Plastic Free MKE (Milwaukee) leaders Leah Holloway of Milwaukee Riverkeeper and Meenal Atre of the Urban Ecology Center share the story of this city-level coalition’s success in reducing plastic pollution in a state that doesn’t allow for policies banning “auxiliary containers” (e.g. plastic packaging). From loophole-focused policy wins to a Lake F…

The Conservative States & Provinces group—a subgroup of the Reuse Solutions Network— brings together advocates from areas where it is harder to pass policy so they can share and troubleshoot ways to advance reuse despite the obstacles. And one major barrier folks living in conservative states often face is preemption, aka “bans on bans.” If a town …

Host Brooking Gatewood sits down with Jessica Gonzalez, founder of Happen Ventures, to talk about their creative reuse business logistics services that solve waste problems, support communities, and creates a new climate-conscious business niche in the circular economy. From redistributing truckloads of unused PPE headed for the trash to connecting…

Hear the inspiring story of Maryland Department of Aging’s Durable Medical Equipment (DME) Reuse Program, one of the winners of the 2024 Reusies Community of the Year Award. Program director Ian Edwards sits down with host Brooking Gatewood to share their recipe for success in reusing wheelchairs, walkers, hospital beds and more in Maryland—and how…

Post Landfill Action Network (PLAN) has been cooking up some serious systemic change strategies for college campus reuse programs. As a follow up to last Fall’s episode 140, we check in with Atlas Program staff Lisa Smart plus students Abby White and Katin Kendrana to talk about the latest developments in this long-term strategic initiative to tran…

When Leslie Bateman left New York City, she was shocked to discover how hard it was to find shoe repair in her new town. A new business, Coblrshop, was born when she met business operations maven Emily Watts, and together they set out to modernize how cobblers and customers connect. Join us for a candid chat about the challenges and joys of buildin…

Christiana Dujardin, who works within the Materials & Circular Economy Platform at Systemiq, served as lead analyst on a 2023 Ellen MacArthur Foundation report all about returnable reusable packaging and its economic and environmental impact compared to single-use, called Unlocking A Reuse Revolution - Scaling Returnable Packaging. She sits down wi…

How are reuse, climate change, and environmental justice related? In intricate and myriad ways, it turns out—which guests Holly Kaufman of the Plastics & Climate Project, circular economy expert Rich Grousset, and Jo Banner of the Descendants Project explore in depth in this recording of the summer Reuse Solutions Network (RSN) meeting. Resources: …

Learn about the growth and evolution of a small community group that is a force for change in Upstate New York—taking on issues from artificial turf to BYO campaigns, to Skip the Stuff legislation. It is this latter action that spurred Yayoi Koizumi, founder of Zero Waste Ithaca and co-founder of BYO-US Reduces, to contact Upstream for help in maki…

Upstream CEO Crystal Dreisbach sits down with host Brooking Gatewood to talk about her first year on the job, about Upstream’s strategic vision refresh, and some exciting new tools and model projects in the works to help build infrastructure and normalize reuse in the years to come. Resources: Upstream’s Strategic Vision Putting Reuse into Practice…

Host Brooking Gatewood sits down with Manuela Zoninsein, the CEO & Founder of Kadeya, winner of the Most Innovative Company in the Food and Beverage category for the 2024 Reusies. Learn the secret to Kadeya’s 99% bottle return rate, and how their patented closed-loop beverage system can eliminate single-use bottles forever while saving GHGs, elimin…

Upstream was recently at GreenBiz’s Circularity 24 conference in Chicago, where as part of The Reusies, we organized a special panel discussion on the “secret sauce” to scaling circular systems. Bringing together thought leaders from multiple corners of the reuse and circular economy movement, Upstream’s CEO Crystal Dreisbach engaged panelists in a…

When you hear the expression “the kids are alright,” it’s referring to Sophie Horvath and Joshua Swift-Rawal, students at Berkeley High School in California. The friends noticed that a lot of their favorite restaurants were using single-use products, despite new reuse laws in their city, and they decided to do something about it. They started a pro…

Stadiums are high-leverage anchor venues for developing reuse ecosystems in metro areas. With around 350 million fans attending sports and other large-venue events each year in the US—and using approximately 3 billion single-use items—the social and business cases for shifting to reuse are becoming increasingly clear. The Green Sports Alliance has …

Join us as we navigate the ins and outs of the negotiations for a global plastic pollution treaty with Jamala Djinn, Policy Advisor for Break Free From Plastic, and Rachel Radvany, Environmental Health Campaigner for the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL). These stalwart strategists have been involved in all four of the “INC” (Interg…

