Welcome to Now and Here in the Future. I’m Quinn Harrington. Today we’re joined by Bob Hawkinson, an inventor, entrepreneur, and owner of a commercial landscape company.
Naila (03:02.663)
and I’m Naila Mir, today’s topic is the disappearing act, how one inventor is making plastic waste vanish. Very excited about this topic, Bob.
Bob (03:12.316)
Awesome. Thank you very much. Yes. It’s good stuff. It hadn’t been easy, but it’s it’s good
HDco (03:19.278)
So there’s this famous scene in the movie The Graduate where Mr. McGuire pulls Benjamin aside and says, I have one word for you, plastics. And Benjamin replies, what about it? He says, there’s a great future in plastics. That movie was 60 years ago, but the same is true today. And I think the future of plastics is brighter than ever.
Bob is an amazing inventor and entrepreneur, as we mentioned, and he has created a revolutionary plastic that I believe could truly change the world.
Bob, you’ve mentioned that plastic mulch bags alone could circle the earth 20 times annually. What made you decide enough is enough after 40 years in landscaping?
Bob (04:13.508)
So yeah, it’s a staggering amount of agricultural plastic waste that’s generated by the green industry, the farming industry, the landscape industry. I just spent so much time, and I’d have these mountains of plastic waste that I thought, this just doesn’t make sense. There’s got to be a better way. So ultimately, we came up with a way to make the bag.
biodegradable and open-open become a weed barrier and couldn’t find a plastic. I’ve spent years trying to find a material and there was just nothing out there. So we basically developed one.
HDco (04:55.918)
That’s amazing.
Bob (04:58.18)
Yeah, it’s cool stuff.
Naila (04:58.631)
So just going on to that, you know that you’ve moved into being your own boss. And can you just walk us through the journey of developing recede bioplastics? And what were the key challenges in getting ASTM certification? And not many people will know what ASTM is, so maybe explain that a bit too.
Bob (05:16.568)
Yeah.
Right. So it’s a certifying standard that is so worth. We’re certified under ASTM for the Bioplastic Institute and under D5988 soil biodegradable and D6691 marine biodegradable. And so you’re not really certified, but you’re tested to a standard. And so we are tested to those standards and pass those standards. within this industry, there’s a lot of black magic where people
make a lot of claims and say a lot of things, but don’t have the proven methodology that confirms what their claims are. So it’s one of those things where it takes a long time to do it right, but when you do it right, you’ve got something. And that’s what we came to. So it’s a method to make sure that there’s a consistency across the board.
that your claims are legitimately proven.
Naila (06:25.671)
I like your brand name. So I received bioplastic is your company name. Yeah.
Bob (06:30.82)
Yeah, so that’s product name. We sell under a couple of different things. We have a product called Weed Receipt, which is the mulch bags, and all basically licensed under what we call the Fresh Mulch Company. those are, my materials are all based on end of life being soil or water.
Naila (06:33.787)
Okay.
Naila (06:40.412)
Mm-hmm.
Bob (06:56.406)
So when I look at applications, am I gonna make soda bottles? Probably not, but we’re good if your end of life is in the water or in the soil. those are the applications I’m always pursuing.
Naila (07:11.569)
I like the name though because it just says what it’s on the tin right? Received by plastics. How did you come about with this?
Bob (07:15.278)
Thank you, yeah. Yeah, I know somebody here helped me with all the graphics and all that kind of stuff. So yeah, Quinn did a great job.
Naila (07:22.023)
So Quinn you’ve been part of this journey so how long has it been since you developed the seed bio plastics? How did you get there?
Bob (07:30.864)
started with weed recede, as a brand for the mulch bag. then we’ve leveraged into a bunch of other different products. We’ve got a patent on the material last year, which is, which is a big deal. and so we’re leveraged that into, I would say a lot of different applications, that we can do agricultural film for like farming, those kinds of things where ultimately you just till it in at the end of the use. what I like to say is that we.
We help eliminate persistent plastic particulate pollution, which is kind of a mouthful, but it’s really what we do. So a lot of plastics, as they break up, they disintegrate. We do too. We go through the disintegration process, but that’s part of the biodegradation process. So it disintegrates, but we continue through, and we get consumed by microbes. it’s how that whole world works if you’re a legitimate…
material you’ll keep going through past the disintegration process. happens with standard plastics is they may go through disintegration, but they stay there. And so they’ve got microplastics. So I go back to persistent plastic particulate pollution is our focus to make go away.
Naila (08:50.951)
Quinn, I’ve got loads of other questions but I’m going to pass it on to you.
HDco (08:54.964)
Your product line seems to address very specific industry problems from trimmer line to mulch bags. How did you identify which products to start with to develop first?
