Re-imagining the Future of Packaging with Insiya Jafferjee, Co-founder & CEO at Shellworks

Hardware to Save a Planet

In today's episode of Hardware to Save a Planet, Dylan talks to Insiya Jafferjee about the role Shellworks plays in reimagining sustainable alternatives to plastic use cases. They delve into unique and environmentally beneficial product concepts and designs used by Shellworks to address the issue of plastic waste holistically and contextually.

Insiya is the CEO of Shellworks, a company comprising a team of scientists, engineers, and designers focusing on reimagining the future of packaging by working with nature. Before founding Shellworks, Insiya worked at Apple as a Manufacturing Design Engineer, where she learned to appreciate quality designs that improve people's lives and are produced at a massive scale.

Shellworks introduced a plastic that was created using bacteria that are common in soil and marine environments. Insiya adds that when you discard a product made of Vivomer, bacteria that live in the soil and ocean perceive it as food and consume it, allowing it to decompose in nature without requiring additional infrastructure.

Insiya reveals the rationale for Shellworks' current emphasis on cosmetic products. According to Insiya, the beauty industry is likely one of the leading offenders of plastic pollution. Shellworks aims to provide them with sustainable packaging solutions that are petroleum-free, truly compostable, and "perform like plastic" but decompose in about a year, all at a good cost and scale without compromising aesthetics and performance.

Episode resources:

• Insiya on LinkedIn
• Insiya on Twitter
• Insiya’s Website
• The Shellwork’s Website

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Previous guests include: Peter Reinhardt of Charm Industrial, Carlos Araque of Quaise, Noah McQueen of Heirloom, Areeb Malik of Glacier, Jeff Satwicz of Bigbelly, Abe Schneider of Natel Energy, Insiya Jafferjee of Shellworks, Paul Gross of Remora, Erika Boeing of Accelerate Wind and Daniel Betts of Blue Frontier.
Check out our three most downloaded episodes:

• A Sustainable Approach to Direct Air Capture with Noah McQueen, Head of Research & Co-Founder of Heirloom
• Innovative Waste Recycling: AI and Robotics with Areeb Malik, Co-founder of Glacier
• Developing an Environmentally-Friendly and Fish-Saving Hydropower Turbine with Abe Schneider, Co-founder and CTO of Natel Energy

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