Martin Myerscough, Founder, Frugalpac, on tackling wasteful packaging, sailing round the Med, and building his own yacht
What was your first job? A yacht captain in the Med. I got the job by answering an ad in a yachting magazine. I’ve always sailed and when I left school, it was the first thing I turned to. I spent the summer sailing round Turkey and Greece with the owner’s family. There’s no better place to be for a boy in his 20s!
What was the first music single you bought? In the Summertime: Mungo Jerry. See above!
How do you describe your job to your mates? Inventor.
What is the most rewarding part of your job? Seeing our packaging on the supermarket shelves and watching someone choose it. I also get a real kick out of teamwork. There’s nothing better than seeing people get together to help each other out.
What is your motto in life? Keep going.
If you could change one thing in grocery, what would it be? Eliminate wasteful packaging. It’s a monumental problem. Literally. It’s also an insane choice for manufacturers because it unnecessarily inflates their cost-to-market. Some lines are worse than others, but if you compare a UK supermarket to one on the continent, the amount of unnecessary packaging is shocking. It’s literally waste - people are wrapping avocados and bananas! Like they haven’t noticed that they have their own, fully compostable packaging. I think we need to change the industry mindset. The awful images on the BBC’s Blue Planet II appear at least to have set people thinking.
What luxury would you have on a desert island? A large pad of plain paper and a pen so I could work on ideas while I waited for someone to show up.
What’s your favourite film and why? The Shawshank Redemption. Get busy living, or get busy dying.
Which business person would you most like to work with and why? Thomas Edison, the king of inventors. He was an extraordinary man. Largely self-educated, he held more than 1,000 US patents and many more in Europe. His inventions changed the world.
What would your death row meal be? A sausage roll (warm not hot).
What has been your proudest moment? Designing and building my own sailing yacht.
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