May 3, 2018
Paul Tasner loves talking about entrepreneurism, ageism, and sustainability and is now doing the most challenging and meaningful work of his life right - at the age of 72! But it took a big hiccup to allow that to occur. As with many things in life when something negative happens, like being fired from a decades long job, you can wallow in self pity, or treat that experience as a blessing in disguise which opens up many opportunities, if you allow yourself to see them, recognize them and take action as Paul did. He took a leap of faith. While his peers were contemplating retirement, he embraced the challenge of disrupting the traditional packaging industry and he had the credentials to do that. All facets of supply chain management had consumed 40 years of Paul’s life holding senior executive positions in packaging, manufacturing, and logistics in ventures ranging from start-up to Fortune 100. Appalled by the amount of plastic pollution on our planet and no longer content to accept the dangers of plastic packaging materials, – with a gentle push from a friend and colleague in Melbourne Australia, he took the leap, founding PulpWorks Inc (for info see the same named website). As CEO he set out to create safe, eco-friendly packaging for consumer products. The development of the Karta-Pack™ – a patented compostable replacement for the toxic and ubiquitous plastic blister pack – followed immediately. PulpWorks and Paul have been the recipients of 20 awards and the subject of more than 60 articles in the media. Paul was selected as a TED Resident in 2017.