Who would have ever thought that disposable diapers are one of the biggest contributors to the waste we throw away each week. In fact disposable diapers are the third largest single consumer item in landfills, and represent about 4% of solid waste.  In a house with a child in diapers, disposables make up 50% of household waste according to a study by The Women’s Environment network.

Packed with the ingenious idea to not save money but also the environment, Alex Pudney, the founder of PeaPods came upon an innovative way of doing both. I had the privilege of interviewing Alex via telephone who resides with her 3 children and husband across the Tasman.

Faced with her husband then working in the Air Force wanting to pursue an education in medicine, cost saving initiative soon became an income generating idea. Since having launched the company in 2003, PeaPods has gone to become one of the biggest reusable nappies companies in New Zealand and Australian. Armed with tremendous growth, PeaPods has its eyes set on launching in Asia in the near future.

Tatyana: Hey Alex, thanks for taking the time to have this interview with me especially on a Sunday.

Alex: No problem Tatyana.

Tatyana: Having read your email before getting in touch with you, I was certainly surprised at the fact that we had eco-friendly ways of using nappies and especially with the growth in Kiwis having families, I personally think it’s an amazing idea.

Alex: It is amazing at how much waste we throw away each week and especially with my husband wanting to pursue his education in medicine, I started with PeaPods in 2006 with the idea of saving money. We had 2 kids at that stage and I went right, how do we make this work. I was quite handy with the sewing machine thanks to my mum. I came with a product I really liked and saw how much of a growing market it was and how good it is for the environment and that was fantastic! In the beginning, one of the most amazing surprises I had was the amount of waste going into the rubbish bin each week. After putting my baby into reusable nappies, the bin was suddenly only half full each week (as opposed to overflowing!). I found this astounding and suddenly took much more notice of all the other unnecessary waste we were putting into landfill and needless to say, we feel incredibly blessed and appreciative at the opportunity of having started PeaPods.

Tatyana: So did you launch the New Zealand side of PeaPods at the same time as you had started in Australia?

Alex: Interestingly enough we launched PeaPods around the same time we had launched in Australia and funnily enough we found New Zealand easier to deal with, hahaha.

Tatyana: Interesting. Why is that?

Alex: We found that out of all of the people using our recyclable nappies, New Zealanders were the perfect market seeing that they are so practical and do have an environmental conscience or approach. We found that a lot of our customers from New Zealand anyway and that our product would do well in the New Zealand Market. With that we approached the Baby Factory and we took off.

Why the name PeaPods?

Alex:  Haha, I think that’s something people need to work out for themselves.

Tatyana: Haha, is it meant to be something along the lines “As alike as two peas in a pod”?

Alex: Haha, No, It’s a play on words and I think people can work it out for themselves.

Tatyana: What were some of the difficulties you faced when you launched the business?

Alex: Hmm, I think the hardest bit was to juggle that home business combination and you have to make sure it doesn’t impact on the kids at all as well as the business.

Tatyana: So were you selling directly from your home or was it a purely online business?

Alex: To start with, we were selling from home and most of the sales were being channeled through the retail outlets. We didn’t have an online presence at that stage and opened up an online store later down the track. It was certainly something we had to learn how to make it all work without it being an issue for the family or impacting the family in any way and yeah I would say that those were the main difficulties.

Tatyana: Having had all this growth, would you consider yourself a successful business woman?

Alex: Hahaha, I went hmmm!, when I read that question from your email. I would say the business is very successful and obviously it has been a team effort to make it all work so I don’t like to claim the success for just myself.

Tatyana: So when you say team do you employ people or has it been a family effort.

Alex: Initially it was just the family working together but yeah we have a team now that help with marketing, dispatch and other things.

Tatyana: Just with the market you are in and the product you are selling especially competing with the likes of brands such as Huggies, etc what did you think when you launched PeaPods?

Alex: The disposable nappies certainly make up most of the use but it’s slowly changing and it’s changing rapidly and that’s great. We see our product being something different and people certainly have a choice in their preference but I believe people see that when using reusable nappies they are saving the environment but also money. To us, it’s common sense that you would use a reusable nappy. It doesn’t take extra work, you can just throw them in the wash, they don’t need to be soaked and they don’t need any more detergent than you would normally use.

Tatyana: That’s great. I guess it gives people a choice and why not an environmentally friendly choice especially when it also helps you save money.

Tatyana: Just taking on the topic of it being environmentally friendly, are the PeaPod nappies made of solely eco-friendly products?

Alex: I had a read of that question and well I thought I don’t think that you would find that many products that are 100% or solely eco-friendly. With our products, the outer layer is made of polyester with water proof coating and to do that you can’t use a product that is solely ecological and I guess it depends on the type of product you are using as well. But no, our nappies aren’t solely eco-logical.

Tatyana: That’s interesting. So just with testing the product, I take it you had your kids be the trailblazers?

Alex: Hahaha, yeah my children took them for the first trial and had heaps of friends and family involved in the process.

Tatyana: What did they think of the product?

Alex: They loved it.

Tatyana: It’s always good to have friends and family involved in the process and I’m sure they would have come back to you with criticism and positive feedback.

Tatyana: Really appreciate you taking the time to speak with me Alex as well as answering all the questions I had and sharing your experience with me.

Written By Tatyana Doshi