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Reusable PPE? It's Happening Now: Podcast With AmorSui
57 Plays3 months ago
In this episode of the Green New Perspective podcast, we're focusing on medical waste—a major contributor to environmental pollution.
Joining us is Beau Wangtrakuldee, the co-founder and CEO of AmorSui, a New York-based climate tech company that's revolutionizing the healthcare industry. Beau's journey, from a PhD scientist to a sustainability advocate, began after a chemical spill incident revealed the inadequacies of existing personal protective equipment (PPE).
We'll hear how AmorSui's innovative circular solutions for medical supplies and PPE are not only improving safety and quality but also making the healthcare industry more sustainable.
Guest: Beau Wangtrakuldee, Ph.D., Founder & CEO at AmorSui
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- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amorsuiclothing
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🌍 Cleantech podcast created by New Perspective Marketing
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This podcast is proudly sponsored by New Perspective Marketing, a dynamic growth marketing agency in Boston, MA, celebrating 20 years in business. We help sustainably focused B2B organizations grow their brands and scale up revenue. If you or your organization is looking to grow, visit https://www.npws.com for more info.
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- Host & Co-Producer: Dunja Jovanovic
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#Sustainability #CleantechPodcast #GreenBusiness #EnvironmentalImpact #SustainableSolutions #VeoliaNorthAmerica #EnergyManagement #WaterManagement #WasteManagement
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Transcript
Introduction: Green Tech & Healthcare
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello friends, you are watching a brand new episode of the Green New Perspective Podcast, your go-to place when you want to learn about innovations happening within clean tech, nature tech, biotech, and agri tech space. In today's episode, we are focusing on the healthcare industry, precisely on the ways to generate it by it.
Bo Montracutti's Journey
00:00:17
Speaker
My guest today is Bo Montracutti. She's the CEO and co-founder of a New York-based climate tech company called Amarsui. Bo's personal journey from PhD scientist to sustainability advocate basically began after a chemical spill showed her how inadequate personal protection equipment or PPEs that we're using in the healthcare system today actually are. If you tune into this conversation, you're going to learn about this innovative medical supplies that Bo developed that are not only safer to use, but are are also circular. So stay tuned and enjoy the conversation.
00:00:50
Speaker
um
00:00:57
Speaker
Hi Bo, and welcome to the Green New Prospective podcast. Yeah, thanks to speak with you today. Can you introduce yourself to our audience and tell us what led you to work in the healthcare care system? My name is Bo
Sustainability Challenges in Healthcare
00:01:11
Speaker
Longtukudi. I am a co-founder and CEO of a company called Armoucees.
00:01:17
Speaker
It means South Lab in London and we are New York based climate tech companies focusing on offering circular solutions to enterprise around medical supply and PPE. that even clear So circular products, processing logistics, and then also data our around environmental impact of it.
00:01:35
Speaker
I really discover the gap in sustainability in medical supply and PPE. Really see how part of the space are not really delivering value to the consumer. I was a PhD scientist by training. I was in a chemical school accident where my own lab code, my PPE, did not protect me when the time comes. And that really opened my eyes of being unable to fight it far for myself, how little reliability and access people have in terms of getting better quality products, sustainable products in medical supply and PPE, because most of the products are disposable, made to use one-time low-quality products that been thrown away after the first-time use.
Public Policy & Sustainability Shift
00:02:19
Speaker
How do you think the important is innovation in in medical apparel and what trends are you seeing that could shape the future of the industry? That is a good question, Sunya.
00:02:30
Speaker
I think right now, yeah, medical supply market is $330 billion dollar global industry, and is driven by 99% disposable products, meaning, you know, all these medical supplies that people use, you kind of open the package to use as ones, it's going to trash cans.
00:02:50
Speaker
And you could imagine a lot of dollars of spending creating plastic, use them one time as the other way to become waste. And we just continue to cycle for 400 years of waste product to stack up in the landfill.
