Bob Abramowitz's former company, Advanced H2O, was the leading supplier of Costco's Kirkland Signature-brand bottled water. Under Abramowitz's guidance, the Kirkland, Wash.-based bottled water company created 1.2 billion plastic bottles every single day.
Now Abramowitz is CEO of Prism Worldwide LLC, a sustainability-focused compounder and manufacturer whose products are made from recycled tires. With that, Abramowitz's focus has shifted to making the world a better place for his grandchildren.
"I'm now at an age where I have four grandchildren, six [years old] and younger," Abramowitz said. "And think about what I did. I created the second largest private label bottled water company in the United States. … My daughter would get on me about, you know, 'We're polluting the world.'"
"I took the stance that I'm not anti-plastic. I'm pro-recycling," he said.
That stance has helped Prism focus its company-wide vision since its founding in 2019, Abramowitz said. And that vision is far from complete.
Having raised $40 million in Series A and A1 fundraising with help from former Costco CEO Jim Sinegal and Robert "Spike" Anderson, former CEO of Anderson Daymon Worldwide, the company is pushing its sustainable future closer and closer to the present through commercialization of its thermoplastic elastomer products.
"We're already fielding inquiries from a host of companies seeking ways to make their consumer and industrial products more sustainable," Abramowitz said. "Even more compelling is that once the products manufactured from our polymer intermediates reach their end-of-life usefulness, they can be recycled again, creating a truly circular, long life.
"We need to, as an industry, come up with solutions," he said. "And I feel like [Prism is] a little bit of a piece of this, because we have very unique technology."