Filled Up Cup

Ep 33 Robert Koenen

August 24, 2022 Ashley Cau
Filled Up Cup
Ep 33 Robert Koenen
Show Notes Transcript

On this episode I am joined by Robert Koenen. He is the Chief Marketing Officer of Boxed Water is Better.

Boxed Water has 92% plant based packaging and wants you to consider eliminating single use plastic. If you buy one of their waters and take a pic and post it with the hashtag #BetterPlant they will plant two trees for you. They have currently planted 1.5 million trees. They have also partnered with non-profits and are also committed to cleaning up 3000 miles of beaches. They have built a brand with transparency and customer service. They respond to all emails that are sent and are the first to admit where they could improve which currently is in the shipping options.

We talk about sustainability and our carbon footprint and how it is a method of caring for ourselves and a way to care for our community whether it is in a big way or whether it is a simple as buying a re-useable straw to avoid using a plastic one. We talk about generational differences in how we think about the environment and how each generation creates its own problems but are more vocal on wanting real change.

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Filled Up Cup - Unconventional Self Care for Modern Women

Welcome to the filled up cup podcast. We are a different kind of self-care resource one that has nothing to do with bubble baths and face masks and everything to do with rediscovering yourself. We bring you real reviews, honest experiences and unfiltered opinions that will make you laugh, cry, and most importantly, leave you with a filled up cup.

Ashley:

Joining me today is Robert Keenan. Robert is the chief marketing officer of boxed water is better. Boxed water is the first national company to offer sustainable alternative to plastic water bottles. Thank you so much for joining me today.

Robert:

Thank you for having me, ashley

Ashley:

for anybody who's never heard of boxed water. Can you explain what it is?

Robert:

I would love to Ashley. Box water's been around for about 10 years. We offer a sustainable alternative to plastic water bottles and aluminum cans. Our water is packaged in a carton that is made from 92% renewable materials, which is trees. Even the plastic cap is made from tree oil, which is from. The waste from the newspaper industry. So again, 92% renewable as opposed to an aluminum can or plastic bottle, which is 0% renewable materials. We've won awards for the taste of our water. It's filtered through an eight step process that's proprietary and it's completely pH neutral and BPA free. The final thing that makes us special is we have all we can do to help the planet be of above and beyond just, just offering water in a carton. We do beach cleanups. We're committed to cleaning up 3000 miles of beaches and are already doing it both ourselves as well as working with nonprofits to help beach cleanups. And then we also plant trees. We've planted over 1.5 million trees. In the national forest across the United States. We do that but completely for free. If you post a picture of our box on social media and you put a hashtag better planet next to it, we will plant two trees for you. And what that's done is it's built this whole community of parents teaching their kids about reforestation. Schools will take this and they'll plant trees. And again, they'll talk about plastic pollution as well as the need for reforestation in our countries and how important it is to have to have healthy forests in order to have a healthy planet.

Ashley:

I love the idea of having the hashtag and it's something so simple that people can really get involved in. And it's not like we don't, you know, all live on our phones to some degree. So to be able to incorporate that is huge. Have you noticed that social media has always played a role in your company or is that something that, in the last couple of years has really taken off?

Robert:

It's happened in the last four or five years. We're always challenging ourselves. Just through the name of box water is better. How can we be better? What can we do? That's better. There's always been a debate with the company. Do we like so many companies, do we get a a spokesperson? Do we get a superstar, like a Jennifer Aniston and, they basically, we had one day, we just had a heart to heart conversation of saying, we could give money to a celebrity and that would do something. Or we can give the money that we make to helping the planet even more. So we partnered with we're a member of 1% for the planet. They introduced us to the national forest foundation as well as a number of other nonprofits. And so then we started working with them on these hashtags and what's been cool, which. Completely did not foresee is that now people and celebrities as well as companies are coming to us for the tree planting, like we've been on the Ellen show for about four or five years now, I think. She came to us specifically because she wanted to get rid of plastic on her set in her back rooms. There was a whole group to choose from, but she chose us because we plant so many trees and there has been such devastation in the California with the forest and with the wildfires that she said, I want to help you guys. I wanna promote you guys so you can plant more trees.