00:03:06
Speaker
Now there's really a shift toward public policy and then a global knowledge that plastic is really major pollution. And so there is global treaty on plastic, there is public policy aid and specifically in healthcare to really demand for the industry to reduce that carbon emissions from medical supply.
00:03:27
Speaker
to have in six years and to net zero by 2050. And so I think there's really a shift in the industry calling for but prior better better system, way to measure if someone actually reduce waste and we do projects. And so I'm really excited about it since we have been passionate about this sector for quite some time.
Amarsui's Innovative Approach
00:03:51
Speaker
How do you differentiate yourself in the market? Are there any other products out there that are similar to yours? 90% of the product in the market are disposable. Major manufacturer, major supplier, really focused on disposable size of things. For us, we have always seen the gap in the space because by creating disposable product,
00:04:18
Speaker
need to make it flimsy and low-quality enough so you could be disposed at the end of life from a cost perspective for that to make sense. And so we see that the sauce for better fryers and more sustainability is all always something reusable.
00:04:34
Speaker
Just think about, you know, like plate, for example. You have ditches that you use at home. You know that buying better quality dishes is better than to buy a disposable dish to use for your meal every time they throw away. Same idea about how we make our product. And that's how we really design our product. We decide product for quality. We decide product for reusability. And then we design product for sustainability, meaning a hundred percent of the cycle or the head of life.
00:05:03
Speaker
And there's not a lot of player in the space. I think us as one, the major player in the space, there's other, but they're not completely circular. How do people react when they have an item that can be reused, washed, recycled?
00:05:20
Speaker
There are multiple concerns, right? Especially dealing with infection control, dealing with health care. There's an issues around, as I said, you know, infection control. Does washing and cleaning of our medical-sified product and PPE actually clean enough to reuse again? That's typically one concern. Second concern is always about cost.
00:05:46
Speaker
Is shifting to usable product actually save costs over disposable products? Third piece, this is around environmental impacts. Some people would argue that washing out and drying and cleaning up dars of those products actually use more water and energy.
00:06:04
Speaker
We have done three case study with three health system and added enterprise, and have shown that our product is actually four to 14 times more protective against disposable products. When cleaned properly with our washing system, it doesn't allow for infection disease to spread. um In addition to that, we are saving 22% of cost immediately.
00:06:31
Speaker
And majority of those costs are from labor or required to pick up all those waste. The more waste you generate, you need to hire more people to pick up those waste and then also disposing it as a hazardous waste product at the end of life. And so we are saving costs that way. And thirdly, from the environmental impact perspective, we are actually saving 50% of carbon emissions and 20% of energy and water. And that is because we're not consistently generating new material. A majority of disposable products are using tremendous water and energy to extract it from the petroleum into plastic to spun it into one-time use product. And so we are saving a lot of energy and water by not doing that.
Inclusivity & Design in PPE
00:07:20
Speaker
And do you have any user feedback? One of the amazing thing about the feedback from the user is like thought that it's almost like they don't believe that this could actually be the product that they could get from our PPE. Yeah, I can see that. It looks great.
00:07:39
Speaker
We had a lot of good feedback around functionality and comfort of our product that really decides for a user to be able to move freely so they can do their job effectively, especially you as health care professionals. So things like breathability, so many pockets for everything I need when I'm handling station. These products are actually fluid repellent, so I feel protected.
00:08:03
Speaker
And also when they have gender inclusive designs, a lot of PPE products specifically were designed for Caucasian male to start. And so there's not a lot of product for women when 80% of healthcare care professionals are lip.
00:08:19
Speaker
When you think about it, it's a little bit bonkers. If you go to work and you don't have uniform that fits you, you just swim in garbage bag or plastic bag to imagine yourself and make your job tougher. And having something that actually fit them, I think, is not only a sign that they are equipped to be safe at work, but it also recognize that they belong in the question.