Bob (09:10.852)
That’s a question. So I look at where can I really make a big impact, right? What are big numbers? so if you look at, when I’ve been able to tell just from Wheat Eater string alone, it sure looks, all the things I can piece together, there’s well over a million miles of string trimmer line every year being manufactured.
very possibly more than that. I know one manufacturer does about 275,000 models just by themselves. then you’ve got the mulch bags are, from what we can tell, they’re about 36 grocery bags in plastic content. So one mulch bag equals about 36 grocery bags in the same amount of material. So when you do the research and everything, it looks like there’s about 92 billion.
grocery bags that are estimated being used annually. From what we can tell is about three billion mulch and soil bags. So if you multiply three billion bags times 36, that’s 108 billion grocery bags equivalent. So there’s more plastic going out in mulch and soil bags than there are in grocery bags. But people don’t think about that, right?
Naila (10:36.113)
So,
HDco (10:36.449)
That is a staggering number. Let’s take a moment and formally introduce Bob. Bob Hawkinson is revolutionizing how we think about plastic waste. After four decades of running TLC Total Lawn Care in Jacksonville, Florida, Bob couldn’t ignore the mountains of plastic waste his industry was generating.
Bob (10:39.245)
It is.
Naila (10:39.559)
that is.
HDco (11:01.269)
Instead of accepting the status quo, went to work with leading experts in biodegradable plastics to develop his own solution, Receive Bioplastics. His innovations have earned multiple patents and include products that completely biodegrade in soil and marine environments. As the winner of Think Beyond Plastics’ Most Innovative Emerging Business Award, Bob’s company now offers breakthrough solutions like Sustain Align Trimming Cord,
fresh mulch, biodegradable mulch bags, and weed barrier systems that work hard then disappear, proving that good business and good stewardship can grow together. Bob, where can we find you on social?
Bob (11:44.654)
So primarily I’m on LinkedIn at this point under Bob Hawkinson, we’re under Received Bioplastics also, and then under TLC Total Lawn Care. But we have a pretty decent presence under Received and my personal name. Yeah, it’s probably the worst there is at social media, but I’m looking to fix that. I mean, so busy is the problem.
HDco (12:08.472)
Bob also has two websites that you can find out more information. You can go to receivebioplastics.com and weedreceive.com where you can find a lot of the products that he has available right now. Before we move on to the next segment, which would be the nearest section, we like to go around the room and talk about what everyone’s up to lately.
Naila, what have you been up to in the last week or so?
Naila (12:40.271)
last week or so, along with managing the baby and work, I’m pretty much starting to plan for next year, find a babysitter, because I need to get back into work a bit more. So yeah, it’s all about planning. I have a few Christmas parties coming up. We wanted to travel, not traveling this time, so we’re staying home. My niece was born on 25th of December, so we happened to just part.
HDco (13:05.968)
wow.
Naila (13:06.661)
Yes, I’m Muslim so we don’t celebrate Christmas but we do celebrate Christmas because everyone celebrates Christmas. So yeah, it’s more about planning for next year, getting my house in order really. What about you Bob?
HDco (13:13.08)
Sure.
Bob (13:21.134)
the last week. Is that what she said?
HDco (13:24.492)
or last week, couple weeks, whatever.
Bob (13:26.852)
It’s all a blur. As far as the plastic side of things, we’re working with manufacturers right now on a, we had to get a piece of equipment configured so that we can do the blown film line so we can make the mulch in the soil bags coming up. I ordered a perforating system that will do the opening system on the mulch bags. And then we’re also working on a
Bob (13:58.36)
the material itself and some other applications and some intellectual property stuff. So it’s sort of the constant issue of protecting IP, building out IP, supporting IP, and then getting to manufacture at small scale to basically prove the product out in the marketplace. My goal in all this is to license because it’s massive.
markets that I’m in are massive. I think that’s just a faster way to make things happen and get things happen. It’ll give whoever goes that direction with us a competitive market advantage because we have a legitimate material that’s very strong, very ductile, and it’s a viable product.
HDco (14:49.222)
So yeah, excitingly, it’ll be available in Jacksonville, Florida here pretty soon. You can run down to TLC Total Lawn Care and pick yourself up 10 or 20 bags, which will be the very first proof of concept. believe, Bob, aren’t you also going to be using it within your own landscape company?
Bob (14:54.114)
Will.
Bob (15:01.124)
The strengths are very good.
Bob (15:09.344)
So yeah, the string trimmer line, I had a machine on order now for about four months. They had two hurricanes go over them and flooding and all that, so things backed up. But we hope in the next week or two we should have that, and that’s gonna assist in the process of making a stronger string trimmer line. as soon as we get that off, yes, yes, yes, yes.
HDco (15:29.852)
So here’s our product comp. I don’t know if you can see that it’s reversed. So that’s the sustain align. And so Bob had the crazy idea of like doing angled packaging. And if you know anything about graphic design, this is very complicated to hand comp. So, but I did it.
Naila (15:37.703)
it.
Bob (15:41.101)
Hahaha!
Bob (15:47.908)
Who do I know that helped me with that? Yeah, did a great job once again. Yeah, good stuff. So the string trimmer line hopefully will be, we’re hoping for spring coming up on this too, because that machine is going to allow me to get to market. So there’s, I’ve got about four products. We’ve got some other plant tags and things that are going on too. So we’re in process on about four things right now that we’re hoping for spring launches.
