{"podcast":{"title":"Business for Good Podcast","slug":"business-for-good-podcast-641837","podcast_index_feed_id":641837,"rss_url":"https://businessforgoodpodcast.libsyn.com/rss","website_url":"http://www.businessforgoodpodcast.com/","image_url":"https://static.libsyn.com/p/assets/2/b/9/6/2b963ca360081ecfd959afa2a1bf1c87/B4G_Green.jpg","author":"Paul Shapiro","episode_count":192,"summary":"Join host Paul Shapiro as he talks with some of the leading start-up entrepreneurs and titans of industry alike using their businesses to help solve the world's most pressing problems. Whether it's climate change, unsustainable agricultural practices, cyber threats, coral reef die-offs, nuclear waste storage, plastic pollution, or more, many of the world's greatest challenges are also exciting business opportunities. On this show, we feature business leaders who are marrying profit and purpose by inventing solutions to both build a better world and offer investors a bang for their bucks.","last_synced_at":null,"page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/business-for-good-podcast-641837"},"episode":{"title":"Fungi-Filled Diapers: How Plastic-Eating Fungi May Change Child-Rearing","slug":"fungi-filled-diapers-how-plastic-eating-fungi-may-change-child-rearing","published_at":"2025-10-15T13:14:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/business-for-good-podcast-641837/fungi-filled-diapers-how-plastic-eating-fungi-may-change-child-rearing","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/business-for-good-podcast-641837","url":"https://businessforgoodpodcast.libsyn.com/fungi-filled-diapers-how-plastic-eating-fungi-may-change-child-rearing","audio_url":"https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/businessforgoodpodcast/B4G_EP_176_Final.mp3?dest-id=761849","summary":"If you've ever changed a diaper, you might've wondered what happens to it after it goes in the trash. The answer, unfortunately, is that it'll sit in a landfill for hundreds of years—certainly longer than the baby who briefly wore it will live. In fact, every diaper you wore when you were a baby is still sitting around, at best in a landfill, or perhaps even in the ocean. And did you know the average American baby goes through 6,000 diapers before learning to use a toilet? But what if fungi could change that? In this episode, I sit down with serial entrepreneur Miki Agrawal, the founder of Thinx (yes, the period underwear company), Tushy (yes, the bidet company), and now HIRO Technologies —a company using plastic-eating fungi to help disposable diapers return to the earth. Miki, who some have dubbed the \"Queen of pee, poop, and periods,\" (I think they should shorten it to the \"Queen of Secretions\") shares how an opportune moment with her toddler and a children's book about fungi inspired her to launch HIRO. Her company's first product— HIRO Diapers —uses a packet of dormant, culinary-grade fungi that awaken when exposed to moisture and begin breaking down the diaper's plastic components, dramatically reducing its landfill lifespan from centuries to under a year, after which it simply becomes dirt. We talk about everything from the science of fungal degradation to the challenges of biotech entrepreneurship, from raising millions for an unconventional idea to why she believes reconnecting with nature is the ultimate form of innovation. Whether you're a parent, a sustainability enthusiast, or just fascinated by the intersection of biology and business, this conversation will make you rethink what \"waste\" really means. Discussed in this episode It was the children's book P…","meta_description":"If you've ever changed a diaper, you might've wondered what happens to it after it goes in the trash. The answer, unfortunately, is that it'll sit in a la…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2436,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/business-for-good-podcast-641837/episodes/fungi-filled-diapers-how-plastic-eating-fungi-may-change-child-rearing/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/business-for-good-podcast-641837/fungi-filled-diapers-how-plastic-eating-fungi-may-change-child-rearing.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}