Advocating for Climate Change in Healthcare
00:08:43
Speaker
Well, it's great to hear. I didn't know the same for about 80% of employees in healthcare care system are women. Yeah. We go back to the challenges. I'm interested to know what were the challenges that you face with when you were starting your company, especially as a woman in healthcare and how did you overcome them or are you overcoming them still?
00:09:02
Speaker
I think it's, and kudos for you guys for this podcast to focus on sustainability and climate tech, climate change, because it's an important subject. I feel like this concept, it's pretty new for everyone, for the industry. I was telling you before this podcast, I was in China for some of the hours talking about issues surrounding global economy and what is the risk for global economy and human health.
00:09:30
Speaker
There's so many conversations around climate change and how humans are dealing about it. When I, this is my second time and last year, some conversations still about animals and polar bears and things like that. I think more and more people understand now that climate change is a human problem and not just polar bears problems.
00:09:53
Speaker
The beginning was difficult to pitch that sustainability and climate change should be the main focus for enterprise and business, especially healthcare. It makes sense because healthcare care keep people healthy and a part of their commitment is to try to foster healthy community within the healthcare. They should not be disposing waste. They should not be creating toxin. They should not be creating more problems to the community.
00:10:18
Speaker
But now that has been brought and been educated throughout, it's made the conversation easier to relate because there's more investment done from enterprise system, but then also more advocating being done by individuals.
Pandemic Lessons & Reusability
00:10:34
Speaker
From then to now is always to educate people, making them understand this new product, making understand the process, making understand as we discuss the differentiation of what we can offer them that typical regular routine daily basis.
00:10:51
Speaker
That's the common challenge within the clean tech. My personal impression is when we talk about health care and waste, that there was a focus on that issue during the pandemic, let's say, and then it stopped after that. So I'm glad that we are talking about it today, bringing back the focus on that too.
00:11:11
Speaker
Particularly in my space, I could make one important comment. During the pandemic, PPE, personal protective equipment was the main focus for many in healthcare care system globally. You talk China, US, Europe, everyone need PPE because it just so people in the hospital don't need to be cared for. And there was not enough to go around. It's fascinating and also really scary.
00:11:39
Speaker
At the same time, because of the hospital globally now that has been stockpiling PPE during the pandemic, a especially disposable one, those PPE they buy during the pandemic now are expired. So there are just, I mean tons, tons. You're talking about tons. These are like big amount.
00:12:00
Speaker
Like I think the UK just came out with a news that was like 13, 15 million euros or something that was spent in PPE that have not been touched. And it's basically go directly to the landfill and just going to sit there until they burn it or until they just slowly disintegrate it in the next 400
Strategic Growth & Partnerships
00:12:21
Speaker
years. So I feel like something like that, it's a really good learning.
00:12:24
Speaker
Leveling for us as a society and for the healthcare system, that one disposable product is really hard to stop by because there is a shelf life that is shorter than reusable product. Second, if you buy reusable product, you can continue to reuse those again so you don't have to make or use as many. Third, if you could find something that are recyclable,
00:12:47
Speaker
At least those 15 million euros of product at the moment could be recycled instead of having to be burned home, sit in a landfill. Tell me, are there any exciting projects or news for Amherst?
00:13:01
Speaker
Yes, we get inspired by talking to our customer of our PPE product has been adapt in over 10 health system in the US s now currently and growing. And so we really been thinking about what is next for us.
00:13:17
Speaker
And we have an eye on the whole medical supply um system overall to really move ah apart from PPE. Thinking about disposable tissue, thinking about biodegradable gloves, thinking about any surgical supply that are one-time use that we could replace with multi-use products is an expansion of product and then also a marketplace where hospital and healthcare care system could go to. you So they could select better product and they could get ah really transparent data around those products that they buy. What strategies are you using to, let's say, reach new business opportunities, new partnerships? Which partnerships were the most important for you? We have been doing that in two ways, actually. One and is to look at healthcare care working groups that really now focus on sustainability.