Naila (15:49.927)
Quinn.
HDco (15:53.215)
HDco (15:58.557)
Thank you.
Bob (16:17.924)
Of course, what’s today, the 13th? It’s amazing how, ooh, it’s Friday the 13th. I didn’t even realize that. Lucky day, right? Yeah, time moves on. You just gotta move fast. That’s all I can tell you. You just gotta keep going.
Naila (16:23.099)
Yes!
Naila (16:33.997)
It’s true, exciting, exciting.
HDco (16:35.592)
So I think you guys both know that I was a DJ for about 10 years. And so one of my favorite things to do is to DJ New Year’s Eve. And so I’ve had several opportunities to DJ some private parties. And I DJed a huge party in Jack’s Beach on New Year’s Eve one year. Cop showed up twice.
Bob (16:57.315)
Cool.
Bob (17:02.828)
Nice.
HDco (17:05.137)
So that meant I was doing something right. Yeah, it was a good time. But I was talking with a girlfriend yesterday, and so I think I’m going to be hosting a New Year’s Eve party at my house. normally, that’s like a six week out plan. You know, I’ve got everything all worked out, but it’s two weeks out. And so I’m like, let’s just see if anybody wants to come. So that’s kind of what I’ve got going on.
Bob (17:08.548)
That’s a good party.
Naila (17:08.807)
you
Bob (17:19.07)
Right on.
Naila (17:20.128)
how exciting.
Bob (17:23.694)
Yeah.
Bob (17:30.368)
Yeah, good stuff.
Naila (17:30.567)
Aww, I’m sure they will. When you come to England we should do a party too then, Quinn.
Bob (17:33.38)
That’s cool.
HDco (17:36.185)
well, absolutely. So Springbank planning is also on my to-do list and looking at flights and all those wonderful things. Yeah.
Naila (17:42.477)
I know I need to get back to you. I need to get back to you. But we can get back to Bob and we can talk about the Nair segment, which is about what is his plans in the next few years. So Bob, you’ve been talking about some of your product lines, but what other applications, if you can talk about them, do you see for received bioplastics in the next few years? So I know 2025 is going to be a bit busy with four launches.
Bob (18:00.366)
Sure.
Bob (18:04.194)
So, yeah.
Yeah, I really like this one. This is actually 3D printed, right? So I have a soil and marine biodegradable 3D filament, which is highly unusual. You’ll see people make claims saying, hey, ours is biodegradable, and it’s PLA. PLA is not soil and marine biodegradable, generally considered. It’s industrial compostable, so it’s a different type of material.
where ours legitimately is. we do lot of, we do some things on here where it air prunes and then the pot splits so you can bury the whole pot. You don’t have girdling on the root system. So that’s one of the things we’re pushing forward on. I like these two. These are irrigation flags. That’s 3D printed also.
HDco (18:56.837)
You see those all over the highway, know, anything from like marking electrical lines, know, sewer lines, gas lines, and they just sit there forever and they never disappear.
Bob (19:00.374)
Yeah.
And I’ve walked, yeah, yes, I’ve walked the ditches and I see just to find what’s in the water, right? And there are mountains of these things, the same with the flagging tape and all that sort of stuff. So really, like I said, I look at it, if it’s going to wind up in the soil, because ours you could just mow over, right? They could just be mowed and basically.
Shredded so it wouldn’t necessarily have to be gone back and picked up and you don’t have the wire That is typically used on this, you know the stem here. This is actual plastic so It’s It’s very flexible. It’s very strong. So that that is one of the beauties our material is that it’s it’s very ductile very flexible Very strong typically biodegradable plastics don’t have those
as properties, they’re normally very brittle or they tear easily and things like that. And we figured out how to overcome that. that’s, it allows more applications. Agricultural film for me is a big one. That’s, there’s some folks out there working on some things, but their materials are, I consider subpar. It’s not, like I said, the issue is trying to hold up. One of the beauties is that we do hold up long-term, right? So.
A lot of the biodegradable stuff will go away very rapidly. If you’re trying to run a crop or run a time frame, you need some length of service. so, theirs go away really rapidly, ours will hold on. But then when ours does, time frames hit right, and the microbial activity is right, it’ll start, it’ll move, and it’ll get completely consumed.
Bob (20:57.444)
Yeah, there’s a lot of things we’re working on. There’s a few things I can’t tell you about. We have patent spending on probably four or five different things right now. So yeah, there’s a lot of cool things coming. The one I like is the grocery bag. That to me, what I do a lot of times is I look at these things and I do what I call package as product or purposeful packaging.
Naila (21:15.079)
this.
Bob (21:27.214)
So instead of that packaging just being tossed, how can I reuse that? How can I repurpose? And so that’s what we do on a lot of these things. And our stuff can be buried. It’s because we’re soil biodegradable. So the difference, industrial compostable means you have to go to an industrial composting facility. The temperatures have to be high, and it gets turned multiple times.
