Microplastics are everywhere. They're everywhere.
They are in our water, they are in our food, and they even cross the blood barrier and into our brains.
Sarah Paige Yeo launched Blueland in 2019 to minimize the amount of microplastics consumers come into contact with every day. This meant creating special tablets that dissolve in water and can be used to make household essentials like hand soap, laundry detergent, and dish soap.
Paige Yeo founded the company after becoming a parent. She tried to live a zero-waste lifestyle but found it quite difficult. “I had been trying my best to maintain a zero-waste lifestyle, but I realized there must be a better way to make a bigger impact and offer other consumers more and better choices without single-use plastics.”
So she got to work helping others reduce waste in their lives: She spent months formulating a pill never seen before while researching her most pressing concerns about water and microplastics.
Supplier after supplier told her that her dream was difficult and impossible to achieve, but she found a way to make it happen. Blueland sold direct to consumers in the early years, then gradually expanded into retail stores. This was also a calculated move, Paige Yeo said, knowing that it would be better to expand into retail stores once the brand was more successful.
“If brick-and-mortar sales don't work, there's a lot of risk, it goes against our mission to be a sustainable company and there's a lot of waste,” she said, referring to wasted inventory that occurs when consumers don't buy the products.
Paige Yo spoke to Dom and Tim about how they developed their range of water-soluble tablets, the evolution of plastic pods in our kitchens, and what changes they'd like to see in the way the U.S. deals with its addiction to microplastics. They also shared a bit about their journey as founders and how, after years of working in finance and consulting, they decided to take the plunge and start something on their own.
It was around the time that the female founders of Rent the Runway, Birch Box, and Bauble Bar were making waves, and “we decided to start something,” Paige Yeo says.
Listen to this week's episode of Found to hear what happened next.