Ashley:

I love that it's really the authenticness of your brand, that it isn't just that you're putting like a celebrity just for the sake of putting a celebrity, but it's really, you guys are putting your money where your mouth is and really following through with that initiative of sustainability. So I really, really love that about, about boxed water.

Robert:

Yes. Well, thank you. It actually is a lot of people have called out. We are very authentic. We're out of grand rapids, Michigan, which is a small city in the Midwest. We always say, we're Midwest nice. We will live up to our promises and, with humility. I mean, we recognize that the name itself box water is better. We recognize we're not the best refillable is the best. We want everybody walking around with their refillable bottle and using that. But right now over 69 billion bottles are made every year, less than 5% are actually getting recycled. So we joke internally about, I'd like to be out of a job in five or 10 years. I want people to stop buying plastic bottles, start using their refillable. But in the meantime, we consider ourselves like a bridge product between. That time. And the time when there aren't as many plastic water bottles.

Ashley:

I think for people, they maybe have this misconception of if you buy plastic that you can just recycle it. In a way it's almost becoming a myth because a lot of that plastic really doesn't end up in a recycling plant to be reused for something else. It really does end up more in our oceans mm-hmm or in garbage.

Robert:

Reuters last week just came out with. A report that actually recycling in America has actually gone down. It was 8.8% and it's gone down to 5.7% in the last year. So 5.7% of the plastic is actually getting recycled, which is just mind boggling. When you think about the time. The money, the advertising, all the efforts that's been put behind, getting us to recycle. And the fact that 95% of it's not getting recycled. I mean, the human race basically gets an F for that. And then to get really depressing is that. It takes 12 minutes on average to drink a bottle of water, that water, if it's plastic takes 700 years, they estimate to break down 700 years sounds like a big number, but to put in perspective. So if Leonardo DaVinci was drinking water, while painting the Mona Lisa, it would just be breaking down right now. It's horrific, horrific. And then in between that time sea life and whatnot, it breaks down, it starts to resemble seafood and sea animals will eat it and die. So it's not just that it's bad because it's taking so long to break down and it's pollution, but it's also actually killing the wildlife and the microplastics are getting into all of our food. So horrific is really the best word you can use. When you think about. Again, 12 minutes to drink a bottle of water. And then a can never breaks down. So aluminum could be considered even worse, cuz that'll just sit at the bottom of the ocean and never decompose.

Ashley:

We also have to remember, like at a certain point we can really only dump so much into the ocean before eventually it's like, we just don't have ocean anymore.

Robert:

Yeah, no, you're right. There are some estimates and I'm gonna say them, but they're not factually backed up, but there are indications and some scientists have said that they believe that some of the sea level rising, that we've been experiencing besides global warming and climate change is literally attributed to the amount of dumping we're doing into the ocean. Because you keep throwing stuff into the ocean, the water will rise. So it's preliminary and it's a theory, but I actually, I step back and go. That makes sense. And frankly, even if it's not true, if it's another piece of data that makes you think I'm not gonna use single use plastic, or I'm gonna try to change my life and not use the bags Anything to wake people up to say, there's small things we can do to make a difference in this world,

Ashley:

It does become something where we can take ownership of that. What's some small thing that I can change. Well, I can do something. That's going to be a renewable product versus something where I'm gonna, drink it for seven minutes and then it's gonna last 7,000 years. How do your products break down or are they recyclable?

