Conscientious consumers: As consumers, we have so much power. That spending power needs to be focused. We can start by asking ourselves four questions before we buy: Do I really need this item? What happens to this product when I’m done with it? Is there a used option available? If not, what is the most sustainable type of this item I can find? This is a powerful internal monologue to have before buying anything, but especially impulse purchases, and especially plastic.
Aswe face an unprecedented environmental crisis, the need for sustainable solutions has never been more urgent. This series seeks to spotlight the innovative minds and passionate advocates who are leading the charge in environmental conservation and sustainable practices. We aim to explore the most effective strategies, breakthrough technologies, and transformative policies that are shaping a more sustainable future for our planet. As a part of this series, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Kate Reimann.
Kate is the founder of Rogue Wave Toys and Rogue Wave Materials, and a sustainability champion. She brings eight years of industry experience and a lifetime of advocacy for the planet to her decisions both in business and the way she lives her life. Her determination to solve the plastic pollution crisis is inspired by her two favorite product testers and ocean lovers, her two boys.
Thank you so much for joining us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’?
Sohappy to be here, thanks. Absolutely — my backstory is a little unconventional. After graduating with a degree in Spanish and political science, I moved to Mexico for two years and taught English at a bilingual elementary school. My time there inspired me to apply to law school in Chicago, where I was accepted, with the intention of becoming a human rights attorney. Seeing just how many people were trying to migrate north opened my eyes to the multifaceted reality of illegal immigration and I wanted to be a part of the solution.
At the same time, I met my husband, a US Air Force pilot, and plans changed. We went where the Air Force told us, and I decided to pursue a master’s in education — a degree slightly more transportable than a legal degree. Shortly after we were married, he was diagnosed with cancer, and, with two small kids and a cancer diagnosis, our life was completely upended. I started writing as a way to update our families on his health, but it took on a life of its own. The writings became a blog and this launched me into a writing career I loved but never anticipated. And it was during that phase of my career that I was inspired to start a whole new kind of company — one that solves the plastic pollution crisis.
When I look back on the path of my career, the thread throughout is that I’ve followed my passions to find solutions. It’s made for an exciting journey, and I’ve learned a lot — I’m still learning!
Can you share with us the most interesting story from your career? Can you tell us what lessons or ‘takeaways’ you learned from that?
One of the most interesting experiences I’ve had with this company so far was when I tried to close the business. I was still waiting for my product to be manufactured — we were delayed for what seemed like the tenth time. Supply chain issues from the pandemic were still affecting all industries in so many different ways, and my company was not immune. We were hemorrhaging money. And then, my mom died of Covid. I was engaged in a legal battle over her estate, and it didn’t look like our compostable beach toys were ever going to be made.
I emailed all my preorder holders — many of them had been holding pre-orders for three years. I laid it all out for them: that the beach toy production was delayed again, that my mom had just passed, that I felt like this was the end of the road and I would be refunding their orders. I felt like I couldn’t do it anymore, and I couldn’t expect them to keep waiting.
Instead of refunds, I got responses — emails saying things like “keep going,” and “we believe in you,” and “we want to see this come to life.” Not one of my pre-order customers took the money. It’s really the reason Rogue Wave is still here — my customers believed in me and in this idea when I couldn’t; they kept it alive. My customers really wanted to see an alternative to plastic — and that was more important to them than a timeline. The beach toy represented something bigger than a product for them; it was a new path forward, and a better way to make a product.
My biggest takeaways from that experience were two things: One, listen to your customers. Your customers know what they want, and they can keep you on track if you keep the lines of communication open, and stay honest. And two, my customers really believed in bringing a plastic alternative to the mainstream — so much so that they were willing to wait however long it took (and it took another 6 months after that). Learning just how strongly my customers believed in our mission was really powerful.
You are a successful leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
For me, it’s creativity, motivation, and persistence, and I think these traits complement each other by weaving together a kind of support system for success.
Creativity is fundamental to success. Solving problems requires creative thinking, because if we do things the way we’ve always done them, nothing changes. A creative approach, thinking outside the box, thinking about things as if anything were possible, it opens up our ability to problem-solve. When I was sitting on the beach trying to figure out how to solve our plastic pollution crisis, I wasn’t wondering whether I could create a better beach toy — the first step was what would a better beach toy be? How would I design something that considered the end of its life at the beginning? Without creative thinking, we stay stuck in convention. And, in my business, convention is the problem!
