An Interview With Monica Sanders
If you watch the pennies, the dollars take care of themselves. You can start with a premium, but you need to focus on process improvements as oil and feedstock prices change. Make sure you select a product that has a high yield and one that can be improved over time.
Although the United States has had a long trend of non-renewable consumption, the tides are turning. Many companies are working hard to break this cycle, moving towards renewable consumption. In this interview series, we are talking to business leaders who are sharing the steps they are taking toward renewable consumption. As part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Jill Zullo.
Jill Zullo’s career has been centered around commercializing science: Jill spent 27 years with Cargill developing and commercializing new technologies in food, animal feed, and industrial biotechnology. Most recently, she and her team at Cargill created Qore — a Joint Venture with HELM for the production of renewable 1,4 butanediol which is a product used for renewable packaging, spandex, and industrial materials. Her last role as Interim CEO for NatureWorks — a leading manufacturer and supplier of biobased Ingeo™️ PLA, a thermoplastic polymer used for plastic and fiber products — brings her career full circle as she was a founding member of the company when she led the development of the lactic acid production process they still use today.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit. Can you tell us a bit about how you grew up?
I am the youngest of six children and think about it like I was born into a team. I could see at an early age the advantage of working together to get chores done — especially because as the youngest, I often got the easiest parts! A large family means that at times I had to have sharp elbows and strong opinions to be heard which gave me a head start on influencing and using my voice to drive what I wanted to do. I was brought up believing that everyone has a voice and there was nothing I couldn’t do without hard work.
My father was a brewing chemist and my mother, a nurse — we discussed science at the dinner table, sparking an early interest and eventual passion.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
I have had several impactful mentors throughout my career. One that has been especially impactful is Jeanne McCaherty. She brought me into Cargill and has helped me become effective at driving work in Cargill and encouraged me to be a bold decision maker. Jeanne has been a role model for bringing diverse voices to the table to develop the most effective solutions. Most recently, she’s been my sounding board as I transition my career to follow my passion of driving change for a renewable economy.
What is the mission of your company? What problems are you aiming to solve? What is your “why”?
I’ve been lucky to have a strong connection to two important brands paving the way for a more sustainable world.
NatureWorks’ mission is to drive real environmental progress through global market development of Ingeo — a natural, biobased suite of plastics and fibers. Replacing fossil-based materials with renewable materials that have a 73% smaller carbon footprint and can be used to make food packaging compostable naturally drives the team forward.
Qore aims to make being sustainable easy. The product is a drop-in that meets the same specifications as the incumbent material with one large exception: the carbon footprint is up to 90% smaller. Qore works collaboratively with partners to bring their mission to life: “Together we create a responsible future.”
I continue to see opportunities to change industries — and the world — through commercializing materials made from sunlight and carbon dioxide through the use of biotechnology. The growth of renewable markets will help impact climate change and drive rural economic growth. Being a part of this change is what gets me out of bed each day.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company or organization?
While being the interim CEO for NatureWorks, I was able to visit the site for the company’s second plant in Nakhon Sawan, Thailand. Despite being around manufacturing sites my entire career, I was amazed by the impact this plant is already having on growing the market for Ingeo, but more importantly on the economic impact of this region in Thailand. The new plant will source all its sugarcane feedstock from local farms within a 50km radius providing access to a new downstream market for this agricultural product. The site is also creating new highly skilled jobs in this rural region. This was a great example of how the growth of renewable materials helps bring climate AND economic justice into reality.
Do you have a favorite life lesson quote? Can you tell us how that was relevant to you in your own life?
“I like to do hard things.” — This has been my mantra throughout my life. I find it rewarding to drive hard change that needs to happen. Early on in the development of the low pH lactic acid technology that became the basis of NatureWorks’ bioplastic solution, we were told by a group of scientific advisors that it couldn’t be done. We proved them wrong and implemented the process which has allowed us to improve the economics while reducing the side products and lowering the carbon intensity. We also won the Green Chemistry Award from the U.S. EPA for this technology. We proved that we CAN do hard things!
Let’s now shift to the main part of our interview. Can you tell our readers about the initiatives that you or your company are taking to help break the cycle of non-renewable consumption? What specific problems related to non-renewable consumption are you aiming to solve?
Compostable applications for food packaging are an important market for using Ingeo biopolymer. Compostable packaging helps consumers direct both their food scraps and packaging waste to compost where they become valuable nutrients. This keeps food scraps out of landfills where that food generates methane as it degrades. In the US, food is the single largest category of material sent to landfills emitting methane as it degrades. Landfills are also the 3rd-largest source of human-related methane emissions in the U.S. Therefore, it’s critically important to keep food out of landfills through waste reduction and diversion to compost. In fact, the U.S. EPA put out a study showing that if we could divert 25% more food waste away from landfills, we could reduce methane emissions by 30%. That’s a significant impact that compostable packaging can facilitate in a way that’s easy for consumers.