Robert:

So yes and no. So a hundred percent recyclable. Unfortunately not biodegradable. 92% of it is made from trees. So it's made from a renewable substance. So the remaining 8%, there's a thin layer of plastic and a thin layer. Of aluminum. Both of them are required by the FDA in order to be a flavor barrier. It also allows it to be shelf stable. So you don't have to refrigerate it all the time. Both are thinner than a human hair, literally thinner than an egg shell. One of the things that happens when you recycle it is you send it into like a wood chip. And then that chips it up and then electric eyes and different, and magnets will separate the aluminum from the plastic, from the paper. The paper is biodegradable. Once it goes down that stream, or it can easily be recycled into toilet paper or newspaper or other other uses. The other two things are also a hundred percent recyclable, but not compostable. So a large portion of this would be compostable once it goes through the recycling process. The cast itself. I think I mentioned also is, comes from the waste from the newspaper industry. So there's mountains of pulp that is left aside and this team that we work with that helps create the package. We've been working for five years to figure out how to make sure that this wasn't Petro based. Of the cap. We finally worked out a solution where it can be used from tree waste. A lot of companies are coming out with bio-based caps that come from sugar cane, but unfortunately the sugar industry is actually growing sugar cane specifically for profit to sell, to make plastic out of it, which we don't think is again, we don't think that's a solution.

Ashley:

No, not if it's really that we're just. Building something that's gonna create more waste.

Robert:

Yeah. So at the end of the day, we're trying to do everything we can. and we're looking to other ways to make this like renew instead of using Virgin aluminum using recycled aluminum. The other thing that's interesting that people don't think about is we spend all our time and it is a big issue. We're talking about recycling, the extraction and production of a can and a bottle and a carton are dramatically different as far as the impact on the environment. So when you make our carton, basically all you're doing is layering on and it's almost like origami, you're layering it on and you're folding it in order to make this carton. And like I said, it's made from paper, which is easy to harvest and renewable forests that are constantly. Refilled and rebuilt so that, one tree goes, another tree comes up. You look at a plastic plastic bottle. It has three times the carbon footprint of making a carton. Aluminum has about five times the carbon footprint. It produces five times the fog, it produces 95% of the uation, which is red tide. All of that is because when you do a can, you're basically strip mining to dig up the aluminum, the box site, which they make aluminum amount of, then you're smelting, which requires a ton of electricity and heat, then you're molding it. And even when you recycle a can you have to remold it, all of that creates tremendous amount of pollution for the environment. Same thing with a bottle, the oil drilling Then the molding and then the rolling, everything needs to be done. All of that creates a ton of pollution before you even get to you and I buying it. Then of course there is the recycling and then the pollution issue at the tail end. One of my passions is to start educating and informing people. The fact that if we never recycle anything ever again, It's still 10 times better to grab a carton than to grab plastic or aluminum because all the pollution that's done that's created by making those other two items.

Ashley:

Well, and I think that piece is what's missed so often say if we're shopping local and we're shopping at like a small shop, we forget that item had to get to the shop that we really forget about the whole production piece and all of the steps behind that really do have such a bad carbon footprint. Mm-hmm and I love the fact that your brand isn't like, okay, we have this product. We're all done it's that we could make it better. We can be adapting to different changes and things like that, because I think that's also the thing that a lot of companies will kind of put on the we're green, or we wanna do better, but there's never really an initiative behind it. A lot of the times I find that it gets put on the consumer to make different choices versus the brand, trying to make their company as green and sustainable and have a low carbon footprint

Robert:

