, and packaging materials. The company is providing "everyday essentials" for institutions of all kinds, from major Fortune 500 companies to cruise lines, universities, hospitals, and more. It is an aggregator of raw materials, different types of fiber materials such as bagasse, wheat, and miscanthus... a fast-growing grass. "We create formulations for finished goods," and license manufacturers with 48 factories around the world. Ralph explains that the company's path has been painful at times, but more so exciting, for instance finding new uses for miscanthus in pet and equestrian bedding. Clay is used in packaging materials instead of plastics and is readily compostable.An important part of Emerald Ecovation's work is educating its buyers and suppliers about lifecycle analysis of products used and made. To do so, Ralph formed the Emerald Sustainability Institute (ESI). Let's use trees as an example: Ralph explains that they sequester 18% of the carbon on the planet and at same time give off oxygen. Trees are the lungs of the planet and thus need to be revered, certainly not wasted. All of Emerald's suppliers are ESA certified and ESA now has over over 2,000 graduates. Emerald also helps its customers meet their Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) goals, The Environmental Impact Reports that Emerald provides present clear metrics, giving all stakeholders solid indexes of what they are accomplishing by shifting to eco-friendly products and practices. Emerald boasts being the only tree-free paper producer and it is serving 1.2 million clients a day. It is putting farmers to work. Its mission is move past recycling. Its organic materials are formed into products, go into its composting systems, and 24 hours later come our as organic soil.

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