How Can Consumers Reduce Plastic Waste? | Henry Pino, Matt Gawne & Gabriela Pino, Ecopod

Ecopod joins ORION to discuss helping people adopt refill technology to eliminate single use plastic. Why buy the container, when all you need is what’s inside?

Learn more about the Ecopod Team:

Henry Pino has been in the chemicals industry since 1993, when he created a company to help hotels, hospitals and restaurants reduce their stockpile of chemical drums by refilling them with his fleet of tanker trucks. In 2003, Mr. Pino sold that company to dedicate more time to his high-rise development company, but always understood that his original concept could work at the consumer level. Environmental Solutions Group was founded to achieve a real and positive impact on the environment – reducing plastic waste on a massive scale by providing the same refilling capabilities to anyone with the Ecopod system, as well as other eco-conscious innovations.

Matt Gawne is a senior-level executive with a very successful track record over more than 3 decades developing teams, business plans, launching new products and sales strategies to drive sales and build brand loyalty at both the national and global level. Prior to Ecopod, Matt held a variety of senior management positions with the Procter and Gamble Company, most recently as the Sales Leader for US Exports. His experience includes sales management, international sales and marketing, national account relationships, export sales, distributor selection and management, category sales development, project management, and new initiative development for packaged goods and prescription brands. An avid outdoorsman, Matt is passionate about the environment and the protection of our national world. Matt is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Gabriela Pino: Ever since learning about ocean pollution at a young age Gabriela has made it her personal mission to create greener solutions on a global scale. As an alumni of New York University, Gabriela focused her coursework on Sustainable Urban Development. She is committed to creating a better world through offsetting our environmental footprints and being an innovator in sustainable development. The Zero Waste concept resonated with Gabriela and she found ways of incorporating this lifestyle. One day, while participating in a beach cleanup along the shorelines of Miami, the debris along the coastline were seemingly endless. Gabriela witnessed the devastating effects of Microplastic pollution firsthand and realized that she needed to do more to help. Together Henry and Gabriela created the refill station idea for Ecopod.