MarTech Edge Interview with Philip Stanger, Chief Executive Officer, Olyns

Welcome, Philip!

Your background in music, with a Master of Music degree from Yale University, is quite impressive. Can you share how you transitioned from that background to your role at Apple and eventually founding Olyns?

For the first part of my life, I was a working musician performing at everything from corporate events to concert halls in European capitals. I also spent years writing music for advertising, movies, and TV series. I first started using technology to create music as an undergraduate in the ’80s. In those days, using software to make music often meant writing the software yourself. I had enrolled in a class called “Computers for Musicians,” which was a programming course on C. So, I learned how to code and loved it.

By the time I arrived at Yale, I was very much involved in the new Media Lab that started with the purchase of several NeXT computers. I worked for several semesters in the Media Lab, experimenting with using these computers to create music. After graduating, I went on to write for film and TV and won an award or two - you can still find some of my works listed in the IMDb.

I pivoted from music to technology after a visit to the National Gallery in London, where I was so impressed by my tour guide that I wondered how I could use technology to standardize and enhance that experience. That thought led to Wifarer, my first tech company, whose pioneering innovation in 2008 was using aggregate WiFi signals to locate mobile phones indoors. We were the first company to do this accurately and reliably in indoor spaces, and our tech was used to provide location-based information to guide travelers at airports, shoppers at malls, and, of course, visitors at museums.

Then Apple took an interest in Wifarer, and I soon found myself living in Cupertino, taking a lead role in the development of Apple Maps. I worked at Apple for 5 years, then moved on to start Olyns.

While at first glance, composing music and founding a tech company might seem very different, they actually have a lot in common. They both require unquenchable curiosity, creativity, and persistence, as well as an unshakable belief in one’s vision. All are critical attributes that help with navigating the roller coaster ride that is a technology start-up.

Tell us the story behind Olyns. How did you decide to make recycling fun and profitable?

The impetus for Olyns was to leave a better world for my teenage daughter and her generation. I was worried about the rapid escalation of the climate crisis, which I experienced firsthand through forest fires and floods in the Santa Cruz Mountains above Silicon Valley, where I live. When I learned that almost 90% of plastic NEVER gets recycled, I decided to try to do something about it. I set out to rethink recycling - to fix the broken system and reduce the plastic waste polluting our rivers and oceans, hurting our wildlife, and contributing to the climate crisis.

I knew the only way to increase recycling rates was to make recycling convenient, rewarding, and fun. I also knew I had to come up with a business model that would pay for this recycling service and that would be easily scaleable and financially sustainable.

So, my partner, John Buchowski, and I set to work. Utilizing John’s extraordinary technical skills, we built a recycling machine we called the Olyns Cube. Having learned the value of design at Apple, we designed the Cube to be beautiful as well as functional. It’s made of glass and stainless steel, and it’s futuristic and bold.

Aesthetically, it’s the opposite of a dirty plastic curbside recycling bin. We deliberately crafted the Cube to elevate the action of recycling to shift people’s perception of recycling, to help them see that an empty container was not a piece of trash but a vital resource that still had value and purpose.

One of the main goals I had with Olyns was to make recycling convenient for everyone. I was amazed to learn that 50% of Americans don’t have access to any sort of recycling, and for the vast remainder, access is often limited, especially in the 40 states that don’t have container deposit systems. To address this, I knew we had to design Olyns to work everywhere, not just in states with bottle bills.

I knew that our Cubes needed to be located at the entrance of places people already go, like grocery stores, drug stores, cinemas, airports, and gas stations, so that recycling could become just another part of people’s daily routine. We did a POC pilot with Safeway in the San Francisco Bay Area, which was a huge success and paved our way forward. In 18 months, our small 10-Cube pilot collected 5 million containers and was used by over 22,000 people!

I also wanted to make recycling rewarding to encourage more people to recycle. We built our software to provide a range of incentives to motivate different kinds of people: deposit refunds in bottle bill states, coupons and rebates everywhere, eco-impact metrics for the climate-conscious, and games and leaderboards for people whose jam was competition.

