Do you remember the infamous video, showing Christine Figgener, Ph.D., pulling a straw out of a sea turtle’s nose? The video went viral on YouTube and is widely considered to be the catalyst that launched the outrage and action about plastic ocean pollution.

Long before that, though, in 2014 it was Troy Swope and Yoke Chung, who met at Intel and noticed that plastic residue in packaging was damaging computer wafers during shipping. After further research they were able to confirm their own suspicions: Chemicals from plastic packaging were seeping into food.

The duo recognized that plastic had been linked to a number of health issues, and that it served as a contributing factor to the global environmental crisis. Recognizing what was unfolding due to single-use plastic pollution, they saw an opportunity to create a solution.