Interested in sustainability? Here’s what I wish I knew before I started.

By Jane Palmer, CEO of Nature Coatings

Most of us would prefer to make a living without having to destroy the planet or make people sick in the process, but achieving those laudable goals often means putting business first. My journey in sustainability began 15 years ago as the founder of a natural dye house in Los Angeles. We made gorgeous fabrics using bio-based dyes from recipes dating back to medieval times. Problem was they cost ten times more, faded quickly, used twice the water, and could not be produced at scale. That was fine as a hobby, but I wanted to make an impact at scale.

A dirty secret in fashion is that the dyes used to give our favorite outfits the colors we love are destructive for the environment and toxic for our health. Dying textiles generates wastewater that bleeds “forever chemicals” into our food supply. Black pigments derived from petroleum known as “carbon black” are particularly toxic as they fuel climate change and release toxins like carcinogens known to cause allergies, birth defects, and even cancer. These were and are well known problems in the industry that many would gladly fix, if given a viable alternative.

I traveled the world looking for a cleaner, healthier solution that could be as durable and scalable as commonly used dyes. When I couldn’t find one, I did what many founders do: create the solution myself. Years of trial and error, testing hundreds of different biomass feedstocks, including food, textile waste, and grass, yielded frustratingly few results. Pigments derived from plants use more water than fossil-based solutions and can contribute to food scarcity so growing colors made little sense.

One source emerged as the clear winner. Wood from discarded furniture, home renovations, logging operations, and paper mills in the U.S. create some 50,000 tons of waste each year. Most of it overflows landfills or is burned into the atmosphere, further damaging the environment. Low to no-value wood waste is easy to collect and can be fully traceable using a certification from the Forest Stewardship Council(FSC). And the proprietary manufacturing process we developed didn’t require us to burn the wood or release carbon pollution. We could turn abundant wood waste into a viable, carbon-negative, nontoxic alternative to carbon black.

If I could turn all that wood waste into a viable pigment it would solve two seemingly intractable problems. After years of research and development and trial and error, I had found a sustainably-sourced solution with the potential for massive impact that also tapped a multi-billion dollar business opportunity. That led me to start Nature Coatings, a bio-chemical company that turns wood waste into black pigments used in textiles, cosmetics, packaging, paint, coatings, and many other products.

We contacted major clothing manufacturers to show how our bio-based pigments could remove toxins and reduce emissions. Most folks liked the idea in theory but seemed content with the status quo, erroneously assuming that sustainable alternatives would cost more or be harder to use. Despite the fact that our BioBlack pigments were just as cost effective and as easy to implement as carbon black, we were up against the oldest enemy of innovation - inertia.

Then we got a call from a lead designer at Levi Strauss looking for a black pigment to use on a new line of sustainably made jeans. Working closely with their R&D team, testing confirmed that our dispersions were 100% bio-renewable, passed intensive chemistry checks, and passed their price requirements. The launch of their sustainable line was a slam dunk and quickly sold out.

We went on to repeat that success at other fashion houses, but also for other industries like paints and coatings, cosmetics, plastic food packaging, and even cement. We rode a wave of sustainability and positioned ourselves to offer a solution that met many of the world’s strictest environmental and health regulations in Europe and elsewhere. Nature Coatings now has scores of clients, our own manufacturing, and a global distribution network.

Innovators and visionaries out there fighting entrenched interests, take heart: I found that success is attainable if you focus on the business benefits of your ideas and don’t give in to naysayers. What helped me succeed over 15 years in sustainability was thinking big, innovating constantly, and, perhaps most important, being relentless. It wasn’t necessarily easy, but doing the hard thing made all the difference for my business and in life.

If you have any questions about BioBlack or Nature Coatings, contact us any time.