So ours, but those normally won’t soil and marine biodegrade a lot of those materials. Some will, but the ones that do don’t have a lot of strength or longevity. we’re, we’re this interesting, material that goes, it provides what a lot of people need and want in the ag department, the ag world. but for like your homeowners, you know, we basically get rid of glyphosate, herbicide.
we pretty do a pretty doggone good job of holding back weeds and then we get rid of all the plastic bags. it’s really, it’s sort of a triple use on the mulch bag application. On the soil bag application, you basically, you would dump some of the material out, till it in, you split the bag and it folds and then you plant right through the bag. And so that bag is going to hold moisture. It’s going to block weeds and it’s going to assist in
the growth of that plant. It’s almost like a backyard raised garden, but you don’t have any bags to throw away and you’re not generating any long-term persistent particulate plastic pollution.
Naila (23:10.308)
You know, it reminds me, well, sustainability well, so anyone listening to our podcast from the sustainability field, it’s a lot about circular economy.
Quinn, we might do another podcast around circular economy so people understand what we really mean and what Bob’s talking about, right? When you take out materials, how do you reuse them, recycle them, but also change product design. So it eliminates some of that issues that we have. And if you haven’t seen David Attenborough’s videos or documentaries, everything that Bob’s talking about in terms of soil and marine, where the plastic ends up, it’s quite sad. You know, the biodiversity that gets impacted.
through all these plastics. And Bob, I think you’re focusing on industry but consumers as well because we generate a bit, we may not have the infrastructures for proper recycling or collections even. Yeah.
Bob (23:56.534)
100%.
Right, right. Yeah, so like we don’t realize on a string trimmer line it generates 11,000 microplastics a minute as you use it. And that’s not the pieces that break off, that’s just the wear, right? And then they figure through engineering estimation models that it’s about 1.3 billion.
Bob (24:23.234)
nanoplastics at the same use per minute. So it’s a lot and you don’t even think about it but it’s you you’re spreading that out in your yard you do that 36-42 times a year and it just you just keep it keeps spinning off and normally that stuff is either gonna stay in your soil or it’s gonna probably move into ditches and waterways and wind up out in lakes and rivers and those kind of things.
HDco (24:48.379)
So for our viewers that don’t know, Nyla worked for Unilever, which is one of the world’s largest consumer packaged goods companies. And she worked there for what, about 14 years? And so she knows a lot about consumer packaged goods and what’s involved in the manufacturing and distribution of those. And I’ve had a
Naila (25:02.311)
15 years.
Bob (25:03.926)
huh.
HDco (25:18.385)
Nielsen as a client for about the same amount of time. so what Nielsen is a major measure of consumer packaged goods products. And so the research is telling us overwhelmingly that consumers are demanding that manufacturers and retailers be transparent.
about their manufacturing processes, also about the food or the material itself, especially in the beauty industry has become another big driver of this. So I think that as the consumer demand grows and you’re able to expand your, the capability of what you can do with this material.
I mean, I could really potentially see you moving into that space to help provide a solution to manufacturers at scale to be able to use a material that is so much better for the environment. Even if it’s not used initially in packaging itself, but there’s all kinds of plastics that are used involved in the manufacturing process at that level that could be
Bob (26:15.256)
Right.
Bob (26:43.076)
For sure.
HDco (26:45.033)
disposed of in a more environmentally friendly way.
Bob (26:54.008)
Yeah, know, plastic has served a lot of needs. It’s created a lot of benefits to the food industry, to cleanliness of materials, and it is a good material. What I think we run into sometimes is, I don’t know that our reclaim methods are all that great.
the escape plastics happen because somebody throws something out of their vehicle or it blows out of the back of a truck or in some of those instances. The tumbleweed, the grocery bag stuck in the trees that you see going up and down the boulevards. So the issue is that plastic is very recyclable. just has to get back. And so a lot of that’s consumer driven.
And I think there has to be a willingness within the population to want to do that. And so that’s, as you were saying earlier, Quinn, is that people are noting that people are concerned about the plastic and being honest and what’s going on in the marketplace with your products. I think that if you’re going to put a product out there,
there has to be a way for it to be recycled or reused or somehow taken care of. There’s a lot of these, I don’t know if you’ve ever seen when they make film, they have these multi-layer packaging and they do that, they blow this film and they have a machine and it can have up to like 17 layers in this tube that you’re blowing all these different materials. Most of that stuff doesn’t recycle well, right?
So I think you got to get good at figuring out if you’re going to build something, it has to be recoverable.
Bob (28:54.818)
I think you’re seeing a much bigger push on that in the marketplace, which is a good thing. It should happen. So the consumers can drive that. And I think they are.
Naila (29:03.163)
Yeah, mean consumers have a responsibility to lead back to that behavior change. How many times have I told my family, do not roll down that window. You know, do not bother throwing anything out. And when I’m walking around anywhere, I’m like really trying to pick up stuff. I don’t know if it was, was it Olympics or football or one of those where it was in Japan or there were Japanese audience. And when everything ended,
Bob (29:16.76)
Yeah.
