gDiapers: the early years...

Cradle to Cradle in Vanity Fair

My colleague over at Seventh Generation, Jeffrey Hollender posted his view on Monsanto after he read about it in Vanity Fair's green issue this month. I couldn't agree more with him. My mates on the land in Australia are facing identical battles with the company Down Under. The oncept of engineering a seed with a terminator gene so it can't go forth and multiply beggars belief. That is evil.

On a happier note, one of the more optimistic articles in Vanity Fair was related to William McDonough and Cradle to Cradle design.
Even "g" gets a mention.

MBDC+Bill McDonough=C2C

In Leonardo Di Caprio's upcoming doco the 11th hour, he interviews 50 leading scientists including Bill McDonough, the cradle to cradle man. Bill says:
"We're at a point in our history, with 6.4 billion of us, that we have to imagine what it would be like to redesign design itself, see design as the first signal of human intention, and realize that we need new intentions for our future where materials are seen as things that are highly valuable and need to go in closed cycles - what we call cradle to cradle instead of cradle to grave. And we have to agree that energy needs to come from renewable sources, prinicipally the sun, and that water needs to be clean and healthy as it comes in and out of the system, and that we should treat each other with justice and fairness. So, the design itself changes from mass production of things that are essentially destructive to mass utilization of things that are inherently assets instead of liabilities. "

Amen brother.

Fast Company's Fast 50

gDiapers is up for recognition in Fast Company magazine as a part of their "Fast 50" companies.

Their sixth annual Fast 50 will spotlight businesses that are helping to save the world.

We have been "short"(!) listed down to about 1,000 entries. To make the cut and appear in their March edition, we need your help! If you feel so inclined, please click HERE, rate us a 10 and comment away - Thanks!

Cradle to Cradle gDiapers

And the crowd goes wild...we were awarded Cradle to Cradle certification this week. This is Bill McDonough's framework for product design that demands that after a product's useful life, it is re-integrated into the environment. We are the only Consumer Packaged Good with the certification in the known universe (cue meglamaniac music).

How to hire great staff (1)

Employ someone who knows a thing or two about people. Don't hire an HR Manager. Hire someone that aligns with your values and those of the company. They should be the same by the way. Call him or her Chief Culture Officer. Done.

Pop quiz

Back to our 2006 strategy day. So we booked a suite at a swish hotel and because we ran late we had a second night to give away to one lucky staf member. So we gave them a pop quiz on God's own Country, Austrayia. Pens ready? Fabulous prices for anyone who did better than everyone here...

(1) Colors of the Australian flag (hint - just three folks and think patriotic if you are French or American)
(2) National summer sport (hint - not sunbathing like someone in the PR department said - oh there is only one person in that department? I wonder who said it?)
(3) Pronounce (Send in your tapes - promise to correct and send back):
(a) Woolloomooloo
(b) Circular Quay

And blog bonus questions:
(4) Current Prime Minister
(5) Population guesstimate
(6) Name the Australian college basketballer who was picked #1 draft in the US NBA last year

Good luck. Next time we run an internal quiz, I am apparently going to be forced to endure a similarly tricky pop quiz about the US...I am preparing now.

Beirut in Bondi

My beloved Bondi Beach back in Sydney is in lockdown this weekend after several big riots along the coastal beaches between surfers - typically white (OK, tanned) anglo saxons and Aussies of middle eastern descent. In language reminiscent of Rummy and W in making their WMD case, the Police Commish talked of "credible evidence" that suggested attacks on the beaches this weekend were on the cards. It seems they have been tracking text messages between gangs. So roads are closed and ID's are being checked - only residents are allowed into certain areas.

The result - 2,000 beachgoers instead of the expected 20,000 (Australia is having the hottest summer on record. Some blowhards are calling it the "Greenhouse Effect" - bloody, left wing eco-terrorist pessimists. It's called summer. Not sure if jokes translate well on a blog so just to be sure - I AM joking and DO believe in the Greenhouse effect and am sure Australia will be the first to feel its full force soon...)

Bridges are trying to be built with the Federal Government kicking in $440,000 to train Australians of ethnic descent as lifesavers.

And I thought living in the US was dangerous...

Happy customers

Over the weekend we started receiving unsolicited photos of babies in gDiapers. And here is Gus on the left. So cute!

Sweatin' it

OK, now I AM missing Sydney after reading this. For the locals, 42 degrees C is 102 F!

Customer service designed with the help of the customer

The thing that breaks my heart the most is unhappy customers. It makes me feel physically ill to think there is someone out there who is not happy with our product. But diapers are a funny business - I think they stand alone as the only consumer packaged good that is not only a neccessity but does NOT work 100% of the time. I haven't met a parent yet that says their Bub hasn't leaked out of a diaper.

Our product being flushable means that consumers need to get comfortable with taking the product and giving it a rip, swish and flush. Unlike a trash can, toilets are many and varied. We have passed our flushability tests in the 6 worst performing US toilets so we know it works. And we have used it for 3 years. But there are instructions to follow and the approach is entirely new. Nothing is as convenient as putting something in the trash. So anything that involves more work requires time to get used to.
So there are occasions where new customers in particular have a bad experience and may even block a toilet.

This happened for the first time the other day and I was gutted. But then as I started talking to said customer, it turned out that there was a little diversion from the instructions and that was the cause of the problem. Toilet was cleared by the customer and he went on to flush 7 more flushables immediately. The customer is in fact a friend so it was a free pass in a way. After talking through his experience, he agreed to write some additional Tips for our customers to use. Thanks Seth!

Here they are:

"Is it possible to clog my toilet using g's?"

Sure it is. While g's are flushable, so is toilet paper and poop. So why do most of us still own a plunger? We are talking about a toilet, not a trash can. Toilet clogs are possible, but easily fixable if they happen and avoidable with a few reminders:

Tip 1

Flush poop and wipes separately from the flushable pad. All toilets have a limited capacity for how much they can flush at once. This is an easy way to stay below that.

Tip 2

Make sure the SAP falls out of the liner completely and that you break up the big chunks with the swish stick before you flush.

Tip 3

If flushing multiple pads consecutively, make sure the previous pad is completely flushed before flushing the next.

Tip 4

Don't leave the SAP in the toilet longer than a few seconds before flushing. That stuff absorbs a lot of water, by design of course :). If it is left in the toilet for very long, it will absorb the entire bowl of water and you will be flushing mashed potatoes.

Tip 5

If you are not sure whether the pad flushed completely, give an insurance flush before you go about your day. If some of the SAP doesn't clear the pipes, it can hang out there absorbing water until you do flush and... see Tip 4.

"What if my toilet does get clogged?"

A quick plunge should solve that very easily. If it doesn't, a toilet auger can be picked up at a local hardware store for about $15 and will get you unclogged in a jiffy. They are not a bad thing to have around anyway... remember, you do have children and most of them will think it a fun game to test the flushing capacity of your toilet at some point before they turn eighteen. You will be ready.