Mm-hmm I totally agree. so I come from like the old school marketing world where I've worked at big, big brands. And I believe that the big old classic brands are gonna die off if they don't make these changes. Because they're looking in the rear view mirror, and they're not looking to the fact that consumers want this. There was a time when, if you. Put a celebrity up or you put somebody who's pretty, who's drinking your soda or your water. You know, it was an aspirational brand and people will go. I wanna be like that. or Gatorade. I wanna be like, Mike, I wanna be like that person. I think today's consumers are much smarter than they were. In the decades past, because they've been so over marketed that they're like, no, that's all fake. I wanna know what you stand for as a company. I wanna know where my money is going and I want to know that you're planting trees. I want to know that you're cleaning beaches. You don't need to put Jennifer Anderson in front. I think that's really cool. That's something that I've only seen in the last five years, 10 years or so. And it's encouraging because of the internet, because of social media, people can do their research. They can find out that, oh yeah. This company, even though they might have some cool celebrity they're not in it for, the planet's best interest. This company like a Patagonia. Yeah. Everybody makes great fleeces. But this company's actually doing something to help the planet. I wanna vote with my dollar. And then frankly, the more that happens, the more other companies are gonna go, Ooh, what are they doing? That we're not, Ooh, we better start doing that. That's how you start creating change. I think over time. And frankly, we're, growing by leaps and bounds. I mean Alaska airlines just switch to us. They only that's awesome. Only serve. So they go through 1.8 million pounds of plastic, a year. Just those little eight ounce bottles at a time. So it took us 12 months of working with them. But they were dedicated and it costs more. Because plastic is cheap, but they said, no, this is the right thing to do. So we're gonna make this change. Their passengers have been overwhelming. Positive about it. They've been saying, so much so that they put us in a super bowl ad. So imagine, an airlines, which a hundred percent of their job is getting people from point a to point B, spending time to say, no, we're gonna spend money on a super bowl ad. And by the way, we're gonna feature this little box of water that we hand out when you take off, it's just it's mind boggling, but that's the power of the people Of people coming back and saying, my God, this is fantastic of you to do this.

Ashley:

It speaks volumes about your water, because I think a lot of the times we think water's all the same and it really isn't. So I think that it's really fantastic that your brand is kind of like this like little engine that could, that is now becoming this massive powerhouse and really has the opportunity to take over so many different industries.

Robert:

It's so funny because we are like the little engine that could, and that's how we describe ourselves. Or we talk about like the David and Goliaths or the tortoise and the hare where, there's a lot of companies, we're just this little company out of grand rapids, Michigan. There's a lot of companies throwing big money out there and making big claims. We're more like we'll just take our time and we're patient and the truth will always come out. If you believe in what you're doing. And if what you're doing is honorable. Eventually you will win out. I mean, we've been around for 13 years and I would say the first seven years or six years, it was just trying to explain to people why plastic isn't sustainable. Why it's not the best thing. Now people are all coming to us saying, we know plastic is bad. We know you're a better solution. What can we do? It's just so rewarding to be in that spot after all the years of kind of planting the seeds and telling people that this is a great, thing to do. The other thing that's super rewarding is again, this tree planting initiative where you go online and you can go, you go to a hashtag better planet. You see these, families planting together. Teachers planting it together. This whole people just all coming together, a lot of artists drawing on our box. And again, it's phenomenal to watch people just embrace the idea and then bring it to life and really build a whole community around it.

Ashley:

Well in that connection piece, especially in the last three years, I think we've been so divided or not been able to for many different reasons actually, get together, join a classroom. A lot of it's been zoom and things like that. So I think it's also great. Like you said, bringing that community together and actually finding something where you can bond over and you can create these memories while also knowing that you're doing something that really is gonna have a long term improvement to our planet by doing something just as simple as planting a tree.

Robert:

Yeah. Yeah. It's so true. The planet is not political. The planet is not partisan. Everybody can agree, especially on the most micro basis of planting a tree. That that is a good thing to do. That's a good thing for all of us that do, we can all rally about that. The more we can find overlaps of things that we have in common. I think that the, obviously the smaller, the things that we don't have in common will. Get, we get people from all walks of life, all political affiliations, any race creed or color, all coming on this website and coming together to help the planet either that and, or planting trees or. Cleaning beaches. It's so much fun. We just did one in California and we ended up getting about a hundred pounds of plastic or garbage but families of all sorts and sizes all coming together because they use this beach and we want this beach to be clean so that we can give it to our kids and they can enjoy it with their kids.