Maintaining motivation is crucial. Over the course of a day, I face so many micro decisions that seem like they could easily derail the business or provide me those little “easy off-ramps” — those moments where everything is lining up in a way that makes it look like quitting is the next logical step. That’s the rhythm of start-ups. Motivation means keeping my “why” top of mind so that when problems do arise, I remember what it’s all for. Especially those moments when things feel impossible! For me, beach walks reinspire my motivation, where I’m bound to find loads of microplastics on the beach, or the tiny jar of microplastics I keep on my desk, pieces so fine they look like grains of sand. A constant reminder that this is bigger than me — a little motivation to keep me on track.
Persistence (aka figure it out). Success comes from staying power, and without the ability to stick it out during tough times, there is no success. I do think that learning a foreign language, really immersing myself in that learning, has fostered a sense of persistence in me — in learning a language, you don’t always know every word, but you can make meaning. You might not know how to formulate a perfect response, but if you try, usually the point gets across. I think the skills I developed when becoming fluent in Spanish are transferrable skills that I later put to use to start Rogue Wave and continue to use every day. Motivation is foundational, and persistence is what keeps it all moving forward.
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that might help people?
I want to make our compostable plastic something that every company has access to, and something consumers start to demand of their products. And so, I’ve launched Rogue Wave Materials as a pathway for any product-based business to gain access to the same material in our toys — a durable plastic, made mostly from plants, and compostable — as a stepping stone away from conventional plastics and toward a more regenerative materials economy. This opens the door to a new kind of materials economy — a regenerative economy. We can change the inputs entirely and actually feed the feedstocks of our base material with the compost of our products made with that same material. It’s the ultimate in a sustainable materials economy and it’s within reach.
Ok, thank you for all that. Now let’s shift to the main focus of our interview. What pivotal moment led you to dedicate your career to sustainability, and how has that shaped your approach to environmental challenges?
We were living in the DC area, my husband was stationed at the Pentagon, still active-duty Air Force, and I was a writer. I had no dreams of being an entrepreneur or delving into the materials science space…it wasn’t on my radar let alone in my vernacular. But we took our boys to the beach in the summer of 2016, and everything changed.
We bought a pack of cheap plastic beach toys from a local beach shop and our boys played with them on the shore. Then a wave rushed up above the shoreline and swept their toys into the sea. I was already hyper aware of the plastic pollution problem in our ocean and there was no way I was going to let these toys we’d just bought contribute to it. So I jumped in after the toys and plucked them all back out, one by one. And when I sat back on shore, I had a moment of clarity: we are literally bringing it to the beach — the place where we interface with the ocean. And it’s not just toys, and it’s not just the beach. But this particular moment was so clear: I had to make it better — make better products, figure out how to make things without conventional plastic. I had to make it better.
But as I reflect on these questions, I see a throughline in my life — water as the instigator for my passion for sustainability. I grew up in Michigan, going to the Great Lakes every summer. And I have such vivid memories of being immersed in the lakes; at Sleeping Bear Dunes, where the warm waters of Platte River meet the vast Lake Michigan, the current pulling me from the soft, warm waters into the deeper, colder swell. I remember what felt like hours in Lake Superior, the water too cold for the rest of family, but the shimmering waves beckoning me — I had to go in. I floated, I dove through waves, I felt for Petosky stones in the sand with my toes. I think about these memories and realize there was never “a moment” when sustainability became important; it’s more like a deep love, an appreciation for nature, cultivated from the time I was a girl that has carried over into the rest of my life. And it reached an inflection point at the beach in Virginia with my boys.
Could you describe a groundbreaking project or initiative you’ve been involved in that significantly contributed to sustainability?
That day at the beach with my kids, the rogue wave that swept their toys into the ocean, it took my career in an entirely different direction. It inspired me to create a new category of products: durable plastics that compost. Once I figured out that this material could be used in injection molding, I knew we had a game-changer. And then, after we successfully composted our beach toy in a countertop composter, I saw the future of plastic. And it’s so much brighter.
How do you navigate the balance between economic growth and environmental preservation in your sustainability strategies?
This is such an important question, and a difficult needle to thread. Personally, I think that all businesses now (and especially businesses launching in the consumer product space) have to be aware of the impact their product will have on the planet both during production and after the product’s end of life. In other words, we have to ask ourselves as business owners: what happens to my product when my consumer is done with it? Knowing what we know now about the environmental hazards of materials like plastic, there is really no way around this question. It’s irresponsible — reckless, even — to ignore that piece of the puzzle.
That’s not to let those institutional, multi-industry companies off the hook — and, for large corporations that have been in the game for decades with an established presence on store shelves and spanning multiple sectors, those with established supply chains and a large environmental footprint, now is the time to implement new tech. Well established companies have a responsibility to use their supply chains and distribution channels to help lower the cost to the consumer and other businesses.
