"You can just do things. That's the biggest truth that I think the world runs on. You can just follow your curiosity."
This episode kicks off my new show Multitudes, where I highlight ideas and people worth exploring further. I don’t charge money for the show but you can support by subscribing on YouTube, Apple, or Spotify and, if you feel inclined, leave a review or thumbs up.
Last week, PlasticList released a groundbreaking report showing that 86% of tested foods in the Bay Area contain plastic chemicals. I sat down with Yaroslav Shipilov, one of the four people behind this ambitious project, to discuss not just the concerning findings, but also what it takes to pursue an unusual and impactful project like this.
The origin story of PlasticList exemplifies how great projects can start: Yaroslav saw Nat Friedman's tweet about wanting to test Bay Area foods for plastic chemicals and, instead of just expressing interest, he built a prototype website in an afternoon. He kept iterating on it for a week without any response. Then, 20 minutes after launching an improved version with voting features, he got a DM from Nat: "Yo, what are you doing? You want to work on this?"
What was supposed to be a few weeks of work turned into a six-month journey involving:
Reaching out to over 100 labs before finding the right one
Shopping for hundreds of food samples across the Bay Area
Testing everything from modern snacks to 80-year-old Ghirardelli chocolate
Making surprising discoveries about which foods contained plastic chemicals
Some of the most fascinating findings weren't just about current foods - they also tested historical samples from as far back as the 1940s. While older foods also contained plastic chemicals, the types were different: older samples had more traditional phthalates, while newer foods showed higher levels of phthalate substitutes.
The conversation covers both the technical aspects of the project and the human elements of building something ambitious. As Yaroslav puts it: "You can just do things. That's the biggest truth that I think the world runs on. You can just follow your curiosity."
What stands out most to me about PlasticList is how it demonstrates that important work doesn't always require traditional institutions or massive resources - sometimes it just takes curiosity and the courage to start building.
Links
Full episode transcript
PlasticList’s report
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