Ashley:

In our modern world, we tend to overcomplicate things. Mm-hmm I think when we really take it back to that fundamental of like, when we were younger, that we, treat people or treat things how we wanna be treated. You don't wanna go spend a family picnic day at the beach, surrounded by garbage. what a great initiative, even to meet your neighbors or to meet your community by all together, going and cleaning the spot that you love. And then it really doesn't have to. Anything political. It doesn't have to be, I'm this color you are that color. It really can be getting back to that fundamental belief that we all are really more like than we're different

Robert:

yes, I totally agree. That's one of the things like I love about your podcast is that you talk about ways to self care and how it's not just physical, it's also emotional and spiritual and the beach cleanups. I mean, you feel wonderful that you've done something good when you walk off a beach cleanup or heck even just planting a tree or posting a picture and planting a tree so there's a little bit of an endorphin rush of I feel better because I've done something that is better. Absolutely. That to self care that we as humans don't talk enough about it's about the internal self-care and what you can do to help helping others actually ends up helping yourself.

Ashley:

Thank you so much for saying that I really appreciate your take on my podcast. Something as simple as planting a tree. Now that can also be, if you're local to the area, that's somewhere that you can go back and visit that tree. You can learn about it growing. And then it also does just increase your love of the environment and saying, Hey, I did that. Somebody was like, oh, how'd you do it? And then it kind of grows. And that message of paying it forward just continues.

Robert:

I actually think. Something spiritual, the native Americans. They actually named their trees and their trees became an extension of their community and because it is paying it forward, it is something that will be there for generations. So you knew that if you were part of that community, with that tree, that your son or daughter and their son or daughter, and everybody else would still be part of that tree. it's very non 20th century Western mindset. But again, it's cool because I think full circle, I think the younger generation especially is embracing that sort of generational mindset. Well, frankly, you guys have to, because yeah, if you don't we're we screwed it up pretty bad in the seventies and the eighties. So I apologize for that.

Ashley:

Well, as a child born in the eighties and raised in the nineties, I don't know that our generation really did make it that much better. I think each generation has done great things, but I think each generation has also created sort of their own mix of problems to solve I think with ours, I think it was fast fashion and buying things online.

Robert:

Yeah, you're right. I didn't think which yeah, you're totally right. Yeah. Yeah. What did you guys do? I know but what's cool is so, when I was younger and we didn't talk about any of this stuff. And so at least there's this general awareness of everybody basically under the age of 50, really, but, but 40 30, when we were in our twenties, we never talked about the environment. Or what our impact was on this earth. I'm sure in the eighties you guys probably did in eighties and nineties, you guys didn't either, but no, nowadays that are in the, you know, born in the two thousands, 2000 tens they're highly aware of it and they're looking for ways to improve and to do better. So that gives me great hope because it is a definite shift that's happened in the mind frame of the whole community, the whole society.

Ashley:

I definitely agree with that. I think that's one of the fantastic things about technology is that it allows us who would never have had the ability to ever communicate, or it would never occur to say people like me and you, we would never have even had the ability to have this conversation that I really do think. that's the plus side of the technology and us having more access to information. It doesn't have to be, in my generation or your generation, we had to believe everything that the news was telling us. Or if a company said that they were green, we would have nothing else to compare it to. So we would be like, this is a fantastic green company where now we do have the ability to do our research. We do have the ability to search. Oh, are they saying that they're planting trees or can I actually Google the forest? So I do think that it's just fantastic that we're able to be joined together, but also maybe call people out when they're not really being authentic and choose to spend our dollars elsewhere.