Bob (29:20.932)
Yeah.
Naila (29:32.517)
They stayed back and actually cleaned up the whole stadium. They didn’t wait for anyone. They set an example. Yeah. It was amazing to see that. Yeah. yeah. And what the great.
Bob (29:36.548)
Probably Japan. Japan is, yeah, they do a really good job of recycling and those sort of things. That’s the culture, right? The culture built that. That’s right into the culture. It’s built in. And we haven’t seen that here in the US. You’re starting to see it among, the youth coming up is more thinking like that, I believe, and more concerned about.
Naila (29:51.277)
Exactly.
Bob (30:02.896)
they see the big impacts that the plastic is having. And I think they’re making better choices than maybe we did as we grew up. I’m way older than y’all are, life, my generation for sure.
Naila (30:17.979)
Yeah, yeah, they say that it’s the old generation that created the mess and it’s the new generation that’s cleaning it up. Yeah, yeah. But what you’re proving is everything’s so connected and everyone has a role to play, right? Whether it’s the industry creating the product, whether it’s the industry that’s developing the plastic or it’s the consumer consuming the product, everyone has a role to play and you’ve got a part in that and you’re helping it make it easier.
Bob (30:22.532)
Yeah, they say a lot of things that I don’t listen to.
HDco (30:25.847)
Hahaha
Bob (30:33.644)
ever stop.
Bob (30:41.048)
Yeah.
Naila (30:46.053)
right by creating the products that you are. Yeah.
Bob (30:46.584)
Yeah, right. Yeah, if I can impact it and create a product that the consumer wants, that’s a win, right? I’m always looking for wins in life, right? And so if you can help the environment at the same time, you help the consumer and the consumer feels better about it, I think that’s a good thing too. So it’s an emotional pull in a lot of this.
I think it has to be if you’re going to get to success. The people have to want to recycle. They have to want to manage well. They have to want to do what they should be doing and play their own part to make good things happen.
Naila (31:30.577)
And I’m a strong believer of collaboration and partnerships and we don’t do things alone. It needs to happen in partnerships which leads to, I think Quinn, with your next question around partners.
HDco (31:44.373)
yeah, so…
HDco (31:49.167)
To be able to scale and get this product to market across the various verticals that you’re looking to impact, you’re going to need commercial partners. What qualities are you looking for in potential licensing relationships?
Bob (32:08.504)
Well, you when we were talking about this, you said Naila had like truckloads of money, so I need to meet her. dang it.
HDco (32:14.669)
I don’t think I said that.
Naila (32:16.103)
I wish.
HDco (32:19.789)
Maybe in the Unilever days, but we’re small business owners now, so.
Bob (32:22.564)
No, I’m about as small as you have to know. I get you. Now, so, you know, I’m looking for people who want to do the right thing, right? Who get it. Not all companies get it. And I would say most don’t. But I’m looking to work with the right people who are working with a few right now that they get it and they want to do the right thing. And they also see that it’s a market differentiator.
and they get that their customers want it and that their product’s gonna look good and they’re gonna look good. And does it cost a little bit more money? Well yeah, the cheapest thing in the world is plastic, Bidegradable plastics, yes, they’re more money. But when you look at your total overall, it’s not necessarily that much more, right? When you look at your total cost and the recovery of that material and those sort of things, the price might be a little higher, the cost isn’t, right?
even taking the mulch bags for example, if you’re not going out buying herbicides, then you can go golfing Saturday instead of having to go pull weeds out of all your beds. What’s the value there, right? So there’s price and there’s cost. And I’m looking for companies who want to differentiate themselves in the marketplace and who understand that maybe what they’re doing is having a pretty negative impact on…
the environment and that there’s better options out there.
HDco (33:56.412)
You know, I think about the farming industry.
20 years ago, nobody cared where their chickens or their eggs came from. They didn’t care about whether they were free range or organic or anything like that. But today, see more and more people, myself included, really care about that food, where the food comes from, how are
you know, animals and plants being raised and harvested. And with you being in the agricultural industry, the materials that they use to, you know, grow plants and to raise animals, to me, would seem like an easy win for a company to be able to say, we’re already doing these other aspects to improve, you know, sustainability, animal welfare.
Bob (34:34.884)
Sure.
HDco (35:01.875)
you know, conservation of resources. In addition to this, we’ve taken a hard look at the materials that we use to grow our crops or maintain our landscapes. And we have a solution that is novel and we’re excited to be first to market with this new product and material. And they can run a little video about that and get
Bob (35:04.653)
Right.
Bob (35:22.082)
Yeah, yeah, for sure.
Bob (35:30.446)
Yep. Yep. Yeah.
HDco (35:31.204)
huge PR, be able to brag about being an early adopter of this technology. And I look forward to the day coming soon when you’re able to come back on here and tell us, we have 10 major farmers who have now adopted the use of our material. And here is the impact with the numbers and
Bob (35:40.036)
Sure.
HDco (36:01.076)
really being able to demonstrate how this is making a difference, you know, every day to the consumers of their products.
