In every city, multiple stories are hiding in plain sight. They might be a simple mural on a wall that only a few stop to notice, or it might be a local brand whose packaging hints at tradition but never shares its roots. It could also be a startup with a world-changing product, but no voice strong enough to carry beyond its own neighborhood. All these stories often go unspoken, not because they lack power, but because they lack a meaningful bridge to take them into the world. In an age of digital noise and endless competition, where the loud often drowns out the meaningful, that bridge is storytelling: clear, authentic, and indubitably human.

It is in this space, between what is created and how it is communicated, that one such entrepreneur, Lori Goff, has built her work. As the Founder and CEO of Outlander Materials in Rotterdam, Netherlands, Lori isn’t just an entrepreneur telling her stories on a stage. Rather, she’s unlocking them, amplifying them, and ensuring that organizations and business founders across Africa, Europe, and beyond are heard, seen, and understood. 

The Girl Who Asked “Why?”

In Rotterdam’s BlueCity, where the walls of an old swimming pool complex have been reborn into a hub for circular innovation, Lori Goff stood before a vat of brewery waste. The scent of grains lingered in the air, a reminder of something unfinished: beer already brewed, and value already extracted. Yet, Lori didn’t see waste at all; she saw raw potential. A possibility from which a quiet question guided her curiosity: “If the leftover contents from brewing beer last only a few moments, then why should plastic wrappers last an eternity?”

This simple but piercing thought became the seed for UnPlastic, a non-plastic material made from brewery waste. Lori founded UnPlastic in 2018 as the flagship innovation of Outlander Materials, a biotechnology research company in Rotterdam, Netherlands. From this question and inherent drive to make a difference, a business venture took form. One not content with just small fixes around sustainability, but one that’s determined to rethink how plastic packaging is made and used altogether. 

A “Bioneer” Emerges

Lori’s journey did not begin in a research university, but instead in her hometown of Nebraska, U.S.A. It was here that her fascination with transformation—grains into beer, oil into biofuel—sparked a profound interest. As a young girl, Lori grew up watching the animated superhero Captain Planet battle pollution, leaving her with the belief that “waste is an option, it’s a choice we make.”

That conviction shaped her academic path in applied sciences and biotechnology, and carried her across continents to advise other circular startup businesses on their scientific processes. But little did she know that it was in her own kitchen, brewing beer as a hobby, that she would stumble upon a career-changing idea forever. She began to realize that wastewater and the spent grains left from brewing beer were not burdens, but beginnings. The concept of UnPlastic was born over a brewing kettle, fueled by a thirst for knowledge and an iron will. “I love the concept of transformation. From oil into biofuel, from grains into beer, and now, from beer waste into UnPlastic,” Lori reflects. 

Rethinking the World Beyond Single-Use Plastic

Lori set out to tackle a vast challenge: the long-standing, growing dependence on single-use plastics. Every year, millions of tons of plastic packaging are produced around the globe. These are then used just once or twice and then discarded in ecosystems for centuries. On the other hand, biodegradable alternatives are now too rigid, too costly, or too compromised in functionality, rendering them as yet another unreliable long-term option.

But UnPlastic reimagined this problem at its root. Designed intentionally as “not a plastic,” it is compostable, free of toxins and allergens, biodegradable in soil and water, and never breaks down into harmful micro- or nanoplastics. Its flexibility, lightweight form, semi-transparency, and barrier-fighting properties against fats and oxygen made it commercially viable. And its origin—beer brewing paste—gave it a natural circular flow: a material born from joy, now tasked with healing. Outlander Materials isn’t just designing packaging; it’s designing a legacy that leaves behind nothing but renewal. 

From Outsiders to a Community of Pioneers

When Lori founded Outlander Materials, she chose a fitting home at BlueCity in Rotterdam, a circular economy ecosystem that houses like-minded pioneers. Alongside her team of passionate outsiders, she embraced the identity of an “outlander,” one who views the world from the edge, spotting opportunities where others see roadblocks. 

The company quickly drew attention, becoming a finalist for the ASN Bank World Award (2019) and the ING Circular Enterprise Award (2019), while also winning the BioVoice Packaging Innovation Challenge (2019). It later received recognition at SXSW’s New Dutch Wave Pitch Contest, and in 2020 earned a place among the 25 nominees for the Postcode Lotteries Green Challenge, one of Europe’s largest competitions for sustainable entrepreneurship. These accolades are a testament that Lori’s radical idea could actually scale, and that the world was ready to see waste not as a residue but as a resource hereafter. 

Grit, Vision, and Partnerships

Like every pioneering venture, Lori’s path resisted a straight, easy line. Scaling a biotechnology solution requires scientific rigor, capital, patience, and partnerships across industries that are hesitant to abandon firmly established systems. Rather than rushing to market with incomplete solutions, Lori and her team adopted an iterative, lean development model, refining UnPlastic in collaboration with packaging, manufacturing, and consumer goods companies. 

This approach reflects more than mere business strategy. In fact, it mirrors Lori’s own philosophy of blending scientific precision with entrepreneurial grit. An “alchemist” and a “bioneer,” as she calls herself, she sees her role as both an inventor and a steward, bringing people, science, and business together to build a circular economy. “To have vision and clarity, you need to view the world from an outlander’s perspective. Only then can you rediscover what’s possible, and design materials that truly belong to the circle of life,” she notes.

A Circular Future, One Wrapper at a Time

The societal contribution of Outlander Materials reaches far beyond its packaging. Its philosophy—waste in, not out—shows how entire industries can rethink their use of resources. From candy wrappers to biodegradable films, the applications are practical, definitely, but the impact is intellectual; they point to a future where material lifecycles mirror nature itself. 

At its heart, Lori’s work is an epitome of compassion, transparency, and realistic optimism. She believes real change emerges from courage and persistence, where outsiders are bold enough to challenge the norms and stubborn enough to make business-ready solutions. Her entrepreneurial story isn’t about launching a mere biotechnology research company. It goes on much further than that, combining childhood conviction, scientific curiosity, and innovation into a material that could, in truth, change what the world is made of.

From Nebraska to Rotterdam, and from beer waste to UnPlastic, Lori has built more than a company; she’s built a blueprint for transformation. Outlander Materials doesn’t chase minor successes; it designs the future from the ground up, with every wrapper, every film, and every by-product reminding us that waste was never inevitable. In the quiet hum of BlueCity’s laboratories, Lori Goff’s journey continues; a journey that began with the simple act of asking a question: “What if waste could be reborn?”