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Welcome, Matt and Kay.

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Thank you so much for being here.

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Absolutely, this is wonderful.

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I just...

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I'm so excited for you to share your story
about Green Llama and what initially

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inspired you to come into the green
cleaning product field and also have

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environmentally friendly packaging.

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Yeah, great question.

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Let's see.

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Early in the COVID pandemic, I had been on
a journey to reduce plastic and waste in

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my everyday life.

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So I had switched a lot of our home
products over to a plastic-free option.

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At the same time, Matt was brainstorming a
business idea for science.

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Matt, as a neuroscientist, he said, what
if I made

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these pre-made buffers for scientists.

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They don't have to mix them in the lab.

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We were cleaning our house at this time
and I said, well, how about one of those

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for my all-purpose cleaner so I don't have
to buy a new plastic bottle every time?

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We, like many, if you open under our sink,
there were mounds of plastic bottles.

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Then we did a little research, looked up
different ingredients, eco-friendly, and I

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said, Matt, do you

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Do you think we could do something like
this?

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And he said, yeah.

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And that is where it all began.

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She gave me the freedom to play
essentially.

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So we started ordering ingredients.

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The kitchen turned into a little lab and
that's where we started.

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And then it was sort of like a downward
train.

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We just couldn't get off.

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It's a lot of.

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Yeah, I hear you.

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Sometimes going down that rabbit hole, you
just can't go back.

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And it's hard to unknow what you know
about chemicals and about environmental

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impact of plastics.

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And I had a similar journey myself.

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prior to COVID with learning about plastic
pollution and trying to eliminate

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everything in my own home so I can totally
relate with your journey.

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And I'm not a scientist, so I just had to
do it with products that were available to

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me.

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And really, like up until I found you
guys, I was using vinegar.

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Well, anyone that uses vinegar, I always
get taken back to being a kid because of

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course, fish and chips have salt and
vinegar on them a lot.

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So it always reminded me of that.

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But yeah, the cleaners that we make are
they're essential oils and they smell a

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lot nicer than vinegar.

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So much better, so much.

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And it cleans more easily too.

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It's a little bit more like familiar to
what you were maybe using before switching

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because I find that there was that
learning curve too of going from like all

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the stuff that just.

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makes things so easy to clean.

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And then finding out all those chemicals
that make it easy are also not good for

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me, my skin, my respiratory, my dog, on
the floor after I clean the floor.

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And so, yeah, I just took time to learn
how to clean with vinegar, but it was a

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learning curve.

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And so I love that your product doesn't
have that steep.

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difference and learning curve is just like
a new thing.

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Just throw in the tabs, shake it up and
wait a little bit and then you're off and

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running.

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So that's really great.

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Yes.

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we did that.

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Reducing plastic was the first thought in
creating these products, but having a

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non-toxic option was also, it had to be
that way as well.

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So we looked at different lists from the
EPA Safer Choice.

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We referenced the environmental working
group information to find ingredients that

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are non-toxic,

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but also are effective.

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And that took us to, that narrowed down
the ingredients that we sourced first to

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do our testing and start making the
formulations.

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So it was, okay, we can use these.

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So let's get those and let's see what we
can make.

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So.

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use.

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It's a very small list, right, Matt?

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It definitely was reduced.

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When you look on the back of a regular
cleaning product with all the different

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ingredients on there, the majority of
those were taken off our starting list.

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Then again, just by doing some research
and then by cross-checking against the

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environmental working group, we narrowed
it down to five or six different

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surfactants that we might want to use as
well as other ingredients that are

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critical.

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for tablet production or at least
maintaining a tablet's integrity.

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It was pretty small after doing a lot of
research.

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My background is academia and of course,
research in different aspects of my own

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work sort of lent itself towards this type
of work, so the screening essentially.

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Mm-hmm.

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what is just noise and what is actual
information.

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So, long story short, yes, exactly.

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But again, sort of the training and the
background it sort of helped sift through

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it.

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Yeah, it helped you be able to just focus
on and know exactly what you were looking

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for.

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Yeah, and I feel like there are products
out there who have tried to eliminate like

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the packaging and do a refill bottle, but
still coming in a plastic refill

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container.

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And those products are also not so focused
on ingredients either.

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So, of course.

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scrolling through, I think it was
Instagram or Facebook, and there was a

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product, and the title, it was for
dishwasher tablets, and the headline was

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100% plastic free.

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And then the first comment was, your
packaging is plastic.

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And, so it's not really 100, yeah, so that
gets into a different topic, but I thought

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that was fascinating.

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You know, with a lot of the brands that
still use plastic, the green cleaners that

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are really popular, you know, on a lot of
shelves, we see it as there was progress,

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but we're going to keep going.

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If that makes sense, we're going to build
on it because, yes, you can have a green

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non-toxic formula, but if it's coming in a
plastic spray bottle...

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then that is going to eventually end up in
our landfills, hopefully not our oceans,

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but possibly plastic takes a thousand,
yeah, I don't know the exact number of

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thousands of years to break down.

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It depends on the type of plastic as well.

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Right.

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away the whole bottle, you're throwing
away that hard plastic head, all of it.

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Like, you know, even if you can recycle or
in a place where you can recycle the

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bottle, let's say in your curbside bin,
the head cannot be.

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And I guess this is a good segue to talk
about the one piece of plastic that you

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guys can't avoid.

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But I love what you guys did with how you
source the the plastic to make that.

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Mm-hmm.

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nozzle for your glass bottles.

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So let's talk about that.

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Absolutely.

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So we have for our surface cleaners, we
have, as we've talked about, tablets that

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dissolve in our refillable glass bottles.