Bob (36:03.524)
All right. All right.
Bob (36:09.474)
Yeah, great. So one of the things too that people don’t really think about it that a farmer’s asset is his land, right? So if you’re using standard weed block or plastic mulch, they call it, you’re shedding microplastics like crazy off that stuff, right? And I’ve been to some test plots from some…
universities and other areas and farms and things that, you know, they’ll go in and they’ll pull that plastic out, but it’s everywhere still. And you’ll see small pieces everywhere. And it’s just, you do that a couple of times a season, you know, at 20 years, you’ve done it 40 to 60 times, depending on how many crops or rotations you have. Well, you’re contaminating your soil. I mean, that’s, that’s your asset. All right. So as you continue to contaminate your soil,
your value of your land, I would say degrades because now you’re dealing with all that mess from 20 years ago, right? And 19 years ago and 18 years ago. So, beauty of ours is you can just till it in and it’ll get consumed, it’ll get eaten. So we’re gonna break up, we’re gonna go through disintegration. You would see ours for a little while and then it’ll continue to just keep breaking down as it’s in the soil or hitting water. In order to be considered soil biodegradable,
under us ASTM standards, they’re requiring marine biodegradable. So say that farmer has all these row crops and they got all this plastic on there and they go in and they, first of all, they have to roll that stuff up, right? And then either landfill it. Sadly, some people will burn it on the property, which is not acceptable, but that’ll do it. so, but when they do that, all those microplastics are.
Naila (37:57.681)
Mm-hmm.
Bob (38:05.604)
when the rains hit them or irrigation hit them, it moves in the water and often will wind up in ditches or retention ponds. So they know that in order to be considered soil biodegradable, you also have to be marine biodegradable because they know it’s going to move. They know those persistent plastic particulate pollution pieces are going to move and they’ll move into the water very often. that’s cool that it dies on land, it also has to die in the water and that’s what we do.
HDco (38:35.777)
Well, that’s very heavy, you know.
Naila (38:37.799)
You
HDco (38:41.943)
current state of existence. We like to try to keep, you know, some aspects of our podcast light. And that brings us to our next segment, which is called Across the Pond.
Naila (38:53.383)
the pond and he was just talking about ponds and things going into ponds so that speaking of ponds exactly yeah this is the fun part so we me and Quinn get to ask each other because I’m based in England and Quinn is in America like you and there are things that we may not understand about each other so one of my things I’ve tried it I should know is that you celebrate in America Thanksgiving but we do not celebrate it in here in Britain so
HDco (38:56.523)
Yeah, that would have been a perfect segue. Speaking of pawns.
Naila (39:22.203)
why and what is Thanksgiving?
HDco (39:26.17)
So Thanksgiving traces back to 1621 when English Puritans, who we call pilgrims, shared a harvest feast with the Wampanao’ag people in Plymouth, Massachusetts. They were celebrating their first successful harvest in the New World after a devastating winter where many colonists didn’t survive. But what’s fascinating is about how it became a national holiday. It wasn’t until 1863 during the Civil War when President Abraham Lincoln
proclaimed it as a national day of thanksgiving and praise. Sarah Josepha Hale, the woman who wrote Mary Had a Little Lamb, campaigned for 36 years to make it happen. Today it’s evolved into this uniquely American celebration centered around family, gratitude, and of course lots of food. The typical Thanksgiving meal still includes elements from the first feast, turkey, squash, pumpkins, although I doubt the pilgrims had marshmallows on their sweet potatoes.
Naila (40:22.471)
you
HDco (40:24.215)
We have the Macy’s Day Thanksgiving parade, football games, and this very strange tradition called the turkey pardon, where the president of the United States spares the turkey from becoming dinner. Pura Americana. Early Protestant harvest celebrations in England influenced the American Thanksgiving tradition through the pilgrims, who brought these customs with them to the New World. So you could say there’s a bit of British
Naila (40:32.901)
Yes.
HDco (40:53.695)
in our Thanksgiving celebration. Bet you didn’t know that.
Naila (40:57.009)
did not know that, but I do do Thanksgiving because my brother’s husband is American. So he’s from Huntington Beach and he makes all those lovely things that you just talked about, the marshmallows with the sweet potato pie and whatnot. So I do get to have and celebrate Thanksgiving every year. Yeah. He did.
Bob (41:12.814)
Yeah.
HDco (41:16.507)
Well, I’m glad you got to enjoy that this year because it’s, you know, it’s, I don’t know, it’s one of my favorite holidays by far.
Bob (41:19.076)
Let’s go.
Naila (41:23.407)
Yeah, they had a small one this time. they only two people and they cook for like, I don’t know, 20 people. So yeah, this time they kept it small because they’ve just moved into a new house. So they’re like, we can’t do that much this time. Yes.
Bob (41:35.618)
Gotta love leftovers, right?
HDco (41:37.627)
Bob, do you guys do a big shindig at your house?