With a background and passion for youth mentorship and career development, Bryan Lewis leads GreenBiz.org’s Emerging Leaders program, which aims to elevate, cultivate and support the next generation of BIPOC leaders in the climate community. The Emerging Leaders will be featured at Circularity 24 in Chicago, where Bryan will also be emceeing the fo…

From Hollywood sets to festival stages, this conversation with Dianna Cohen and Annie Rothschild Farman of Plastic Pollution Coalition is filled with inspiring examples of how all-star and up-and-coming artists, event planners, and activists are working together to change culture and reduce plastic pollution and waste at events. A great listen for …

The Town of Banff, located in Canada’s first National Park and UNESCO World Heritage Site, receives over 4 million visitors each year and has no landfills or recycling facilities—presenting both unique opportunities and challenges to achieving the Town’s goal of moving toward zero waste. In 2023, they passed a pioneering Single-Use Item Reduction S…

The coalition Reusable LA has been actively advocating for a number of years on several policies pertaining to waste reduction and plastic pollution, including the switch to reuse for onsite dining. Upstream's Macy Zander interviews Reusable LA's co-leads, Alison Waliszewski of 5 Gyres and Emily Parker of Heal the Bay, to hear their key tips for ad…

Even as we see increased momentum behind EPR, DRS and other policies involving reuse, the definitions of “reuse” are scattered and often ill-conceived. Now is the time to properly define reusable packaging—and especially differentiate between returnable and refillable packaging—in the policy context. Tune into this re-cast of Indisposable Live® (Up…

Dr Lisa Erdle of the 5 Gyres Institute sits down with host Brooking Gatewood to talk about 5 Gyre’s recent Better Alternatives 3.0 report, covering their latest research into how well “compostable” and “biodegradable” plastics break down in various environments, potential pitfalls, promising contenders, and the role of smart material science and co…

Learn about some of the most innovative reuse design work happening today with Ellie Moss and Dr. Dagny Tucker, the co-founders of Perpetual. Just two years in, Perpetual is laying foundations for long-term systems change to implement reusable foodware infrastructure in Ann Arbor, Michigan; Hilo, Hawaii; Galveston, Texas; and Savannah, Georgia. The…

Listen in for our second discussion in this series on a Just Transition and its implications for the reuse economy—featuring highlights from a recent Alternative Economy report put out by the Center for Biological Diversity plus the INC-3 meetings in Nairobi. Guests Marcel Howard and Jessica Roff from the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternative…

A Just Transition to reuse focuses on putting people and planet first — so simple in theory, and not at all easy in practice. But we can all help amplify the stories that spotlight green jobs and best practices for a transition that include those who have been most marginalized by our throw-away economy. Listen in for a rich discussion with Brett N…

Did you know? Just $28 worth of stainless steel forks can wipe out 5040 of their single-use counterparts in a school cafeteria. That’s how, one dollar at a time over the last 3 years, Plastic Free Restaurants has eliminated 9 million pieces of plastic from dining institutions around the country. Executive Director John Charles Meyer inspires us wit…

Host Brooking Gatewood sits down with some of the leaders of Reuse Seattle, which won The Reusies 2023 Community Action of the Year “Building Reuse” award. Zero Waste thought leaders McKenna Morrigan of Seattle Public Utilities and Moji Igun of Blue Daisi consulting walk us through the systemic approach the city has taken to build reuse into everyd…

The healthcare worker’s mandate of “first, do no harm” should make reducing single-use waste in medical facilities a no-brainer. But as Dan Vukelich, President of the Association of Medical Device Reprocessors, illuminates—the sector with health at its heart is also a top polluter. Dan has made an impactful 20+ year career of providing hospital man…

Upstream, née the Product Policy Institute, was founded on October 27th, 2003. Twenty years later, as the reuse movement continues to grow, Upstream’s COO & Chief Friendmaker Julie Lamy sits down with our longest standing board member, David Stitzhal—a.k.a Stitz—to reminisce and look ahead. From Upstream’s roots focused on packaging policy, to our …

Host Brooking Gatewood sits down with leaders from The Reusies 2023 Most Innovative Fashion & Apparel Company, The Renewal Workshop by Bleckmann. Nicole Bassett, co-Founder of The Renewal Workshop (TRW) and now Circularity Lead at Bleckmann—which acquired TRW in 2022—and Chief Business Development Officer Jurrie-Jan Tap discuss the history and exci…