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But of course, the trigger spray, they are
up until now all 100% plastic.

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So we have partnered with a company that
is able to recycle decommissioned wind

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turbine blades.

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And that is a whole other podcast on its
own,

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Absolutely.

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Our blind blades have a waste problem.

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They are hard to get rid of, they're hard
to recycle, but this company is doing it.

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So our trigger sprays, we use their
material to make our trigger sprays.

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So they are reduced plastic and more
robust because it contains fiberglass from

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a blade, which is really cool.

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So a little bit of serendipity.

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So we were partnered with this company
when we were on an accelerator program.

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It was sort of like a mix of serendipity
and ingenuity when we're sitting next to

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these guys and they're talking about their
product.

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And I thought, holy moly, we can use that.

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So basically one of the strengths is
literally a strength.

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The trigger sprays are reinforced with
fiberglass, which makes them a lot

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stronger.

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So they last a lot longer than a
traditional trigger spray, which of course

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is the whole point of the product.

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It's reusing

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we're very proud of that.

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We're the first company in the world to do
something different in that sense.

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And we're just a tiny we have a very small
company in East Tennessee.

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That being said, it's at the very
beginning.

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So it's not perfect.

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And that's something we'll keep working on
over time.

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Right.

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the name of the trigger sprays ended up
being Windblade.

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Yeah.

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Is that right?

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I want to say there was some chat GPT
involved in there too, but it titled it.

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We called it Windblade.

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And we were like, we like that.

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The Windblade.

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It makes it sound like a superhero trigger
spray.

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Guys are trend setting, I love it.

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This is what we need, we need innovation.

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We have to use the plastics that are out
there, that exist and find unique ways.

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And tell us again, you were somewhere
where you

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we joined an accelerator program, which
was running close to where we're based in

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East Tennessee.

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So the accelerator program ran for about
eight weeks, and I think it was one of the

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critical junctures in our journey that
turned us from sort of like an organized

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hobby into more of a business.

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But as...

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part of the accelerator, we were grouped,
our cohort had five different companies,

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everyone with completely disparate ideas,
but all focused around clean tech.

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So we were part of that.

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And of course, we made friends and one of
the companies there was this company that

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was sort of recycling, upcycling wind
turbine blades, but they didn't really

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have any use for it.

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And we said, all right, let's get it into
a consumer product.

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Wow.

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That's what we did.

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So again, we're very early in that journey
and I think that we've still got

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improvements to make.

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But I mean, my goal, of course, is to have
a hundred percent plastic free trigger

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spray.

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But at this point, it's not possible with
the materials that we've got available to

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us.

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So we're thinking about how we can get
there.

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Right.

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that's how it all begins is the seed is
planted and you also planted the seed for

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those people who have the wind turbines
that need to be somehow used.

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It was a lot of fun working with them
because we were the first company to take

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the material and make it into something
that is used that we're going to sell.

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Functional, right?

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They had a lot of really cool demos.

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They had made a snowboard and a little
boat figurine out of their materials.

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But we'd, you know.

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took it into something as part of our
product, which was a lot of fun.

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So gave them proof of concept and that
they want to recycle the full blades into

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new blades, but also that this can be used
in different ways.

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It was cool for us because we turned the
weakest part of our product, which is that

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Plastic Trigger Spray into literally one
of the strongest parts of the product.

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And I would like to know, if you've had
any other major challenges or obstacles

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along the way, I mean, that doesn't sound
like it was a challenge.

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The, you know, it was very, the universe
puts you in the right group with the right

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people at the right time, but I'm sure
that you've had some actual challenges and

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struggles doing this in a way that's.

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environmentally sound and also chemical
free for people's health as well.

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So if you could share a little bit about
that.

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How much time do you have?

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That's a whole episode.

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Let's talk about like the biggest thing
that where you were like maybe thinking,

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should we be doing this?

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How many moments?

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Yeah.

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Oh, the biggest challenge.

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That would you say production, finding the
right packaging?

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I'd start off with sort of confidence and
belief.

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Yeah.

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From a very fundamental level as a human.

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And transitioning from, again, I'm an
academic by training.

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So I've spent my entire career in a lab.

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apart from the early days when I delivered
papers and milk and so on and so forth.

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But if you take my meaning, I've spent my
entire life in a lab and Kay, as an OT

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who's special, who's worked a lot with
children.

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It's not, it doesn't, those careers, I
don't think necessarily lend themselves to

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entrepreneurship.

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So connecting to solve those types of
challenges, it's really been about

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connecting to people who can almost help.

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in still belief.

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And so we've worked with Founders Forge in
East Tennessee, who's a it's a group that

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helps startups essentially.

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The bootcamp, the accelerator program that
we joined was also critical in terms of

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building sort of like a confidence in
oneself and the business that we've got.

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00:21:59,199 --> 00:22:04,962
And again, I think we create great
products and we're solving a really big

236
00:22:04,962 --> 00:22:06,902
problem as well.

237
00:22:07,575 --> 00:22:08,896
as part of that movement too.

238
00:22:08,896 --> 00:22:12,497
But so yeah, from a personal level, it's
that.

239
00:22:12,498 --> 00:22:17,941
And then we started off, as I said, we
were a true startup in that sense.

240
00:22:17,941 --> 00:22:19,642
We started off in the kitchen.

241
00:22:19,842 --> 00:22:26,346
We then converted our backyard sort of
garage into the Lama Lab.

242
00:22:26,346 --> 00:22:28,227
And translation garage.

243
00:22:28,247 --> 00:22:31,449
Oh, sorry.

244
00:22:31,449 --> 00:22:34,210
So our backyard garage became.