00:14:09
Speaker
And try to reduce that carbon emission and those working group be a collective of 2050 hospital system that are looking for pilot to adapt all at once. We are keeping up a pilot with a working group that have 20 hospital. And they're looking to implement our standardized pilot altogether. It was.
00:14:30
Speaker
So that's really exciting. The second opportunity that we are looking to partnership with is with major brands and supplier and medical supply is to partner with major supplier who already have network of customer that we could plug in. They
Advice for Climate Tech Professionals
00:14:46
Speaker
may have disposable products that they sell into.
00:14:50
Speaker
And then now looking to expand into our reusable product portfolio that we could perhaps partner as a private label or something just to be able to get our offering into the the hands of the hospital faster. And ideally, where would you like to see your company and its growth in the next five years?
00:15:10
Speaker
Five years seems like a long time, but i help the product yeah I can tell you for sure in the next three years, we are building again, the first net zero or the first sustainable medical supply that will be listed by biodegradable circular products.
00:15:28
Speaker
that are available, we hope to onboard a hundred hospital in the next three years. So maybe by five years we'll be global. And from here, we're just looking to help the system cut down at least 30% of carbon emission. That tells rates.
00:15:43
Speaker
And one of my last questions for you is, what advice would you give to other CEOs or climate professionals? Could one start their own business or newbies want to enter the space? What advice would you give them and someone who started your own business and it's traveling?
00:16:00
Speaker
One advice that I have up is to always have an outlook globally and knowing the push and pull of the trends. I think it's really important, especially from a climate tax perspective, because there's evolving, changing public policy. does evolving initiatives globally around climate initiative. And so for us to be able to have a tap on what's going on globally, we could position on this as where it need be. Like for us, the past two years, things has been evolving a lot in healthcare. But before that, um we were selling and
00:16:44
Speaker
mostly educating direct consumer because it was the only way for us to sell the product directly to enterprise. But then now there's much more enterprise emphasis. We are shifting towards you offering more enterprise.
Engaging with Amarsui
00:16:58
Speaker
Where can people reach out to you? Where they can find you? Do some additional research about your brand, maybe become your partners.
00:17:06
Speaker
If someone want to find us, they could find us on our website is www.armorsu.com, A-M-O-R-S-U-I. And if you're looking forward to contacting us about our partnerships, we have it in box, it's seals at armorsu.com, S-A-L-E-S at armorsu.com. I think we also have, you know, in Cree inbox on our website as well, so you can send us a message.
00:17:31
Speaker
I'm always on LinkedIn, so you can ping me if you have any questions. I would like to talk more about what we're building. Just, again, the importance of educating one person at a time. Really important to us. Tell someone else um in healthcare that may be interested in hearing about us.
00:17:48
Speaker
And I would greatly appreciate it.
Conclusion & Call to Action
00:17:51
Speaker
So thank you both for being our guests here on the Renew Prospective podcast. I hope you had fun as much as I did. And I hope our audience had the opportunity to learn ah about just sustainability in the healthcare care space. And I really wish you all the best with your brand. I love it. I think it's great. And I really wish your plants to become reality because they sound really good. Thank you.
00:18:16
Speaker
um
00:18:24
Speaker
This is the end of yet another episode of the Greening Perspective podcast. This particular episode was on the waste generated by the healthcare industry and what can we do to make this situation better. As always, now is the perfect time to mention the sponsor of this podcast,
00:18:40
Speaker
It's New Perspective, Boston-based marketing agency working with cleantech clients only. So if you want to learn about how New Perspective is helping cleantech companies to grow, check out the info in the description of this episode, since Green New Perspective is an initiative of New Perspective. If you want to support our podcast, please subscribe to our channel on your favorite streaming platform. We are everywhere.
00:19:09
Speaker
from YouTube to Spotify, Zancaster, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or wherever you stream your podcasts. Your support means a lot to us so we really appreciate if well you join our cause on giving voices to clean tech companies. Thank you for tuning in and hopefully I'll see you in the next one. Bye!