A Princeton-educated architect walks into a water treatment plant and violently shakes microplastics into a bathtub.

What sounds like a joke written by an intoxicated AI is reality for Nathaniel Banks.

In this episode, we explore how thinking through problems from start to finish can help with the daunting task of solving the microplastic problem.

Nathaniel is CEO & Co-Founder of PolyGone. Nature inspired their filter technology, which can remove microplastics from different kinds of waterways.

We discuss how they came up with the idea, how they got it to work, and where the technology needs to go to have significant impact.

Get a glimpse into a mind that microplastics obviously haven't had any impact on yet.

Key Topics:

• The scale and health impacts of microplastic pollution
• How aquatic plants inspired a revolutionary filtration technology
• The journey from architecture to environmental innovation
• Real-world deployment and results from water treatment facilities
• The regulatory challenges and private sector opportunities
• What happens to collected microplastics and recycling innovations

Timeline:

• 00:00 - Introduction and Nathaniel's architecture background
• 27:00 - Deep dive into the microplastic solution technology
• 40:00 - Deployment results and real-world applications
• 55:00 - Future scaling plans and regulatory challenges