i + D - March/April 2020 - 43

Sustainable Innovators - By Anna Zappia

Nearly 2 pounds
of recycled fishing
net material from
Bureo goes into each
Humanscale Smart
Ocean chair.
(Image: Humanscale)

Bureo partners
directly with
fishermen to provide
education, awareness,
and incentives so,
instead of discarding
their nets, they'll
return them.

Transparency and
traceability of the
material empowers
the customer.

(Image: Alfred Jürgen
Westermeyer)

"It was a nice fit and really wonderful to meet another manufacturer with a
similar philosophy and way of approaching things," Abernethy notes. "We're
both trying to lead and to give back more than we take."
Collaboration and partnership are hallmarks of Bureo's operation-and its
success. Founded in 2013 by Ben Kneppers, David Stover, and Kevin Ahearn,
the trio shared more than business acumen. "We connected on this common
passion for the ocean and collectively witnessed firsthand the problem
plaguing it-plastic pollution. We thought about combining our unique and
valuable skills to flip this problem and turn it into an opportunity," Kneppers says.
The issue of plastic pollution in oceans is staggering. "One of the reasons
this material is ending up in the environment is because people don't see it as
having value. They're also not educated about the consequences of discarding it.
Plastic can last over 600 years in the ocean environment," explains Kneppers.
"We partner directly with fishermen and provide education, awareness, and
incentives. So, instead of discarding their nets, they'll return them. We train
and employ teams of local community members to collect these nets, and then
process them and turn them into a raw material source."
Kneppers believes transparency and traceability of the material empowers the
customer, who is then more likely to choose a Bureo product. "We work so
hard at the storytelling so that we can be as authentic as possible," he offers.
"Consumers really love to know the story behind something. When you can
say that this plastic came from the northern fishing villages in Chile and that it's
actually helped finance a community project in the area-that has a lot of value.
At the end of the day, consumers want to do good."
Inglis concurs, noting that we have the right products, but we all need to
become storytellers to discuss what is happening to the environment and how
we can take action. "All of us, as consumers, are interested in this information,"
she says, "And once we have it, we can take responsibility for ensuring that our
products are made well, without causing harm to the planet."
Bureo trains and
employs teams of
local community
members to process
the collected nets and
turn them into a raw
material source.

ANNA ZAPPIA
A native of California, Anna Zappia has been
in New York City for more than a decade covering a range of topics
from fashion to architecture. She has provided content and worked on
research projects for Google, Zagat, and Sidewalk Labs and currently
serves as a contributing editor for Contract magazine, and as a
contributor to Floor Trends magazine.

(Image: Alfred Jürgen
Westermeyer)

i+D - March/April 2020

43
i + D - March/April 2020

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