245
00:22:34,379 --> 00:22:37,860
came along lab, we kitted it out so it's
dry.

246
00:22:37,860 --> 00:22:42,762
We've had to deal with very tough
conditions like humidity and temperature

247
00:22:42,762 --> 00:22:46,724
outside, which are a challenge whenever
you, again, as a scientist, you want

248
00:22:46,724 --> 00:22:50,605
everything to be very continuous or at
least repeatable.

249
00:22:50,946 --> 00:22:55,648
And if you've got temperatures ranging
wildly up and down, but again, as a

250
00:22:55,648 --> 00:22:59,909
startup, capital is always a problem
because you don't have the money to go out

251
00:22:59,909 --> 00:23:02,979
and get a standard space and unit where...

252
00:23:02,979 --> 00:23:08,001
So that's another potential problem, or at
least that's a problem that we've dealt

253
00:23:08,001 --> 00:23:10,622
with over the last year and a half.

254
00:23:10,622 --> 00:23:11,482
Right.

255
00:23:12,383 --> 00:23:20,266
When starting this business, once we got
our first product ready to go, we met with

256
00:23:20,266 --> 00:23:25,909
a man that is an entrepreneur of multiple
businesses and he said, oh, well, you've

257
00:23:25,909 --> 00:23:28,210
got the easy part down, now you just need
to sell it.

258
00:23:28,210 --> 00:23:29,472
So honestly-

259
00:23:29,472 --> 00:23:32,457
sell it.

260
00:23:32,457 --> 00:23:34,840
You're like, wait, that was the easy part?

261
00:23:38,642 --> 00:23:42,924
then for us, that has, there's been a
learning curve of like, oh, if we get this

262
00:23:42,924 --> 00:23:46,826
great product, the selling isn't going to
be easy.

263
00:23:46,826 --> 00:23:51,228
But but we found, oh, wow, it's, it's
getting over the hurdles, getting the

264
00:23:51,228 --> 00:23:55,203
education out there, letting people know
that this is an option that this is here.

265
00:23:55,203 --> 00:23:55,925
Mm-hmm.

266
00:23:56,487 --> 00:24:00,313
that there are other options to grabbing a
plastic bottle off the shelf.

267
00:24:01,436 --> 00:24:05,263
So that has been a challenge, growing the
business.

268
00:24:06,145 --> 00:24:06,982
We've learned a lot.

269
00:24:06,982 --> 00:24:14,266
of that is raising awareness around
plastic pollution in general, not just for

270
00:24:14,266 --> 00:24:18,508
cleaning products, but just for every
product that we bring into our homes

271
00:24:18,508 --> 00:24:23,591
that's packaged and wrapped in plastic and
is made of plastic, right?

272
00:24:24,592 --> 00:24:32,536
So yeah, that's definitely a huge, huge
thing for everybody who's doing this to

273
00:24:32,536 --> 00:24:35,657
overcome is like bringing

274
00:24:35,978 --> 00:24:41,659
people to up to speed with what's going on
with that and why it's important and how

275
00:24:41,659 --> 00:24:42,740
do we overcome it?

276
00:24:42,740 --> 00:24:47,981
And the solution is products like yours,
obviously, but it just takes time and it

277
00:24:47,981 --> 00:24:52,502
takes a village of people sharing what
they know.

278
00:24:52,502 --> 00:24:56,704
And especially I think amongst parents, we
all care.

279
00:24:57,024 --> 00:25:01,565
We all want the future to be good for our
children.

280
00:25:01,565 --> 00:25:03,502
And

281
00:25:03,502 --> 00:25:07,144
we all care, but I think there's a
disconnect between like understanding that

282
00:25:07,144 --> 00:25:10,706
there's a problem, like, okay, we know
there's a problem, but what do I do about

283
00:25:10,706 --> 00:25:11,246
it?

284
00:25:11,246 --> 00:25:13,027
You know, how do I solve that problem?

285
00:25:13,027 --> 00:25:16,509
Because it wasn't easy to find your
products, I have to say, like, and I'm a

286
00:25:16,509 --> 00:25:23,573
researcher, I'm like on it, and I am
looking for, you know, I'm looking for

287
00:25:23,573 --> 00:25:26,654
products like yours, and it took me a
while.

288
00:25:26,654 --> 00:25:31,197
I don't even remember like how I finally
stumbled upon your product, it was

289
00:25:31,197 --> 00:25:32,477
probably just,

290
00:25:33,074 --> 00:25:38,118
I mean, I dig and I dig and you don't know
how many tabs I close.

291
00:25:38,298 --> 00:25:41,862
I click and I like know exactly what I'm
looking for by now.

292
00:25:41,862 --> 00:25:46,386
I've been doing this for many years, like
you guys, you know, probably seven years

293
00:25:46,386 --> 00:25:48,287
ago is when I learned about plastic
pollution.

294
00:25:48,287 --> 00:25:50,389
And prior to that, it was chemicals.

295
00:25:50,389 --> 00:26:17,195
And so trying to find the two of those
combined.

296
00:26:17,195 --> 00:26:29,584
people are interested in finding these
products, but man, it is hard.

297
00:26:30,699 --> 00:26:31,384
Not easy.

298
00:26:31,384 --> 00:26:31,787
Right.

299
00:26:31,787 --> 00:26:32,667
And then we do.

300
00:26:32,667 --> 00:26:40,412
keep sharing, and raising awareness and,
you know, just putting it out there and it

301
00:26:40,412 --> 00:26:41,886
will come because

302
00:26:41,886 --> 00:26:46,272
we very much appreciate you being a part
of that and putting us on here so that we

303
00:26:46,272 --> 00:26:47,767
can share the story.