Finally, I wanted to make recycling fun. Over the last few years, we’ve developed custom recycling gamification for some of the biggest CPG brands, including Mars Wrigley and PepsiCo. When Mars Wrigley approached us for a creative way to encourage the recycling of candy containers, we set up the Cube like a slot machine. Every time a user deposited a candy container rather than a beverage container, we would identify it as such, and a slot machine screen would appear. The animated reels would spin, and instant cash prizes would be awarded to winning combinations. We used M&M characters for the reel, so it was a Mars Wrigley-branded experience, and we collected thousands of containers that would otherwise have ended up in incinerators or landfills.

We also developed a recycling game for PepsiCo that became the centerpiece of their Trash Talk activation at Super Bowl LVI. This was a collaboration with Canopy Brand Group and WovenMedia. Fans were given the chance to vote for either the AFC or NFC by depositing a beverage container in one of two Olyns Cubes. Each deposit would be instantly counted as a vote and, depending on the container type would trigger a different video featuring either Deion Sanders or Michael Irvin, who would either chide the user for depositing trash or praise them for depositing a recyclable container. Occasionally, a user would win a grand prize to much fanfare. Users had fun while learning about the difference between trash and recycling. We had about 150 people an hour using the Cubes at this Super Bowl and collected thousands of containers - it was a huge success.

You asked about profitability. The challenge with recycling is that while most people think it’s a good idea, no one wants to pay for it. If Olyns was going to succeed, we needed a scaleable business model to help us pay for our consumer recycling services. We came up with the idea of embedding a large video screen in each of our Cubes to display advertising, with the plan that as we scaled our recycling network, we’d also be scaling a storefront media network. This business model, together with our cutting-edge technology, has incredible potential to change the face of recycling.

What makes the Olyns Cubes different from other recycling machines? How does AI enable them to accept only clean containers and display ads?

The only similarity between Olyns Cubes and other recycling machines is that they both allow people to insert an empty container in exchange for a reward. In virtually every other way, Olyns Cubes are different.

First, Olyns uses AI at the point of deposit to identify and sort containers into one, two, or three bins. The AI can detect and reject containers that are dirty or that contain liquid, which minimizes contamination and maximizes recycling rates. So, unlike single-stream curbside programs, plastic containers deposited in our Cubes remain clean and uncontaminated. This means they can be transformed into food-grade recycled PET, which is in very short supply and highly sought after by CPG companies who are struggling to meet newly legislated minimum recycled content requirements as well as their own sustainability goals.

Olyns’ AI also identifies the brand and type of beverage container deposited. Importantly for advertisers, this allows Olyns to trigger ads based on the specific container deposited. For example, if a Kirkland water bottle were deposited, it could trigger a Dasani ad. This enables our advertisers to precisely target their ad spend to specific categories of consumers. Think Google Adwords for recycling. The deposited container data set is valuable in other ways, too, for example, to enable brands to assess the recycling rates of their own products compared to their competitors’.

Critically, our AI also enables Olyns to collect and identify ANY type of container, even those without bar codes. The AI can be trained to identify everything from empty shampoo containers to dish soap containers, hot cups, clam shells, and more. This opens up our recycling platform to a market far beyond that of conventional recycling machines, limited to beverage containers.

A final difference between Olyns and traditional recycling machines is our revenue model: each Cube is imbedded with a 55-inch high-def digital screen that runs the ads that help pay for our recycling services.

How does the partnership between Olyns and Screenverse, the DOOH platform, benefit companies by enhancing their ad engagement and supporting their sustainability efforts at the same time?

