Claudia is a chemical engineer with a master's in environmental sciences and a doctorate in sustainability. She worked at the State of Mexico's Energy and Climate Change Institute, taught at the Autonomous University of the State of Mexico and is now part of the National System of Researchers.
In the episode we talk about something that touches more and more businesses, from a coffee shop to a factory: how to produce and sell with less environmental impact, without falling for misleading labels and without costs leaving you with no customers. These are the problems she sees and what she proposes.
The problems she faced
1.Not knowing where to start
According to Claudia, many companies do not know how much impact they have. She works with the carbon footprint, a measure of the emissions that any activity produces: using electricity or water, or buying clothes, already creates a footprint. She says it used to be seen as optional, but today it is becoming mandatory for facilities, public or private, to report their emissions.
2.Thinking that being sustainable costs you customers
This is the dilemma they hear most: the green product is usually a bit more expensive, and if the customer sees that you raised the price of the taco, they will not buy. Claudia explains that the people who make a misleading product succeed for exactly that reason: they do not raise their costs.
3.Greenwashing: labels that say what they are not
It is called "greenwashing" when a product is sold as compostable or biodegradable without actually being so. Claudia says that at her school they tested straws advertised as biodegradable and found that only one brand really broke down, while the others stayed as plastic.
Her explanation of the problem: there is no solid regulation guaranteeing what labels say. There are environmental product declarations, international certifications that are expensive, and for those who really certify, it is unfair to compete against someone who just prints a label.
4.Not knowing what you gain by separating your waste
Claudia trains coffee shop and restaurant owners about used cooking oil. Sometimes they ask: "and what do I get out of it?". She explains that for every liter of oil poured down the drain, about 40,000 liters of water get contaminated, according to her figures. In Mexico City there are already fines for doing it, and her team is working on a project to turn that oil into biodiesel, as long as it is used once or twice and properly separated.
5.Public projects that do not reach people
When she worked in government she saw useful projects, like solar panels in offices or switching to LED lighting, and also their limits: free programs, like a catalytic converter program, that almost nobody knew about, and panels installed with no budget for maintenance. It is a reminder that a good project needs outreach and follow-up.
6.Feeling your effort is not enough
Claudia mentioned what UNAM calls environmental anxiety: the frustration of wanting to do something for the planet and seeing that family and friends do not change. Her response is to dedicate herself to research and teaching, because her publications and her students can reach more people.
7.Believing a degree means you know everything
She admits that at first, with a doctorate, she felt she had absolute truth. But the more prepared you are, the more you discover what you do not know. Today she works with chemists, economists, engineers and lawyers, because environmental problems are not solved with one discipline alone.
What she learned (and it can save you years)
1.Start with small actions in your business
Claudia recommends separating waste, reusing what you can, reducing packaging and bringing your own thermos. She also suggests composting organic waste, noting that it smells while it breaks down, but that it is a natural smell. She says that if you start at home or at your business, other people see it and it catches on.
2.Swap disposable for reusable
At her school there was a taco vendor who used only Styrofoam. They proposed she stop, and she already had reusable plates. According to Claudia, they do not think her sales dropped. A small change, made with the vendor and not against them, can cut a lot of waste.
3.Verify before you believe a label
A simple test for something advertised as compostable is to put it in a compost pile: in about nine weeks it should break down, and if it starts breaking down by the third week, that is a good sign. And look for real certifications instead of just words like "eco" or "green".
4.Make your message reach real people
For Claudia, a project is useless if it does not land with society. That is why she measures the before and after with surveys in communities and shares evidence on social media. Start with your community, your neighborhood or your customers, and let it grow.
5.Share what you know and work as a team
She used to think that if something was hard-won, she had no reason to share it. She learned the opposite: teaching others comes back as support. In class, her students teach her things she did not know, and she says the stage where the professor is always right is over.
6.Set limits on your time
She admits that science never stops and that she could sleep at the university. But she says you have to give yourself time for family, exercise and friends, because if you do not take care of your mental health, you do not function.
“Winning a Nobel Prize in chemistry means nothing to me if the project does not land with society.”
Is something like this happening to you?
If your business generates packaging or waste, go through these questions:
Listen to the full episode
This is only a summary. The full conversation has many more details, stories and tips. Watch it in full on YouTube (it is recorded in Spanish; turn on the captions and choose Auto-translate to read it in English) or find every episode on the Pandas Creativos podcast page (in Spanish).
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