Economic growth in the sustainability sector is sometimes an oxymoron — sustainability as a concept really challenges our notion and allegiance to capitalism. But if we can get more buy in on things like alternatives to plastic, grow the sector, and go from industry trend to industry standard, we can create parity with traditional (fossil-based) plastic. And that has to happen both for economic viability of plastic alternatives and for the health of our planet. Our planet can’t sustain the carbon emissions required to extract, produce, and manufacture plastic at the scale it’s expected to grow in the next 20 years (more than triple, in some estimates), let alone absorb the aftermath of that plastic production — which turns into microplastics that we’re finding everywhere from the high altitudes of Mount Everest to the microscopic fetal tissue in pregnant people. It’s irresponsible for us to think we can continue to produce and manufacture the same way we’ve done for generations. Alternatives can be profitable, and will be with education, use, and demand.
When I founded Rogue Wave, I committed to doing it right, right from the start. And that began with asking a simple but tough question: what happens to this product when we’re done with it? I was thinking about how to dispose of this product before I even had a prototype for it, before I even had a design! Because the point was not to make a beach toy — the point was the make a better beach toy, to make a product superior in design and function and that would compost at the end of its life. For a company just starting out, that requires a lot of commitment, and honestly it requires a lot of strength. Especially in an industry wrought with cheap, fossil-based options at every turn, in an industry that has thrived on convention for decades. I listened as people told me it couldn’t be done, as people told me no one would buy it. I had to pave an entirely new path for this business — it would have been so much simpler to make a beach toy like other companies have made toys, using premade oil-based plastic pellets, finding the cheapest manufacturer I could in China. But that wasn’t the point of the company, that wasn’t the mission.
It can be lonely trying to be a sustainable and economically viable business, but I’m inspired by other founders in a similar position, founders like RJ Scaringe of Rivian, who started something when everyone else said it couldn’t be done. He wanted to make an electric truck and SUV at a time when companies with the infrastructure, funding, and R&D said it couldn’t be done. He did it from the ground up, no compromises. He inspired a movement in the auto industry because big players, those with a firm foothold in the industry, like Ford and GM, saw that Rivian had pre-order customers — they saw that people actually wanted this and were willing to spend money and wait years to get it.
Navigating between growth and environmental preservation can be done — but it has to be done with intention, and with the long-game in mind: and winning that long game means a win both for the planet and for the business.
What emerging technologies or innovations do you believe hold the most promise for advancing sustainability and why?
We’re at a really exciting time for sustainability because the technology we need to make serious strides toward reduced carbon emissions and plastic reduction (which I believe go hand-in-hand) already exists. I’m all for continued research and development for solutions to our climate crisis, but I’m also really excited about this moment — specifically, our materials economy, which is currently responsible for 460 million metric tons of plastic production, 1,000 metric tons of oil extracted for plastic use, and 2.2 billion metric tons of carbon emissions per year. We have so many alternatives to explore right now to reduce those overall emissions, and reduce waste. In other words, we don’t need to wait for new tech to be developed or for the perfect solution — we already have access to great alternatives, we just need to start using them. The future of tech, the future of plastic is here. It’s an exciting time for consumer products.
Some companies are pioneering the new materials economy using biomimicry to reduce and eliminate the need for petrochemicals in material, like Okeanos’ Made from Stone products, which substitute calcium carbonate for hydrocarbon resins. By replicating nature, they create strength and flexibility in packaging with stone. It’s incredible tech.
Others, like Bloom, are taking us under water, using algae and seaweed to replace fossil-based components to create foam in products like shoes and coolers, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and restoring ecosystems.
There are so many other companies doing exciting things with new tech, all with the goal of improving our materials economy by providing alternatives. We need to continue to edge out conventional plastic with alternatives using the innovative solutions already developed. These capabilities I listed before, they already exist — they need to be embraced and adopted en masse for lasting change and I think this kind of broad acceptance holds the most promise for advancing sustainability…because innovation is here, all we have to do is use it.
Based on your research or experience, can you please share your “5 Top Strategies for a Cleaner Planet”?
1 . Be completely regenerative: We talk about companies participating in a circular economy as the ideal goal, but we actually need to become fully regenerative in our inputs. Meaning, we have to create a system where the waste from our products feeds our future inputs. A regenerative economy is the most sustainable way to manufacture and our most realistic strategy for a cleaner planet in the near term. The tech exists; we have to start using it.
2 . Use better materials: Better materials exist — it’s time to use them! This one is especially important for my product-based entrepreneurs, business owners, and CEOs out there. Innovation has arrived — we have so many alternative materials to plastics, from stone to plant-based plastics to seaweed and algae; it’s time for more companies with infrastructure and existing supply chains to take the lead on bringing these innovative materials that already exist to the mainstream. We’ve got to give consumers a choice and diversify our materials economy.