304
00:26:47,767 --> 00:27:01,215
Absolutely.

305
00:27:01,215 --> 00:27:05,197
I would love to talk about your packaging
further, because you do have some laundry

306
00:27:05,197 --> 00:27:07,238
detergent that is in a bag.

307
00:27:07,238 --> 00:27:10,660
And also, your little tabs come in a bag,
and I would just love to know a little bit

308
00:27:10,660 --> 00:27:13,450
about that packaging and how you do that.

309
00:27:13,450 --> 00:27:19,417
what it is, how it was sourced, and then
how do we properly dispose of it when

310
00:27:19,417 --> 00:27:20,537
we're finished.

311
00:27:59,475 --> 00:28:00,295
Sure.

312
00:28:00,315 --> 00:28:15,841
Yes, our packaging, we, it definitely has
to be very recyclable or compostable.

313
00:28:15,841 --> 00:28:18,559
We sourced a material for our laundry
bags.

314
00:28:18,559 --> 00:28:21,740
and our tablets and soon to be dishwasher
tablets.

315
00:28:21,741 --> 00:28:24,142
And it is outside craft paper.

316
00:28:24,142 --> 00:28:30,827
And then inside it is material called PLA
that is compostable.

317
00:28:30,907 --> 00:28:35,970
And this does get confusing because right
now we don't live in a world, we have our

318
00:28:35,970 --> 00:28:39,113
recycle bins or many people do, not
everyone.

319
00:28:39,113 --> 00:28:44,937
I know it depends on the city and location
but there's not a compost bin where the

320
00:28:44,937 --> 00:28:46,177
city picks it up.

321
00:28:46,217 --> 00:28:47,978
Some places do have that.

322
00:28:48,551 --> 00:28:53,134
In our local area, there is a composting
facility where we can bring our food

323
00:28:53,134 --> 00:28:55,975
scraps or compostable material.

324
00:28:56,216 --> 00:29:00,719
But what happens with this material, it's
not going to last for a thousand years and

325
00:29:00,719 --> 00:29:04,181
it will break down into soil.

326
00:29:04,181 --> 00:31:01,861
Our current material is an industrial
compostable.

327
00:31:01,861 --> 00:31:08,402
There is a great website, and I apologize,
I don't have it right in mind, but you can

328
00:31:08,402 --> 00:31:11,483
Google composting facilities in your area.

329
00:31:11,943 --> 00:31:17,585
There is a long list of all the composting
spots that there are, so see if there is

330
00:31:17,585 --> 00:31:19,205
one in your local area.

331
00:31:20,886 --> 00:31:22,686
I know they're out there because...

332
00:31:22,839 --> 00:33:34,718
and this is a fun story,

333
00:33:34,718 --> 00:33:41,743
So we received an email off a very
frustrated person who it turns out was he

334
00:33:41,743 --> 00:33:44,284
owns or runs a compost facility.

335
00:33:44,764 --> 00:33:50,188
And I learned that his frustration stems
from being sent all sorts of packaging,

336
00:33:50,548 --> 00:33:54,062
which is claimed to be compostable.

337
00:33:54,062 --> 00:33:54,483
But, of course.

338
00:33:54,483 --> 00:34:04,129
But of course, because there's no
certification on it, he doesn't know

339
00:34:04,129 --> 00:34:06,371
whether it can be composted or not.

340
00:34:06,371 --> 00:34:09,393
So he has some hesitation in terms of
actually doing it.

341
00:34:09,393 --> 00:34:14,897
So he received some green llama packaging
and he sent out a frustrated email.

342
00:34:14,897 --> 00:34:16,218
What is it made out of?

343
00:34:16,218 --> 00:34:18,300
How do you know it's compostable?

344
00:34:18,300 --> 00:34:18,980
So on and so forth.

345
00:34:18,980 --> 00:34:22,675
So of course I engaged with him and
learnt.

346
00:34:22,675 --> 00:34:24,996
sort of where his frustration is coming
from.

347
00:34:24,996 --> 00:34:30,180
And we started adding the TUV
certification onto the packaging so that

348
00:34:30,180 --> 00:34:35,484
composters actually know that the material
is compostable, as well as developing a

349
00:34:35,484 --> 00:34:39,767
page on the website that explains what our
packaging is made from.

350
00:34:39,767 --> 00:34:42,229
So everybody can understand exactly.

351
00:34:42,229 --> 00:34:46,932
So it's not essentially, we're not just
trying to greenwash the packaging.

352
00:34:46,932 --> 00:35:24,088
Right.

353
00:35:24,088 --> 00:35:28,169
So this is a great segue to talk about
greenwashing.

354
00:35:28,169 --> 00:35:32,710
from your standpoint how common is it?

355
00:35:32,710 --> 00:35:38,232
I think we talked about it a little bit
when I was explaining how long it took me

356
00:35:38,232 --> 00:35:44,173
to find your product and how many tabs I
opened and closed right away, who were

357
00:35:44,173 --> 00:35:45,793
claiming to be

358
00:35:46,170 --> 00:35:50,173
Lean mean and green and who actually are
not.

359
00:35:50,173 --> 00:39:07,097
So yeah, just from your standpoint, how,
how does it affect you?

360
00:41:40,051 --> 00:41:45,635
The one I think about that isn't related
to cleaning, but it shows how powerful

361
00:41:45,635 --> 00:41:46,356
marketing is.

362
00:41:46,356 --> 00:41:51,480
I saw a green plastic grocery bag one time
and my mind went to, oh, more

363
00:41:51,480 --> 00:41:52,081
eco-friendly.

364
00:41:52,081 --> 00:41:55,504
But then I looked at it and I thought, oh
no, it's just a normal plastic bag.

