The Myth of Compostable Plastic | Hudson Gould | TEDxUTAustin

With the world's ever-growing plastic pollution problem, PLA compostable plastic has been touted as the fix-all solution. But often, marketing claims of "100% compostable" are more fiction than fact. UT Austin Electrical Engineering student Hudson Gould breaks down why compostable plastic is a myth, explaining how to identify false greenwashing claims and take action on them in your community. Hudson Gould is a Freshman Electrical and Computer Engineering student at UT Austin. A social entrepreneur at heart, he is always looking for new ways to solve problems that affect him and his surrounding communities.

When he saw his younger sister struggling with online school at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, he realized that low-income students were hit the hardest, unable to afford extracurricular tutoring. To solve this problem, he co-founded Junior Scholars, a 501c(3) nonprofit providing free tutoring to underprivileged elementary school students in the area. Two years later, Hudson grew Junior Scholars to 50+ tutors that gave out over $40,000 in free tutoring.

A year after founding Junior Scholars, he founded his first for-profit business, AirTac Customs. AirTac is Hudson’s airsoft brand dedicated to innovating in the competitive airsoft market. After a year and a half of reselling, CADing, and manufacturing his own products, Hudson has generated $150,000+ in revenue since May 2021.

With his experience in nonprofit and for-profit businesses, as well as a passion for robotics and the environment, Hudson is a social entrepreneur aiming to make a difference and a profit. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx