Young Entrepreneur Discovers that Going Green Makes for Good Business
Surveying the trash left behind after a party one night, an environmentally conscious student saw a unique business opportunity: offering a biodegradable alternative to the disposable dishes on the market.Michael Dwork, now 29, used his vacations from Columbia Business School to visit Thailand, Laos, and Peru as part of a search for the right material to be used in the plates, bowls, and trays of Verterra, the company he founded.“I wanted to see what people do when they are in concert with nature,” Mr. Dwork, who graduated in May, said.
While at Columbia, Mr. Dwork teamed up with some students at the university’s engineering school, who helped test 800 species of leaves. He finally settled on a large palm leaf found in India; today, fallen palm leaves are used in Verterra’s fashionable products…