Small Business: Teenage innovator aims to be a guardian of the natural world, tackle waste problem garden centres face

Elisa Harley makes Enivo Pots from underutilised plant residue and wants to use local skills and resources to protect native plants and animals.

After a quest to learn more about a rare native plant unearthed some disturbing discoveries, Elisa Harley set up her own business. The 17-year-old wants to ensure we can plant native trees without producing huge amounts of waste. She says her Enivo Pots business has already had to work around a few setbacks. Harley tells us how her interest developed and how she plans to tackle the eye-popping amounts of waste the industry produces.

Where did your interest in the kākābeak emerge?

In 2019, I grew some succulents to fundraise for a gymnastics competition. Around this time my family would often go on native bush walks in Wellington. This grew my appreciation for our native plants and birds.

So, after successfully selling succulents, I tried to grow some native plants. I was not successful that time but an uncle put me in touch with Coastlands Nursery in Whakatāne, which gave me some native kākābeak seeds.

All 300 of them survived and I was able to sell them and tell the story of one of New Zealand’s most endangered native plants.

What surprised you the most when you investigated what happens with the plastic pots used in this country?

Firstly, to find we use 350 million individual plastic pots and planters every year. I couldn’t help but think about what this number would look like globally considering this was the number just for our little country.

Secondly, a large chunk of these plastic pots will have just a single use before finding themselves in the landfill, or worse getting burned.

It seemed crazy that something so good as planting more trees could in fact be negatively impacting the environment through plastic waste - surely there must be a better way.

What were the more eco-friendly pot options available when you learned about this?

Biodegradable plant pots do exist, but they aren’t working for nurseries. So there are still millions of plastic pots going to waste.

Plastic is extremely cheap, so costs are always competing. Other options are made from non-renewable resources such as peat, or they are being shipped from the other side of the world.

The kākābeak piqued Elisa Harley's interest.

This means that yes, the pot is biodegradable, but it has a huge carbon footprint due to materials, processing and transport. That’s why Enivo Pots will be made in New Zealand, using renewable energy, and made out of raw NZ primary industry and forestry waste.

When did you get involved in the Young Enterprise Scheme?

The idea of Enivo Pots came to be in 2022. I knew it was something I wanted to develop further. Then in 2023 the Wellington regional co-ordinator for the Young Enterprise Scheme (YES) came into my school.

YES is a nationwide competition for high school students to create real-life businesses. So I had this idea of biodegradable plant pots, and now had the opportunity to get mentorship through the YES programme. So I founded Enivo Pots.

Harley won the Stanley Ratley Waste Minimisation Scholarship, which she learned about through her participation in the Young Enterprise Scheme (YES).

I was blessed to win the YES Wellington finals and place third overall in New Zealand. But things “got real” shortly after the nationals in December last year when I received funding from the Agricultural and Marketing Research and Development Trust (AGMARDT) to work with Scion. Since then it has been a rollercoaster.

What are your pots made out of?

The art of fibre-forming can quickly get complicated when you explore too many different factors. What I did know is I wanted my pots to be 100% plant-based with no harmful additives or chemicals.

The main ingredient of an Enivo Pot is pulp made from residues that come from forestry operations on pine trees. However, you can’t just use that as it will fall apart!

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I can’t say what the current “secret ingredient” is but we have tested different plant fibres to add to the mix to build the perfect formula that holds together, and then biodegrades. I have been working with Scion to get the best mix so our final product can be made of 100% primary industry waste!

What are your plans for the business now?

At the moment, money isn’t Enivo Pot’s biggest issue - it is trying to find a facility that can build 10,000 pots to field test across Aotearoa.

We have recently received funding from the Stanley Ratley Waste Minimisation Scholarship (managed by Perpetual Guardian and the Auckland Chamber of Commerce), which in addition to funding from AGMARDT and the King’s Trust sets us up for this next stage.

Almost everybody says we need to go to China, but exporting pulp to China and bringing back pots completely defeats the purpose. So I have been on the road chasing leads to find potential partners.

And what would you say to teenagers and young adults who are interested in setting up their own business but don’t know where to start?

The Young Enterprise Scheme is honestly the best place to start. Most high schools have it as a part of the curriculum, or like me, you can take part as an extracurricular.

I think as a young entrepreneur, the most important thing is to start.

Prototypes - and working with previously neglected materials - are part of the Enivo Pots story.

Find an idea you are passionate about, and don’t worry about how successful or not you think it will be. You need to learn the process of setting up a business.

How to find mentors, engage with the industry, build relationships, learn legal basics and build perseverance. I’ve heard the average millionaire has had 14 failed businesses before the one that worked out.

So don’t worry too much about the future, but start now. Because the earlier you can start making mistakes, the better.

Finally, never think your idea is too crazy. There are always going to be people who will be helpful.

Young innovators are the way we are going to build a better world for people and the planet. So be ambitious, ask for help and keep going.

- As told to John Weekes.