Remat Pet, USA

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Challenger Profile at a Glance

Meet the Remat Pet team from San Antonio, TX. Irazú Aranda and Chris Moken have made a difference as part of the 2020 International Climate Action Challenge! Visit their links to see doggies enjoying the pet beds from recycled mattresses.

Team

#4 – Remat Pet
90-Day Challenge Goal: Start a circular economy business to reduce waste and create innovative products
Location: San Antonio, Texas, USA
Registered Challengers: Irazu Aranda
90-Day Challenge Period: September 1 – November 30, 2020

Impact

Here are some impact highlights from the Remat Pet team during the 90-day challenge period:

Created a logo, website, Facebook and Instagram accounts
Recycled five queen- to king-size mattresses
Developed partnerships with San Antonio Humane Society, Carolina Textile District, Industrial Commons, Stitch Texas, Impact Guild

Challenge Experience

What parts of the challenge were most helpful to you?

“I would definitely say the workbook because it just helps you with the guidelines,” said Irazú.

The weekly trainings were also helpful. “You get to hear from people around the world. And when you’re sharing your ideas, they give you ideas and that is a really good thing.”

The only downside was that the team wasn’t able to connect with mentors, due to scheduling conflicts. More interaction with mentors familiar with circular economy production would have made it even better, said Irazu.

Next Steps

The team is planning to move forward in 2021 with several goals:

Launch a Kickstarter campaign
Start producing the beds
Find ways to make the business model fully circular
Create networks

Advice

We asked Irazú, what is your advice for someone who wants to make an impact? Here’s what she shared:

Get some teammates because starting a business is a lot of work. It’s really hard to do it by yourself. Get out of your comfort shell and really reach out to people and engage them.

Even if you’re an introvert, you need to reach out and build good relationships, and it takes an extra amount of work to do that.

It’s easy to get disheartened when so many people are unwilling to change and help the environment. However, when you start reaching out you realize there is much to be done and there’s a lot of people actually interested. Your ideas are good, so reach out! Someone will be interested.