According to a study conducted by Quantis International, footwear production is responsible for about 700 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, or 1.4% of total global climate emissions. The negative impact of athletic footwear in particular includes problematic waste stream and labor practices, as well. So what can you do when you want to be responsible but you need new kicks? This week on Sea Change Radio, we speak with the founder of Rens Original, Jesse Tran, about his company’s unique method of manufacturing shoes from spent coffee grounds and recycled plastic. Then, we revisit our discussion with independent journalist Brett Simpson as we imagine a world without traffic cops.

Narrator 0:01  This is Sea Change Radio covering the shift to sustainability. I'm Alex Wise.

Jesse Tran  0:26  Me and my co-founder we are from Vietnam,which is one of the largest coffee producers in the world while Finland consumes the most coffee in the world per capita. And so that is like a great marketing message and we just combined them and created Rens' Coffee Shoes

Narrator 0:43   According to a study conducted by Qantis International footwear production is responsible for about 700 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, or 1.4% of total global climate emissions. The negative impact of athletic footwear in particular includes problematic waste stream and labor practices as well. So what can you do when you want to be responsible, but you need new kicks. This week on Sea Change Radio, we speak with the founder of Rens original Jesse Tran about his company's unique method of manufacturing shoes from spent coffee grounds and recycled plastic. Then we revisit our discussion with independent journalist Brett Simpson as we imagine a world without traffic cops.

Alex Wise I'm joined now on Sea Change Radio by Jesse Tran. Jesse is the CEO of Rens original and he joins us from Helsinki, Finland. Jesse, welcome to Sea Change Radio.

Jesse Tran  2:00  Hey, Alex. Hey everyone, thanks for having me today.

Alex Wise 2:04  So, what makes Rens original shoes unique from a Nike or Adidas sneaker they might buy in a sporting goods store, Jesse?

Jesse Tran  2:14  Yes. So like I think that is to start like with the brand. So, like, you know, we started Rens as like a sustainable brand for the young consumers. So all of our products actually made from sustainable materials. And so, currently we have two product lines and and so both are shoes and they are like you know sneakers made from coffee waste and recycled plastic. So, I think that it is a really cool combination you know of like coffee ways and functionalities with the size for the young people. That is where this is how we you know, we tried to build our brands to be.

Alex Wise 2:55  And explain the origin of this idea was wrens the first to come up with this idea of taking coffee waste and applying it to the shoe industry are there other companies that have done something like this?

Jesse Tran  3:08  So as far as we know so we had a first one that that do something similar to like something like this you know, I think that there are a few companies do something quite similar to us afterwards. But of course you know, we had our first one but of course before us I think that there are a few companies that you know use like coffee scene scent and but you know, like different parts of our coffee waste. So for just to be clear, our coffee waste is the newest coffee grounds after you boil the coffee and then you throw the coffee grounds away. We took it and mix it with recycle plastic polye...