3 . Consume less: It probably sounds counterintuitive — or really bad for business — for the owner of a toy company to tell you that we need to consume less, but that is the reality. I made a beach toy out of plant-based plastic that composts for consumers that absolutely must have a beach toy. But, if a consumer picks up a beach toy made with conventional plastic and then a Rogue Wave toy that’s made from plants and composts, and decides the cost isn’t worth it but it also educates them, and they refuse the cheaper, fossil-based beach toy set as well, that’s a win for me because it’s a win for the planet. When consumers stop buying cheap plastics and start considering the effects of their purchase, it’s a net win.
4 . Conscientious consumers: As consumers, we have so much power. That spending power needs to be focused. We can start by asking ourselves four questions before we buy: Do I really need this item? What happens to this product when I’m done with it? Is there a used option available? If not, what is the most sustainable type of this item I can find? This is a powerful internal monologue to have before buying anything, but especially impulse purchases, and especially plastic.
5 . Community-based approach: Think and act locally to have an impact globally. Community matters when we think about sustainability. A cleaner planet starts with a cleaner community. Can you purchase locally? Can you walk or bike? These small actions generate a small carbon footprint while strengthening the efforts within our own communities. Beyond purchase power, when we support things like local clean-up efforts, local legislation to support city-wide composting initiatives, or disposable plastic bans, we’re implementing sustainable, replicable change, and becoming examples for other communities. Big changes start small, and they have to start where we live.
In your view, what are the key steps individuals, communities, and governments need to take to achieve a more sustainable future?
I really do believe we need to start at a community level — small changes are the first step to broader change. Local legislation is a great use-case for larger cities and states. Hawaii was the first state to pass a disposable plastic bag ban in 2012, and again the first to ban single-use plastic for carry out containers in 2019. It leads the way for other cities and states to do the same. Once others can see something like this take effect and see that businesses will survive and that consumers can adapt, it increases the likelihood of acceptance. People in my town here on Oahu take bags with them to the store or realize they don’t actually need them at all. We’ve realized we’re fine without disposable plastic bags and utensils. We increase sustainable practice when we create habits around it. We can change consumer habits with local legislation — that’s what happens when we act locally.
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
I love this question! I think decreasing our reliance on combustion engines by making biking safer and more accessible would have an enormous impact not only on our planet (by reducing transportation-related emissions by 67% per person per day!) but creating a sense of community by getting people out and more active together. And, would have an added benefit of reducing our consumer culture. Stay with me here…
I think a lot of our purchases happen because we’re looking for something — we’re trying to fill some kind of need. We’re living in an epidemic of loneliness — and loneliness manifests in overconsumption as we try to fill that void. And we fill it with all kinds of things: drugs, alcohol, food, shopping. I meant what I said about consuming less — even if it’s bad for business. If we create communities around things like “people who bike to work” or “people who bike to the grocery store,” — if we create new communities around activity instead of online, we can reduce the need for “consumption communities,” or those who find virtual community through brands (hello, Stanley cup consumers on TikTok!).
Movement of any kind, but for the sake of this argument, biking for 30 minutes a day reduces risk of heart disease and depression, among other things. And, if we increase our community’s overall movement via things like easy access to safe bike commuting, the dopamine hit we get when we make an impulse purchase is now replaced with the dopamine release post-ride. Anything that supports getting our communities outside, moving, appreciating their environment, meeting new people, and rethinking their “needs” with regard to consumerism is a win for me.
I’m a big proponent of getting out into your community, biking or otherwise. Knowing your neighbors, knowing your community and its needs, it’s vital for happiness and connection, which I do think are big drivers in combating our consumer culture.
What is the best way for our readers to continue to follow your work online?
You can connect with me on LinkedIn, follow me @roguewavetoys, and sign up for my newsletters at roguewavetoys.com
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent on this. We wish you only continued success.
Thank you so much! It’s been a pleasure.
About the Interviewer: Wanda Malhotra is a wellness entrepreneur, lifestyle journalist, and the CEO of Crunchy Mama Box, a mission-driven platform promoting conscious living. CMB empowers individuals with educational resources and vetted products to help them make informed choices. Passionate about social causes like environmental preservation and animal welfare, Wanda writes about clean beauty, wellness, nutrition, social impact and sustainability, simplifying wellness with curated resources. Join Wanda and the Crunchy Mama Box community in embracing a healthier, more sustainable lifestyle at CrunchyMamaBox.com .