We made the decision to locate our Cubes at the front entrance of popular retailers for two reasons: First, so they would be convenient for recyclers, and second, so companies could reach their customers just before they started shopping. Research shows that 70% of consumers decide what to buy at or near the point of sale and that 92% of millennials are extremely likely to purchase products after seeing in-person OOH ads. By locating our Cubes at the front entrance of highly trafficked retailers in top DMA’s, Olyns allows brands to engage consumers when it matters most: just before they decide what to buy.

Our digital screens are imbedded in self-serve recycling machines, which means that advertisers are connected to sustainability in a truly impactful and highly visible way. Why does this matter? Because research shows that sustainability drives sales: A 2022 Stern-NYU IRI study showed that while sustainability-marketed products are only 17% of the market, they account for almost 30% of market growth, with a 5-year CAGR that is nearly 2x that of conventionally marketed products.

Brands advertising on Olyns can showcase their commitment to sustainability in a powerful way that their customers see daily. As people deposit their empty containers in the Cube, they are looking at ads on the Cube’s screen. As shoppers enter the store, they see ads on the Cube’s screen. It is a unique way for brands to associate their products with sustainability in the real world. And since sustainability drives sales, the benefit to companies is clear.

It’s important to understand that brands that advertise on Olyns quite literally pay for Olyns’ container recycling services. Their advertising dollars reduce plastic pollution, increase the supply of food-grade recycled PET, and accelerate the shift to a circular economy. Olyns provides sustainability metrics - containers recycled, carbon saved - for advertisers to quantify and share the positive impact their ad spend has on the environment. Brands advertising on Olyns show the world they are taking the lead on sustainability. This is important because surveys show that 88% of consumers want brands to help them live more sustainably.

Olyns’ partnership with Screenverse enables media buyers to easily find and purchase ads on Olyns’ media network that will engage their target audiences close to the POP and enhance their products’ sustainability credentials.

What plans do you have for Olyns going forward?

Olyns plans to continue its expansion to 1000s of Cubes in key DMA’s across the US, including LA, Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, and Austin. We have been fortunate to partner with some of the biggest brands, including PepsiCo, the Coca-Cola company, Mars Wrigley, and Safeway, and will continue to work with these and other partners to extend our storefront recycling media network across the US.

How do technological advancements play a vital role in both supporting and hindering global sustainability goals, and what can we do to navigate this challenge effectively?

By and large, technology is greatly supporting and accelerating the advent of a sustainable future. I am an optimist and am buoyed by the extraordinary changes that have come about in such short order. Everything from the astounding growth of electric cars to sustainable energy, new forms of sustainable agriculture, and, of course, AI -- all point to things changing for the better at an incredible pace.

However, the speed of this change has left some in our community feeling uncomfortable in a future that looks so different and is still so ambiguous. I worry that this may create resentments that cloud objectivity and possibly hold back progress. As they blast forward, the challenge and responsibility for the trailblazers and the innovators is to ensure that the larger community is with them and that any concerns are addressed respectfully.

Based on your experience of founding two businesses, what are the critical components of a successful business plan in the current market scenario?

The keys to success in a tech start-up are persistence, creativity, and the ability to pivot. There are a lot of uncertainties in the market these days, from destabilizing wars to challenges around economic growth. 

Fortunately for Olyns, there seems to be growing support at the state and federal levels for more robust recycling and EPR legislation, both of which benefit our business. At the consumer level, research shows an increase in the percentage of Americans who think the climate crisis is real and are looking to companies and governments to help them live more sustainably. Olyns is well-positioned to benefit from new legislation and changing consumer priorities as we push forward with our mission to help reduce plastic pollution, increase the supply of high-quality r-PET, and accelerate the shift to a circular economy. 

On the advertising/revenue side, there is a clear motivation for companies to align themselves with the kind of sustainability that Olyns stands for. Many companies have been accused of greenwashing, and advertising on Olyns gives companies the opportunity to support recycling in a way that is truly impactful, easily measurable, and highly visible.

The biggest challenge for Olyns will be to scale quickly enough to meet the demand for our Cubes. This will entail being on top of our manufacturing supply chain, production schedules, and logistics.