Group Lead, Ved Krishna
Hello, hello! Joining us on Good Garbage this week – we have the CEO & CRO of WinCup, Brad Laporte and Michael Winters. We knew we had to have them on the show when we saw their product, Phade straws. Made from PHA and inspired from the infamous straw in a turtle’s nose video – we were inspired by t
0:00 – Introduction to WinCup and the Phade Straw Story
Brad Laporte and Michael Winters from WinCup explain how a viral video of a straw in a sea turtle’s nose became the catalyst for developing Phade, the first PHA-based straw certified for marine biodegradability, home composting, and industrial composting.
11:00 – From Georgia-Pacific to Sustainable Packaging
Brad’s career at Georgia-Pacific through conventional foam and straw manufacturing gave him the manufacturing expertise and distribution relationships to get a genuinely new sustainable material to market faster than most startups could manage.
23:00 – The Engineering Challenge of Making PHA Perform Like Plastic
PHA is brittle on its own and needs careful formulation to work as a food service straw. Brad explains the material engineering work required, the compounding, the die design, and the trial-and-error manufacturing process that came before the commercial launch.
34:00 – The Road to Cost Parity for PHA
PHA has historically been more expensive than conventional plastics, but that gap is closing. Brad and Michael explain what drives the remaining cost premium and why the commoditisation process now underway looks like what happened to conventional plastics over decades.
46:00 – The Triple Certification — Marine, Industrial, and Home Compostable
Phade is the only straw certified for marine biodegradability, industrial composting, and home composting simultaneously. Brad explains what each certification required and why the marine biodegradability certification in particular has been the most important one for building credibility with partners.
57:00 – Building the Phade Brand in a Crowded Sustainable Products Market
Launching a new material under a brand name in foodservice is unusual. Brad and Michael explain how the Phade brand was developed and why having a clear consumer identity, rather than just a technical specification, has made adoption faster.
69:00 – Expanding the Portfolio — Lids, Cutlery, and the Next Products
WinCup is expanding from straws into lids and cutlery. Brad explains the product development roadmap and the specific performance challenges each format presents, including the geometry problem with cutlery and the different use-case requirements for lids.
80:00 – Validation, Growth, and the Coral Restoration Partnership
When a coral restoration company called to say they’d been using Phade straws and seen none of the harm they feared, it was validation that no marketing campaign could match. Brad and Michael explain what that moment meant and where WinCup goes from here.
Let’s come together!