Robert:

No, and I love it. I can't tell you how many Challenges. There's a skepticism in this world. That's a healthy skepticism because they aren't just believing what companies are saying to them. We're right in the target of it every day anybody and everybody should come to our website, www boxed water is better.com or just boxed water.com. We have whole lifecycle analyses that talk about. The cradle to grave production of all these products, we have all kinds of information. I love it because we get people who are asking and we have a whole Q and A area asking us tons of questions. Hey, what about this? What about that? That's what we do. We admit we're not the best. There are things that we're trying to make better, but we'll answer any. And every question that comes our way. Because it is about making sure that you trust us. We do believe we're doing a great job. I mean, it's good a job as we can. But it is amazing when I was, again, when I was a kid, I sound like my grandpa, when I back in the old days, when I was carving on the uh, on the Stonewall we never asked questions of companies. My team will come to me and say, what do you wanna do about this? I'm like, I wanna answer this. I'll answer this. somebody took the time to write this email to say, you know, how is how much of your carton is recyclable and how much isn't. They deserve to know because they want to be informed and make a good decision. And frankly, people that are that into it, or in tune to it, they're gonna make our best disciples. They're the ones who are gonna turn around and say, Hey, this company is great. I talk to them about X, Y, and Z, and they're doing a great job. It only works in our favor if you, are authentic and you answer all these questions and frankly, you come clean with people, sometimes you have to come clean and say, you know what, you're right about this. And we're trying to do better. I mean, like our biggest problem right now we're better. From a shipping perspective, shipping is our is probably our biggest pollutant out of everything that we do. So we're trying to create more filtration systems closer to where the bigger customers are so that we can lower our carbon footprint. So we're not driving big trucks of water. Half away across the country. So, that is a problem. And people call that out and we're like, you are a hundred percent correct. Here's what we're doing. Please call us back in a year, cuz it's gonna take us that long to pull it together. But if we're not there in a year, then call us out again. Because we are happy that you are trying to keep an eye on us.

Ashley:

I think that transparency is so important and I think customer service in the digital age, isn't customer service as me and you, maybe grew up with. I think that's the only downside is that the whole customer service aspect of really valuing the people that are purchasing for me, really taking that feedback and you know, saying, Hey, this is where we're at. Not giving false promises and things like that. I think that piece is sort of missing in a lot of big box companies. So I think with smaller brands, I think people really value that about them and they'll actually be like a human with me versus. The bots where you, I hate them so much on most websites where you have a simple question and you put it in and they're like, I don't recognize whatever algorithm word. And then it's just like, Ugh, I give up. Yeah. So I do love the fact that there's actually a human behind your brand and that you do value your customers in that way.

Robert:

Yeah. We answer everything and Maggie or Laura will get back to everybody. Maggie's the one who sends me, Hey, what, what do you want about, I've never heard this one. What do you wanna do? And that's where I get all excited, cuz I'm all nerded out on this stuff and I'll go, Hey. Yeah. Well, let's talk about chromium for a while. See. So, no, I, think you're right. I think today's customer service is far more about experience and it's not about like Hey, this zipper or my shipping, it's more about what does your company stand for? The other thing that we've added to our website is exactly that. I mean, we have an whole FAQ section that talks about our beliefs and our values and what we hold dear. I believe brands are like people. I mean, you want to like the brand that you're with. Just like you like the person. It's not brands, aren't companies, brands are collections of people who choose to work at a company, ideally because they're aligned with the values of that company.

Ashley:

I love the way of looking at it like that

Robert:

Yeah. I think that's critical and I think that's a big seismic shift that's happened in today's society. And again, it's fun in my perspective to watch like the big companies like Coke and Pepsi, who still haven't figured it out and they'll just show, Cuddly bears around Christmas time drinking Coca-Cola or, I love the ones who make they keep doing it. It's so funny. They make these huge claims that they're gonna be plastic free by 2025 or plastic free by 2030. They both made those claims. You go back on the beautiful internet. And you see companies like Evian and Coke saying. What, you know, back in, I think it, the earliest, what I saw was like back in 2007 Evian said, we'll be renewable plastic by 2015. And then 2010, by 2020, by 2025, they just keep pushing it out. every time they do it, there's a huge press release, Evian gonna go and change the world. And then it all dies down. Then five years later they'll do the exact same thing only they'll push it out another five years.

Ashley:

Consumers are really getting frustrated with that and are really going back and being. Why aren't we here yet?