365
00:41:55,504 --> 00:41:57,045
That's the color green.

366
00:41:57,425 --> 00:42:02,910
So colors and things that we associate
with eco-friendly can be on there and can

367
00:42:02,910 --> 00:42:03,990
be powerful.

368
00:42:04,139 --> 00:42:04,883
Yeah.

369
00:42:05,268 --> 00:42:07,409
Yeah, there are the plastic bottles.

370
00:42:07,409 --> 00:42:14,215
And I do want to say with a lot of green
cleaners out there, we're back to that

371
00:42:14,215 --> 00:42:14,856
progress.

372
00:42:14,856 --> 00:42:22,062
There are the really strong, tough, harsh
ingredients that are harmful to our

373
00:42:22,062 --> 00:42:22,322
health.

374
00:42:22,322 --> 00:42:25,204
And then we have some greener products,
and they're better.

375
00:42:25,805 --> 00:42:30,209
And then we are trying to tackle that to
an even further degree.

376
00:42:30,209 --> 00:42:32,944
But yeah, there are very popular green.

377
00:42:32,944 --> 00:42:36,146
cleaning products that are very well
known.

378
00:42:36,386 --> 00:42:40,110
And when we looked through the
ingredients, we found some that we didn't

379
00:42:40,110 --> 00:42:42,011
wanna have in our home.

380
00:42:42,432 --> 00:42:45,073
These could be petroleum-based
ingredients.

381
00:42:45,094 --> 00:42:49,297
Yeah, but petroleum-based, we want
plant-based or we want natural occurring,

382
00:42:49,297 --> 00:42:50,658
naturally derived.

383
00:42:50,959 --> 00:42:56,363
Some have palm oil-based, which I know
some palm oil is better than others, but

384
00:42:57,905 --> 00:43:00,166
it's still a problem for the environment.

385
00:43:00,367 --> 00:43:01,347
Dyes.

386
00:43:01,700 --> 00:43:06,321
There are a million dyes out there, some
safer than others, but there have been

387
00:43:06,362 --> 00:43:08,922
health concerns there, synthetic
fragrances.

388
00:43:09,623 --> 00:43:15,165
And then I am gonna let this next one, can
you pronounce it?

389
00:43:15,165 --> 00:43:18,027
This is one I see a lot, so I wanna bring
it up.

390
00:43:18,207 --> 00:43:19,879
I call it MIT, but.

391
00:43:19,879 --> 00:43:26,184
Let's let people know because I feel like
educating people to, you know, just have

392
00:43:26,184 --> 00:43:28,766
an awareness around things is what we're
here for.

393
00:43:35,481 --> 00:43:41,963
Yeah, so there was a recent study
published in Sweden that showed regular

394
00:43:41,963 --> 00:43:47,404
and prolonged use of household chemicals,
household cleaning products can be

395
00:43:47,404 --> 00:43:53,606
equivalent to smoking 20 cigarettes a day,
which is a pretty surprising statistic,

396
00:43:53,606 --> 00:43:56,727
but that just sort of is an insight into
the

397
00:43:59,508 --> 00:44:01,052
household cleaning products.

398
00:44:01,616 --> 00:44:04,528
Now, exactly.

399
00:44:04,528 --> 00:44:10,269
hiding under a few natural products or
ingredients, excuse me.

400
00:44:10,269 --> 00:44:15,112
absolutely and as an example of that, so
there's a green cleaner, actually there's

401
00:44:15,112 --> 00:44:20,394
a few green cleaners that use something
called methyl isothiazolinone.

402
00:44:20,695 --> 00:44:22,656
That's the one.

403
00:44:22,956 --> 00:44:26,258
Let me say that again.

404
00:44:26,598 --> 00:44:32,542
So that's a preservative and it was
awarded by the American Dermatological

405
00:44:32,542 --> 00:44:36,123
Society 2013 Allergen of the Year.

406
00:44:36,152 --> 00:44:40,875
but that's still present in a lot of green
cleaning products today.

407
00:44:41,676 --> 00:44:49,361
And then, of course, there's the more
traditional and regular cleaners that

408
00:44:50,422 --> 00:44:54,165
maybe they have a green, as Kay mentioned
now, they have a green packaging, but

409
00:44:54,165 --> 00:44:56,847
those chemicals are essentially still the
same.

410
00:44:56,907 --> 00:45:02,371
The sodium lauryl sulfate is very common
in a lot of...

411
00:45:03,196 --> 00:45:08,499
laundry as well as surface cleaners and
dish soap.

412
00:45:08,499 --> 00:45:17,183
And a derivative of SLS is SLES, sodium
laureth sulfate.

413
00:45:17,684 --> 00:45:23,447
That's derived from an ethoxylation
process, which ultimately produces in its

414
00:45:23,447 --> 00:45:29,490
byproducts toxins and ingredients known as
dioxane.

415
00:45:32,336 --> 00:45:38,378
currently under scrutiny in the state of
New York and is present in some laundry

416
00:45:38,378 --> 00:45:39,018
products.

417
00:45:39,018 --> 00:45:44,361
And so they're considering a ban and
certainly are regulating those

418
00:45:44,361 --> 00:45:45,281
ingredients.

419
00:45:45,281 --> 00:45:51,263
And again, a lot of these ingredients are
present in green cleaners, essentially.

420
00:45:51,263 --> 00:45:55,705
So I think one of the advantages we've got
is we built this product from the ground

421
00:45:55,705 --> 00:45:56,265
up.

422
00:45:56,265 --> 00:46:01,407
And one of the unique things I think about
us is we...