Bob (41:39.928)
We did. We had all my kids and my mom and yeah, it was good. It was good. We did. My wife was an amazing cook. Yeah, we got five kids. Yeah. So yeah, my wife’s an amazing cook. She did a great job again this year. And as soon as that happens, boom, it’s Christmas decorations go up that weekend. So our house has been decked out and looking pretty amazing ever since.
HDco (41:48.407)
I imagine you have like 20 people there.
Naila (41:51.879)
HDco (41:53.189)
Yeah.
Bob (42:07.756)
She really does well with all that kind of stuff. She’s got her degree in interior design, so she thinks like that. That’s pretty interesting.
Naila (42:16.423)
That’s amazing. And I was thinking, Quinn, maybe next time we can bring in things that we have similar in our countries. So the Did You Know? Because I’ve just realized there are a lot of cities and towns that have the same name as here in England. So maybe we should share those.
HDco (42:17.476)
Awesome.
HDco (42:24.174)
Okay.
HDco (42:33.895)
Well, absolutely. My last name was Harrington. And when I was in London visiting you 10 or so years ago, everything’s like Washington and Harrington and Huntington and Dissington. And I’m looking around at the people and I’m like, shit, this is where I’m from. I mean, yeah, exactly. It’s like they looked like.
Naila (42:44.359)
you
Naila (42:50.139)
Yes?
Bob (42:53.252)
10 years ago, what was she like, 15? I said 10 years ago, what was Nila like, 15?
HDco (42:56.583)
Pardon?
Naila (42:59.271)
I like that, but I really like you Bob. No.
HDco (43:00.603)
Hahaha
HDco (43:07.901)
I’ll send you a clip or maybe I’ll post a clip into the podcast of a brief segment of the interview that I did with Nyla, you know, that long time ago. And she’s still beautiful today, but she was a knockout back then, I have to be honest with you. So on that note, do you want to take us into the future?
Naila (43:18.113)
my god.
Naila (43:24.391)
I spend a lot more time on myself, yeah. I do and this Bob is where we bring out the crystal ball or the rocket ship, it depends, and we ask our guests to actually take us into their future and what they think of the future. So if you would like to paint a picture of what the agriculture and landscape industry could look like without persistent plastic waste, what’s your ultimate vision?
Bob (43:25.111)
stuff.
Bob (43:52.824)
Yeah, I think we are going to create and…
a substitute for millions and millions of pounds of regular plastics that wind up becoming contaminants in the environment. I see the future as we have a lot of interest from a lot of people who really want to make things happen. And so I believe we’re going to see it at scale and we can really impact, we can really impact really across the world.
because we’re doing some things where we have people that have interest in England and Australia and different areas. So yeah, I see worldwide acceptance of this type of thing that’s going to help reduce massive amounts of escape plastics really.
Naila (44:53.559)
Well, if… No, I was just going to say if David Attenborough is alive by then, maybe he can come and do a documentary with you. You know, on the solutions. Yeah. Yeah. And there’s also another partner that maybe we look into later on is Ella MacArthur Foundation. They talk a lot about circular economy. She might be interested in doing a case study on you. So things in the future.
Bob (44:53.774)
How’s that?
HDco (44:53.971)
I think it’s worth a… Go ahead.
Bob (45:03.096)
There you go. That’d be great.
HDco (45:05.331)
I mean, if not, I’m game, so… You know, I…
Bob (45:18.476)
Yeah. So actually the thing with think beyond classic where we won the most innovative emerging business was actually sponsored by the foundation. we, yeah, we were one of the winners way back. yeah, no, they’re absolutely.
Naila (45:29.508)
that’s amazing.
Naila (45:34.359)
that’s amazing. Sorry Quinn I cut you off I think.
Bob (45:36.482)
Yeah, good.
HDco (45:39.473)
that’s okay. It’s, you know, I’m used to it. So, Bob, when you think about your legacy in transforming plastic usage, what impact do you hope to have made in like the next 10 or 20 years?
Naila (45:43.673)
No.
Bob (46:01.354)
I really think.
So there’s so many more things that we can leverage into. So you really almost have to go through product after product after product. There’s a lot in the marine industry we could be doing for netting and fishing lines and lures and all kinds of things that we can affect sporting good things. There’s a lot of stuff that outdoor activities actually create a lot of plastic waste. And so I would see that we would
we would continue to leverage into those areas that I wish I could share a lot of things with. It’s staggering the amount of material that’s out there that we could replace and really make a huge impact. And we’re doing that. We’re in process right now. A lot of cool things happen tonight, like I say. We got four things we’re hoping for spring on launching.
One’s a for sure, two is a probably by March, three and four are probably by March. you know, manufacturing, we got set back a couple of years with COVID. COVID was a nightmare for manufacturing and people trying to get things done. And so that set us back probably three years just because there was so much pent up demand.
in these facilities because they couldn’t get anybody to work because you couldn’t have anybody there. So, and then they wouldn’t let you back in for another year. So it was, it was interesting, but I think that we can move along pretty rapidly now. We’re really, really making headway. think we’re going to really, we’re going to make a lot of millions of pounds of plastic go away. Yeah.