Robert:

Yeah, there's definitely a frustration level, which is great. that's what's gonna push change.

Ashley:

Hopefully I find too, I think with shipping, it is one of those things that I think a lot of brands do have that issue of you can't have necessarily a plant in all 52 states or in every single province in Canada, that it does become one of those things that as we are digitally purchasing more things, that is just something that collectively. I think almost the shipping companies now need to become more sustainable in how they fuel they're using whether they're going electric, all of the different things that I think that that is unfortunately, sometimes a challenge that falls on brands, but almost needs to fall on those specific companies. Mm-hmm because really to get product from a to B, there is only so many options that we have,

Robert:

right? No, I agree. I think the companies need to. Be thinking about the end consumer as much as possible and realizing like in our case, half the price of the water is the shipping of it. So if there are ways to reduce that process, like I said, doing your. Newer source filling, trying to get even closer. Like you said, we'll never get to 52 states, but at the same time we can always do a little bit better. We can always add one here, one there and get there. I also think that in, all these industries, There are ways to do maker and, locally owned companies are always gonna be a better option. When I'm thinking about clothing or apparel anytime you pick somebody local, it's gonna obviously help the local economy. But then it's also gonna reduce your carbon footprint and you usually would get a better quality, like you said, with fast fashion, not to disparage anybody, but the quality's not as good as if you went to your local market and bought something that was made locally.

Ashley:

I think it's also people, really wanna know that the people making their product mm-hmm are also. In a safe environment that they're getting paid fair wages and all of those kind of things as well. So I think as a consumer, we're collectively really looking at the whole picture versus just, I'm gonna walk into the store and buy just this. I think that that's one thing that we really do all have to be aware of. Is, are we really promoting something that's gonna help us to have a planet from 50 years from now? Or are we just helping enable the problem?

Robert:

Do you see people as you see a change, do you see people looking through that end?

Ashley:

I think that it's slow, but I really do think that there is that change coming and that more people are having those conversations.

Robert:

Good.

Ashley:

Would I love it to be more widely spread. Absolutely. That's another great thing about technology and social media is that I think more and more people are having these conversations that more people are aware of it. And just like, I think. You know, not harping on fast fashion, but I think that we never really thought about it before. I think people always talked about sweat shops and we kind of always knew that there was things that could be improved, but it never really, I think, occurred to us that you're buying a shirt for$5. That's coming from halfway around the world. And once you are done wearing that shirt, that's probably gonna last you maybe a year. What does that look like? With thinking about recycling or thinking about donation places, we realize that they're sort of more of a myth that they're beneficial and most donation places and recycling really just leads to garbage.

Robert:

Oh, yeah. Yeah. It's mind boggling. What's happened in the recycling world as far as, like I said, earlier, 5% of plastic at least is being recycled at this point, which is mind boggling. One of the things I believe firmly is that this is where I think not only corporations, but I think the government can come in and help. Down in the United States. I always step back and go, you know, the United States and Canada's even better as far as how they support their infrastructure, but, we've subsidized our government subsidize our train systems through Amtrak and they subsidize our postal service to get a letter from point a point B. There's no reason why they shouldn't be subsidizing or put putting together some sort of infrastructure around recycling. The primary reason that it's not happening the way it should is financial. Unfortunately there's a very small financial benefit for a company to recycle to remake and resell. Plastic and aluminum in particular because there's not that much of a secondary market for it, if there was a way to fund them so that they would do that, then naturally they'll spend more time up front making sure that you and I recycle and, or, I mean, I hate to say it and, or they'll actually truly recycle, like sometimes. You put things in the recycling bin and it just ends up in the garbage bin and it all goes into the same place. Wow. So if there's a way to monitor that and also help make it more productive for, whoever's doing it, then, that's a step forward. That's where I think both business and government can come together to help fix a problem.