423
00:46:01,444 --> 00:46:02,564
built the formulas.

424
00:46:02,564 --> 00:46:05,326
We didn't go out to another company.

425
00:46:05,326 --> 00:46:08,488
We didn't go out to someone that knows
all.

426
00:46:08,488 --> 00:46:12,851
And this is why when we talked about
challenges, if we went back to the

427
00:46:12,851 --> 00:46:15,073
beginning, maybe we would do things a
little bit different.

428
00:46:15,073 --> 00:46:17,494
But at the same time, we've got a
wonderful story.

429
00:46:17,494 --> 00:46:20,557
We own our own formulas and we own the
production.

430
00:46:20,557 --> 00:46:22,738
So we're able to regulate what goes in it.

431
00:46:22,738 --> 00:46:25,000
We know what's been through the machines
prior to that.

432
00:46:25,000 --> 00:46:28,622
So yeah, I truly think that what we're
doing is...

433
00:46:31,000 --> 00:46:33,663
the opposite of greenwashing, essentially.

434
00:46:33,663 --> 00:46:35,244
You took the hard path.

435
00:46:35,244 --> 00:46:37,486
You did the hard stuff first.

436
00:46:37,746 --> 00:46:39,528
And now you don't, now you're good.

437
00:46:39,528 --> 00:46:41,870
I mean, tweaking, sure.

438
00:46:41,950 --> 00:46:47,395
But I mean, other than that, like you
don't have to go back in time and undo a

439
00:46:47,395 --> 00:46:48,276
bunch of stuff.

440
00:46:48,276 --> 00:46:51,619
Like right now you're just trying to
improve on something that's already really

441
00:46:51,619 --> 00:46:53,380
great.

442
00:46:53,380 --> 00:46:55,602
And really clean and really.

443
00:46:56,095 --> 00:46:57,996
legitimately green.

444
00:46:59,038 --> 00:47:03,582
I will tell you if I vet you guys like you
guys are good to go.

445
00:47:04,703 --> 00:47:06,685
I have a very strict standard.

446
00:47:07,547 --> 00:47:08,667
Really green.

447
00:47:08,667 --> 00:47:13,569
I want to throw this in here too, just
like the trigger sprays, we have improved

448
00:47:13,569 --> 00:47:18,191
them, everything in our products from the
packaging to the ingredients.

449
00:47:18,971 --> 00:47:20,711
We also are going to throw out.

450
00:47:20,728 --> 00:47:26,711
we're not 100% perfect, but we are going
to continue towards that path step by

451
00:47:26,711 --> 00:47:27,611
step.

452
00:47:27,732 --> 00:47:33,935
So we're doing it as perfect as we can
right now, but our goal as a company is

453
00:47:33,935 --> 00:47:37,937
just that we've, sustainability and health
is the forefront of our minds from the

454
00:47:37,937 --> 00:47:41,459
start, not an afterthought, like, oh, we
need to change it because of the times.

455
00:47:41,479 --> 00:47:44,501
And that's our goal to keep being that
way.

456
00:47:44,501 --> 00:47:48,103
So as we find things like, oh, this could
be better.

457
00:47:49,754 --> 00:47:51,719
that is our plan, progress over
perfection.

458
00:47:51,719 --> 00:47:56,771
Yeah, we're gonna always take steps to be
a little better.

459
00:47:57,099 --> 00:47:58,279
I love that, I love that.

460
00:47:58,279 --> 00:48:02,520
Cause a lot of times it's just people
trying to keep up with the latest trend

461
00:48:02,520 --> 00:48:08,902
and what couple of ingredients can we
throw in to make it seem green or

462
00:48:08,902 --> 00:48:09,822
whatever.

463
00:48:10,262 --> 00:48:13,443
And there are no regulations on the claims
that people can make.

464
00:48:13,443 --> 00:48:18,345
So that's important I think for everybody
to be aware of is that there's nothing out

465
00:48:18,345 --> 00:48:25,159
there that says what the regulation for
claiming to be green or clean or have...

466
00:48:25,159 --> 00:48:29,181
environmentally friendly packaging,
there's zero.

467
00:48:29,181 --> 00:48:33,964
So people can really say whatever they
want on their food and, you know,

468
00:48:33,964 --> 00:48:38,086
household product cleaning or shampoo,
toothpaste, whatever.

469
00:48:38,686 --> 00:48:38,956
Yeah.

470
00:48:38,956 --> 00:48:39,016
it.

471
00:48:39,016 --> 00:48:44,641
It's all incumbent upon the manufacturer,
the company to do that themselves.

472
00:48:44,641 --> 00:48:51,467
So I like, as Kay said, it's like we built
with sustainability, health and

473
00:48:51,467 --> 00:48:53,849
effectiveness in from the very beginning.

474
00:48:53,849 --> 00:48:59,674
We didn't we didn't focus on an effective
formula and then backtrack and then say,

475
00:48:59,674 --> 00:49:02,777
oh, but we should probably make it a
little more safe for home.

476
00:49:02,777 --> 00:49:05,779
Right.

477
00:49:05,779 --> 00:49:07,282
It's already totally there.

478
00:49:07,282 --> 00:49:10,187
And tell us a little bit about Green
Llama.

479
00:49:10,187 --> 00:49:11,829
Like, where does that come from?

480
00:49:11,984 --> 00:49:12,124
Sure.

481
00:49:12,124 --> 00:49:22,468
Yeah, apart from llamas being fun and cute
and cuddly, we wanted a fun name.

482
00:49:22,468 --> 00:49:23,588
We wanted something memorable.

483
00:49:23,588 --> 00:49:24,949
So that was the start.