Naila (47:55.121)
You
HDco (47:55.639)
And you’re going to make a lot of hungry microbes very happy.
Naila (47:58.503)
All about that.
Bob (47:58.722)
Hey, we’re here for the microbes, baby.
HDco (48:02.787)
you
Bob (48:03.17)
All about the soil.
HDco (48:05.899)
All right, final thoughts. Nyle, you want to go first?
Naila (48:09.927)
Shall I go first? Final thoughts? think, well, first of all, Bob, thank you. This has been amazing. And I do a lot of work on sustainability, but this is an area that I do not think much about or I know about, but I haven’t really thought about all the impact and what’s out there. And you’ve definitely put me on this thing of everything that I do, especially with those, the weeds and everything, I’m going to be even more conscious and talking more about it. And hopefully,
Bob (48:16.046)
pleasure.
Bob (48:24.9)
Yeah, sure.
Bob (48:31.033)
Ha!
Bob (48:37.432)
Yeah.
Naila (48:38.435)
I can maybe do a cover, because I normally talk about on my LinkedIn about stuff that are on my mind or I’ve intrigued about. So if you’re okay with that, I would love to cover some of the stuff that we’ve talked about with yours. Yeah, so you might see on LinkedIn, but I’ll tag you. Am I passing it on to Bob? 30 seconds? Okay, go.
Bob (48:50.34)
Please. Yeah, please.
HDco (48:59.361)
I’ll go next and then we’ll let Bob close. So I just wanted to remind our listeners and viewers that this is not Bob working in his workshop creating this plastic. He’s working with one of the top chemists in the country who is phenomenally talented in taking plastics and doing things that
other people, other companies have attempted but haven’t been able to achieve. And I think it’s just remarkable, Bob’s persistence over the last 10 or 15 years, starting with an idea for the perforated mulch bag and then creating this plastic and then going through the cost and expense of having it patented and then now beginning small scale manufacturing and then
Bob (49:53.412)
Yes.
HDco (49:58.137)
looking to scale this regionally, nationally, and then globally. And I just want to wish you all the best luck and godspeed in this because it doesn’t just benefit you, it benefits our entire planet. And I think it’s just a noble, amazing thing that I’m happy to play a small part in.
Bob (50:07.714)
I
Bob (50:12.686)
I
Bob (50:20.28)
Yeah, no, you’ve been a big help all along way and I appreciate the kind words. really, when you’re in the process of it, it’s really those kinds of things that keep me going. It really does because you’re always trying to figure out, what am I doing? Is this right? Am I going the right direction? Should I keep doing this? Do I keep spending the time, money and effort? And then you get…
You get hope and help and support from folks like John. I really appreciate it. But I got to show you my other support tool here.
Naila (50:51.335)
Yes!
HDco (50:52.564)
yes, we can’t forget about
Naila (50:55.047)
30 seconds with Dixie!
HDco (50:57.061)
Yes.
Bob (50:57.93)
Yeah, so, so this is.
This is my princess, right? So Dixie is a diabetes alert dog. She will alert on high and low blood sugars. And I’ve been diabetic since I was nine months old, so I’m 62 now. So anyway, she will alert if I drop, she’ll alert if I go high and besides that you get a cute dog. So she’s really amazing at what she does.
It’s nice to have support and she helps me with the other side of my life. yeah, good stuff.
Naila (51:36.561)
And she goes with you everywhere even when you travel.
Bob (51:38.956)
She does. She does. Yeah, she’s a mess. She’s a sweet one. Yeah, no, she’s a legoto ramegnolo. It’s an Italian water dog or the truffle hunters. They’re the ones that find the mushrooms. she’s not trained to find mushrooms. She’s trained to light up on blood sugar levels, which is pretty amazing to watch. She really…
Naila (51:45.664)
I wanna Dixie now.
HDco (51:48.475)
Don’t we all?
Bob (52:07.156)
She really is a game changer for me. So good stuff.
Naila (52:10.81)
Life saver.
HDco (52:13.211)
So nice to meet you, Dixie.
Naila (52:14.597)
It’s so nice, yes, and we’ll maybe see you more. Hopefully we’ll bring Bob back in, which is where we’re going towards. It’s, should I wrap up?
Bob (52:19.492)
Yeah, that’s right.
HDco (52:20.144)
Absolutely.
HDco (52:24.103)
Yeah, why don’t you take us out, Nyla?
Naila (52:25.819)
So thank you Bob again for being part of this podcast and hopefully we’ll bring you back in the future. And that’s a wrap up for Now, Near, In The Future. As always, you can find us on the web at nownearfuture.com or on YouTube and Instagram at nownearfuture.
HDco (52:44.2)
And you can find Bob at WeedReceived.com, ReceivedBioplastics.com, and just do a Google for Bob Hawkinson on LinkedIn. And again, Bob, thank you so much for joining us. As always, stay curious and keep dreaming.
Bob (52:56.132)
Appreciate y’all’s time.
Naila (53:00.347)
and we shall see you in the future.
May 6, 2025