Can you give a few examples of what you are implementing to help address those issues?
Today, NatureWorks provides certified compostable and biobased alternatives for use in a variety of packaging applications including yogurt cups, food serviceware, coffee pods, tea bags, coated paper and more. In addition, we are innovating with companies to create renewable, compostable flexible packaging which can be used for applications from dry snacks to vegetables and everything in between.
How do you measure the impact of your company’s sustainability initiatives, both in terms of environmental benefits and business growth? Can you share any key metrics or success stories?
NatureWorks thinks about the impact Ingeo has for each sale and application: every pound NatureWorks sells has a carbon footprint that is 73% smaller than the fossil-based material that it replaces. In addition, it is important to measure financial success which we track through EBITDA and EBITDA growth over time.
What challenges have you faced while implementing sustainable practices in your company, and how did you overcome them? Can you share a specific example?
Adoption of a new-to-the-world, single-sourced material is extremely difficult. NatureWorks has been developing new applications and polymer properties for over 20 years and have found customer-partners that are as passionate about positively impacting climate change as we are. Forming strong relationships across the value chain within an industry has allowed us to develop and implement more solutions faster and on a wider scale.
One such partner chain is within the coffee capsules market. We’ve partnered with capsule manufacturers, lidding manufacturers, and coffee roaster companies to ensure that compostable capsules and lids made from NatureWorks’ Ingeo perform reliably during brewing coffee with the expected taste and aroma. Additionally, we’re partnered with equipment manufacturers, like IMA, who make the machines that fill and seal the coffee capsules to ensure compostable capsules can be produced at commercial scale.
How would you articulate how a business can become more profitable by being more sustainable and more environmentally conscious? Can you share a story or example?
Today, every company needs to address and reduce the carbon intensity within their processes and systems. Not only are consumers demanding it, but governments are also regulating it. Both NatureWorks and Qore were created around the concept of sustainability. Although that makes it easier to build a sustainable company, no company is perfect. NatureWorks has continued to innovate to improve and continually reduce its collective footprint. This innovation comes from embracing diversity of thought which allows for different voices with different backgrounds to come together to achieve the best solutions possible.
This is the signature question we ask in most of our interviews. What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started promoting sustainability and climate justice” and why?
Over my career-long efforts to commercialize renewable processes, I’ve found five key learnings that I think would benefit anyone at any point in their own journey to create more sustainable options for mainstream business and consumer use.
- If you watch the pennies, the dollars take care of themselves. You can start with a premium, but you need to focus on process improvements as oil and feedstock prices change. Make sure you select a product that has a high yield and one that can be improved over time.
- No one can do it alone. Companies need to understand their key strengths and partner with others to deliver a full solution. This was the key to forming Qore: Cargill scaled, built, and operated fermentation facilities; HELM helped market the chemicals; Geno licensed the fermentation technology; and together Qore provided a useful solution and became a successful organization.
- Be ready to bob and weave. Many startups begin with what they believe is the “killer application.” But in reality, there are too many unknowns at the beginning, and you must continue to learn as you grow and pivot to new applications that can be commercialized.
- Ride the tide and drive policy change. In the beginning of NatureWorks back in 1989, we thought the world was ready for sustainable materials. There was consumer demand and some supporting policies. However, we found quickly that nothing is ever quite as straight-forward as we first believed. Fossil-based product producers have a strong voice in policy creation and companies must invest in advocacy and policy change to ensure that new voices are heard and appropriate policies supportive of lower carbon, biobased options are developed.
- It’s a long — yet worthwhile — road. While it took NatureWorks 15 years to fill the first plant to capacity, that was on par for the polymer industry and quite frankly, faster than most specialty polymers. It is not easy work to drive change in the work; you must be resilient, focused, and keep moving forward. The result is progress toward a noble mission: driving climate and social justice.
You are a person of great influence and doing some great things for the world! If you could inspire a movement that would bring the greatest amount of good to the greatest amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
We must embrace science — it will create solutions for our future.
What is the best way for our readers to continue to follow your work online?
NatureWorks can be followed at natureworksllc.com; Qore at myqira.com; and me on LinkedIn.
This was very meaningful, thank you so much. We wish you only continued success on your great work!
About the Interviewer: Monica Sanders JD, LL.M, is the founder of “The Undivide Project”, an organization dedicated to creating climate resilience in underserved communities using good tech and the power of the Internet. She holds faculty roles at the Georgetown University Law Center and the Tulane University Disaster Resilience Leadership Academy. Professor Sanders also serves on several UN agency working groups. As an attorney, Monica has held senior roles in all three branches of government, private industry, and nonprofits. In her previous life, she was a journalist for seven years and the recipient of several awards, including an Emmy. Now the New Orleans native spends her time in solidarity with and championing change for those on the frontlines of climate change and digital divestment. Learn more about how to join her at: www.theundivideproject.org.
Jill Zullo Of NatureWorks On How They Are Breaking the Cycle of Non-Renewable Consumption was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.