484
00:49:24,949 --> 00:49:32,032
And when we looked into llamas after we
thought about green llama, they have soft

485
00:49:32,032 --> 00:49:33,172
padded feet.

486
00:49:34,012 --> 00:49:36,893
So they literally tread lightly on the
earth.

487
00:49:39,135 --> 00:49:40,715
They are pack animals.

488
00:49:42,264 --> 00:49:44,664
beast of burden, they do the work for you.

489
00:49:45,584 --> 00:49:49,746
And they're eco-friendly animals, they eat
a lot less than other pack animals, for

490
00:49:49,746 --> 00:49:50,206
example.

491
00:49:50,206 --> 00:49:54,667
So they work hard for you, they do the
work for you, they tread lightly on the

492
00:49:54,667 --> 00:50:00,048
earth, minimal impact on the environment,
and then they are also can be put in with

493
00:50:00,048 --> 00:50:03,229
alpacas or other animals as a protector.

494
00:50:03,229 --> 00:50:08,711
They tend to be protective animals, so we
see that as protecting your family, your

495
00:50:08,711 --> 00:50:11,372
pets, your, mm-hmm, and your environment.

496
00:50:11,372 --> 00:50:13,615
and our environment that we all share.

497
00:50:13,917 --> 00:50:18,546
The greater environment that we all live
in on the planet.

498
00:50:18,546 --> 00:50:18,884
Yes.

499
00:50:18,884 --> 00:50:20,105
Yes, absolutely.

500
00:50:20,105 --> 00:50:21,846
So that's why green limo.

501
00:50:21,846 --> 00:50:24,208
And green's a little obvious.

502
00:50:33,756 --> 00:50:35,778
Well, that too has a little story behind
it.

503
00:50:35,778 --> 00:50:41,803
We were at an alpaca farm out by Sugar
Mountain, which is in the Appalachian

504
00:50:41,803 --> 00:50:42,584
Mountains.

505
00:50:42,584 --> 00:50:44,847
And we were visiting this alpaca farm.

506
00:50:44,847 --> 00:50:49,094
It was a dreary day and we sort of saw
this white llama off in the distance, but

507
00:50:49,094 --> 00:50:53,660
under the light and conditions, it kind of
looked dirty and green.

508
00:50:54,543 --> 00:50:55,945
So we went with green.

509
00:50:55,945 --> 00:50:57,947
That was entirely Kay's idea.

510
00:50:58,583 --> 00:51:03,765
Well, sometimes we get inspired by nature
and you just have to roll with it, right?

511
00:51:03,765 --> 00:51:11,108
Especially because that's part of your
whole brand anyways, is to be light on

512
00:51:11,609 --> 00:51:12,769
mother nature.

513
00:51:12,769 --> 00:51:18,712
And that's what this podcast is all about
too, is in helping people learn how to

514
00:51:18,712 --> 00:51:20,573
leave a lighter footprint.

515
00:51:20,793 --> 00:51:22,714
That's what Live Lightly is all about.

516
00:51:22,794 --> 00:51:26,555
So I really love that you guys are out
here doing this

517
00:51:29,037 --> 00:51:33,698
and creating things that are actually safe
for us to use in our homes around our

518
00:51:33,698 --> 00:51:35,659
children and our pets.

519
00:51:35,919 --> 00:51:37,039
So where can we find you?

520
00:51:37,039 --> 00:51:38,620
Where can we learn more?

521
00:51:38,620 --> 00:51:42,041
And also just product updates.

522
00:51:42,041 --> 00:51:45,262
I know you guys have something coming out
pretty soon, so we wanna be on the lookout

523
00:51:45,262 --> 00:51:45,442
for that.

524
00:51:45,442 --> 00:51:47,562
So, we're gonna be looking at some of the
things

525
00:51:47,784 --> 00:51:51,307
Yes, our website is greenlamaclean.com.

526
00:51:52,508 --> 00:51:57,093
And there, if you do want updates, we have
a newsletter sign up.

527
00:51:57,093 --> 00:51:59,775
So that's how to keep in touch.

528
00:51:59,975 --> 00:52:09,004
We are also, we are working on a new store
directory, in stores across the US in over

529
00:52:09,004 --> 00:52:12,727
35 states and continuously growing there.

530
00:52:12,872 --> 00:52:18,164
A lot of natural food, grocery stores,
co-ops, refilleries, eco-stores.

531
00:52:18,606 --> 00:52:22,080
But for online, the easiest way is to go
to our website.

532
00:52:22,080 --> 00:52:26,222
Okay, so you can make orders online at
your website if there's nothing locally

533
00:52:26,222 --> 00:52:33,206
available in your own community, which I
love that you guys are out there in some

534
00:52:33,206 --> 00:52:34,787
co-ops and stores.

535
00:52:34,787 --> 00:52:37,829
And so where is that directory to be able
to find you?

536
00:52:37,829 --> 00:52:39,280
Is that on your website?

537
00:52:39,280 --> 00:52:40,800
So we're building that at the moment.

538
00:52:40,800 --> 00:52:45,421
We're in about 120 stores across, as Kay
said, 35 states.

539
00:52:45,882 --> 00:52:51,783
So it's, aside from the production, the
manufacturing, the products and

540
00:52:51,783 --> 00:52:56,285
distribution that we do, we'll get to that
as soon as we can.

541
00:52:56,285 --> 00:53:01,666
Right.

542
00:53:01,666 --> 00:53:02,461
Exactly.

543
00:53:02,461 --> 00:53:04,704
store that sells these types of products.

544
00:53:04,704 --> 00:53:08,889
Otherwise, go to the website and you guys
ship it pretty fast.