Ashley:

I think it's unfortunately, a hard problem to solve. I don't know about in the states, but it's really kind of funny here. They've banned plastic straws. They've told us that they're all gonna kill the turtles, but we get our plastic cup and then we're forced to have a paper straw. So it almost, they still need to kind of like. Shift that a little bit, because then it's so silly. I'm drinking something with a mushy straw that's in plastic that again could potentially descend up in the garbage run by

Robert:

plastic. Well, I always laugh because one bottle equals 14 straws by weight. So I mean, again, everything is a step forward, so it's better. But at the same time, I'm like, why wouldn't you ban plastic bottles? Cuz that's like banning 14 straws per bottle. Mm-hmm So to your point, I mean, it's nice to take a baby step, but if you're gonna, be genuine. Just make the whole statement and say, we're gonna ban plastic bottles. And then frankly, we're not gonna do it today, but we're gonna, you know, we will do it by in five years. And then here are the steps that need to happen over the next five years in order to get there. Cuz if you just ban plastic bottles, then all of a sudden. The world's gonna go top sea turvy because this all, you know, has been, what is it? It's been 80 years in the making. So you can't just turn the Titanic, right around the corner. It'll take a while. It'll take some planning. But it's certainly doable. Otherwise you're gonna end up with mushy straws, so it'd be good. Yeah, it, it really is awful. If it came up with a good alternative instead of just going, Hey, this is the problem. But I'm not gonna help work on a solution.

Ashley:

I think that's also the piece is that we have solutions. There are different products that can be sustainable, that we can, even if they're not a hundred percent, this is the best product we're gonna be able to, compost it and it's recyclable and it's perfect. Even moving towards something that's slightly better because I think at this point to go, oh, in 10 years, we're not gonna have that. And then eight years later, not have any sort of progress. You're right. It's like, you're right. Okay. But now what we've heard it too many times now, what?

Robert:

Yeah, it's only human nature and to your point, I mean, I have actually I don't have it here. I have it in my backpack. I have a nice Silicon straw that that's made from sand and I bring that wherever I go. And that way I'm always set. And I can say no straw, please. So it's your point. There are alternatives. There's bamboo, there's Silicon. There's lots of materials that can replace that. That would be sustainable.

Ashley:

If anybody is looking for boxed water, where can they find you?

Robert:

Well, the easiest thing to do, they come to our website box water.com or www dot box water is better.com. And then we've got a store locator there you can find us, or I always say the easiest place to find us is on your own front door. Cuz you can buy from our website. You can buy from Amazon and it'll be delivered right to your doorstep. But water has become one of. Quickest delivered products in the world at this point, because it's something that people use constantly. So they have it delivered to them. On a regular basis.

Ashley:

Do you have a subscription service or is it just one time only order?

Robert:

Oh, that's a great, thank you. We have subscription service and you get a discount, like a 20% discount from subscriptions. We also have a wholesale service. So if you're a small company, like I can't tell you how cool it is. So many small yoga studios and coffee shops. They go to our website and down at the bottom, there's a wholesale sign up and you get a wholesale discount. If you're a shop and you want don't wanna offer plastic, I mean, even. Little real estate offices you walk in and they'll be serving our water. And one of the things I say, it's kind of a mark of sustainability and it's also a mark of premiumness to see. I call us Fiji without the guilt. You see us. You're like, oh wow, this a quality product. It's a sustainable product. So that halo goes into whatever company that you're that you're walking into car dealer users is another.

Ashley:

That's a good one too. A lot more brands, hopefully listening will take that into effect because I would much rather see somebody who had a sustainable product. Mm-hmm versus just like a regular plastic dasani

Robert:

yeah. Completely agree. Well, thank you, Ashley. This has been wonderful. I appreciate this.

Ashley:

Thank you so much for joining me.

Thank you so much for joining us today for this episode of the filled up cup podcast, don't forget to hit subscribe and leave a review. If you like what you hear, you can also connect with us@filledupcup.com. Thanks again for tuning in and we'll catch you in the next episode.