Better Business Founder

Making Great Products from Recycled Plastics by Tammy Ven Dange (part 1)

Episode Summary

In today’s episode, we have the great pleasure to talk to Tammy Ven Dange, a social entrepreneur based in Australia. Tammy is the founder and CEO of the Refoundry which mission is to help Mother Nature by making great products from recycled plastics and to create a demand for this material that may otherwise go to landfill or into waterways. In the first part of the conversation, we discussed a lot about creating recycled plastic products for pets and how this development is related to Tammy’s previous job as a CEO of an animal welfare charity. Tammy will share with us what inspired her to launch the Refoundry, she will also tell us all about her experience from her crowdfunding campaign and what she learned along the way.

Episode Notes

01:30 Why Tammy launched The Refoundry to help Mother Nature by making great products from recycled plastics

07:00 Leaving a job as the CEO of an animal welfare charity, paddling across 5 continents to witness plastic pollution everywhere and taking action to tackle the problem

09:30 From organizing rubbish collection near Canberra to the idea of manufacturing recycled plastic

11:30 A senior position in a small town and the challenge of recreating the public identity

14:30 High capital investment to make molds and prototypes

16:00 “Stray no more” crowdfunding campaign to raise fund, to market and test the products

19:00 Learnings from the crowdfunding campaign

22:00 Shifting to make another product

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NUGGETS:

  1. The plastic pollution problem is visible on the 5 continents 
  2. Creating products using recycled plastic is one way to tackle the plastic pollution problem
  3. A recycled plastic product needs to be useful if not, it will just end up in the landfill quickly. The key is to design an innovative product that solves a problem
  4. Injection plastic molding and prototyping requires high capital investment
  5. Creating the right momentum is key to a successful crowdfunding campaign

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CONNECT with Tammy:

To find out more about Tammy Ven Dange: https://tvendange.com/

To find out more about The Refoundry: https://refoundry.com.au/

Tammy’s podcast: Plastics Revolution

Connect with Tammy on socials @tvendange

Host: Leekei Tang

Contact: hello (at) betterbusinessfounder.com

Music credits: Mister Sunny Face by Wayne Jones / Blue Skies by Silent Partner / Happy Ukulele by Scott Holmes