545
00:53:08,889 --> 00:53:10,330
So, yeah.

546
00:53:10,334 --> 00:53:17,601
We also, in the shipping, if you're
thinking about that piece of it, since we

547
00:53:17,601 --> 00:53:21,945
have removed the water from our products,
from the dish soap is concentrated, the

548
00:53:21,945 --> 00:53:27,010
tablets are concentrated, the laundry is,
you need just a tablespoon, we are going

549
00:53:27,010 --> 00:53:32,295
to reduce our impact there just by
lowering the weight of what we send.

550
00:53:32,295 --> 00:53:33,115
I will.

551
00:53:33,893 --> 00:53:38,562
If anyone's got any suggestions as to the
local stores they want to see Green Llama,

552
00:53:38,562 --> 00:53:41,703
please shoot us an email and we'll reach
out to them and contact them.

553
00:53:41,703 --> 00:53:46,407
Absolutely, that's a great idea, because
that's how we get the good stuff on the

554
00:53:46,407 --> 00:53:47,007
shelves.

555
00:53:47,007 --> 00:53:53,053
Really, we have to let our stores know
that we want this product, A, and then we

556
00:53:53,053 --> 00:53:57,156
need to let you know that there's a store
that we want you to contact.

557
00:53:57,156 --> 00:53:58,758
So that's a great idea.

558
00:53:58,758 --> 00:54:04,422
And also, if you are ordering online, you
can use code JESSICA.

559
00:54:04,639 --> 00:54:07,600
at checkout and they'll receive 15% off.

560
00:54:07,600 --> 00:54:13,384
So that's a bonus if you are needing to
order it online at this time.

561
00:54:13,384 --> 00:54:19,587
Yeah, and I also just wanted to let
everybody know that I'm going to drop all

562
00:54:19,587 --> 00:54:32,493
these links in the description and in the
show notes.

563
00:54:32,563 --> 00:54:33,319
Sure.

564
00:54:33,319 --> 00:54:35,581
and yeah, just, um, thank you guys so
much.

565
00:54:35,581 --> 00:54:39,685
I know we're going to have more
conversations in the future about, um, new

566
00:54:39,685 --> 00:54:42,467
products and just other parts of your
journey.

567
00:54:42,467 --> 00:54:47,872
And, um, but I think that this was a great
beginning, a place to start because, we

568
00:54:47,872 --> 00:54:52,796
just really need to let people know who
you are and what you're all about and why.

569
00:54:54,738 --> 00:54:55,377
Yeah.

570
00:54:55,377 --> 00:54:57,838
that's all right if I jump in with one
more thing.

571
00:54:59,019 --> 00:55:03,801
As Matt and I and you have been on the
journey to improve our home products and

572
00:55:03,801 --> 00:55:08,342
everything we use around us for our
environment, I wanna throw out that at

573
00:55:08,342 --> 00:55:13,344
times for me, it got very overwhelming and
you could probably relate.

574
00:55:13,344 --> 00:55:20,792
So I wanna throw out how we wanna see our
brand, like taking steps towards

575
00:55:20,792 --> 00:55:25,398
better and better, that one thing at a
time is the way to go.

576
00:55:25,398 --> 00:55:29,964
Because it's really easy to, if you learn
about the plastic, you learn about the

577
00:55:29,964 --> 00:55:34,891
ingredients, you wanna fix everything at
once and it can get overwhelming.

578
00:55:34,891 --> 00:55:37,234
So a ladder, one little step at a time.

579
00:55:37,234 --> 00:55:38,035
Mm-hmm.

580
00:55:38,165 --> 00:55:44,089
First, it's changing out your cleaning
products and my guide is a really great

581
00:55:44,089 --> 00:55:49,013
place to go find everything that your
whole household needs.

582
00:55:49,013 --> 00:55:53,756
So I'll link to the guide, of course, also
because I've done all the research.

583
00:55:53,756 --> 00:55:57,338
I've done all the trial and error and
overwhelm and.

584
00:55:57,971 --> 00:56:00,333
and sifted through all that for everybody.

585
00:56:00,333 --> 00:56:05,276
And also the interviews will be with
people like you who have founded companies

586
00:56:05,276 --> 00:56:07,718
that are moving in the right direction.

587
00:56:07,718 --> 00:56:13,743
And so those stories will also help
support people in finding everything that

588
00:56:13,743 --> 00:56:15,684
they need for their entire home.

589
00:56:15,684 --> 00:56:20,047
And it's not that we're, I'm trying to
sell anybody anything that they're not

590
00:56:20,047 --> 00:56:23,149
already buying because I'm not, you're
already buying this stuff.

591
00:56:23,149 --> 00:56:24,727
Like why not just make it?

592
00:56:24,727 --> 00:56:29,869
better for your family and yourself,
obviously, and for the planet, right?

593
00:56:29,869 --> 00:56:34,731
And support these companies that are out
there, doing the work, the hard work like

594
00:56:34,731 --> 00:56:39,173
you guys, because they're not big
companies.

595
00:56:39,173 --> 00:56:45,616
They're small companies like yours, and
family-owned a lot of them, and just

596
00:56:45,616 --> 00:56:46,837
moving in the right direction.

597
00:56:46,837 --> 00:56:48,657
So we need to all support each other, for
sure.

598
00:56:48,657 --> 00:56:49,417
Love that.

599
00:56:50,678 --> 00:56:51,267
Yes.

600
00:56:51,267 --> 00:56:52,693
yeah, thanks again for...

601
00:56:52,693 --> 00:56:54,008
Thank you for having us.

602
00:56:54,008 --> 00:56:54,650
of course.

603
00:56:54,650 --> 00:56:55,052
Thank you