Upstream Policy Director and this episode’s guest host, Sydney Harris, sits down with Judy Hilton, a reuse and sustainability consultant and researcher, and co-author of the recent groundbreaking report Making Reuse a Reality: A systems approach to tackling single-use plastic pollution. The report came about as a collaborative effort between Break …

Host Brooking Gatewood talks shop with Caroline Vanderlip, Founder and CEO of Re:Dish, one of the hottest new businesses for reuse and game-changing innovation this year. With award-winning design for warewashing machines and software, Re:Dish works with companies, municipalities, schools, venues, and more to help scale reuse, one city at a time. T…

Fifty years of data on deposit return system (DRS) laws (or “bottle bills”) in the U.S. demonstrate that these programs effectively boost collection and recycling rates, create opportunities and jobs in local economies, prevent roadside litter and plastic pollution, and catalyze reuse. What is the importance of reuse in DRS, and how can DRS policie…

In this installment of our Back to School Series, we head to college dining halls with Alex Freid, Founder & Director of Atlas Zero Waste Strategy at Post-Landfill Action Network. Alex and Brooking talk with two student leaders from Atlas’ fellowship program—Emily Johnson from the University of Wisconsin Madison, and Kailei Wedge at the University …

As part of our back to school series, this episode focuses on how K-12 schools are re-learning reuse, featuring Sasha Palmer and Rebeca Salguero of Brookline Massachusetts Public Schools, and Ben Schleifer of the Center for Environmental Health Food Program. They sit down with host Brooking Gatewood to dig into the Why, the How, and the lessons lea…

To kick off a new “back to school” series, we begin with the student perspective – those who will be, and in many ways already are, leading the reuse movement. Host Macy Zander sits down with Bay Area high school students Amanda Yu (Stanford Online High School), Kaavya Baliga (Menlo School), and Eileen Liu (Menlo-Atherton High School), who are each…

Upstream’s previous CEO Matt Prindiville makes a special return as podcast host in order to “pass the baton” to our new CEO – and Matt’s longtime friend – Crystal Dreisbach. Crystal is a Solutioneer whose life goal is to disrupt the status quo of our throw-away economy. With over 13 years of executive leadership experience in developing solutions t…

Host Brooking Gatewood sits down with G.L., founder of Generation Conscious, which won The Reusies 2023 Most Innovative Reuse Company in Consumer Packaged Goods. Since 2021, Generation Conscious has been laying the ground-work for a student-centered, hygiene-equity focused business that is saving carbon and avoiding single-use waste through campus-…

In this insightful episode, host Brooking Gatewood sits down with Lara Seng, Senior Sustainable Living Manager with Sodexo North America. They go behind the scenes into corporate organizing and strategic pilots to discuss how this Fortune 500 company is taking on the challenges of shifting to reuse at a massive scale. Sodexo, with Lara’s guidance, …

Listen back to the latest installment of our livestream series, Indisposable Live®. This one was actually held live, following The Reusies 2023, which was showcased this year at Circularity 23 in Seattle. The Reusies highlighted the theme of cooperation and collaboration needed among different sectors (corporations, investors, NGO/non-profits, comm…

Alejandra Warren, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Plastic Free Future, focuses on the power of kindness and collective action for social change that protects the planet. The impact of her collaborative work in the reuse community is widely recognized via policy victories in California, nation-wide coalition-building, and most recently at the I…

World Refill Day is a global day of action to prevent plastic pollution and help people live with less waste. Last year the campaign reached 80 countries and 100 million people, and for this year’s event on June 16th, UK-based City to Sea and partners are aiming even higher: launching the Global Reuse Summit and envisioning a circular future where …

Tim Wolters is a modern-day “Renaissance Man” of the tech world and co-founder and CEO of CrowdSolve, a startup platform that combines technology and human-to-human collaboration to advance innovative climate solutions. CrowdSolve uses machine learning to help select the climate innovations with the highest potential for impact and momentum, an alg…

How can we begin to address mistakes we have made in the past and design a more sustainable future? How can we build bridges rather than putting up walls between one another? Host Brooking Gatewood sits down with Dr. Mustafa Santiago Ali, world-renowned thought-leader, strategist, activist – and 2023 Reusies judge – to explore these profound questi…

With growing recognition that the fashion & apparel industry is a large contributor to our waste crisis, we are fortunate to have creative minds working on practical solutions – many of them incorporating reuse models. Host Brooking Gatewood sits down with Lewis Perkins, President of the Apparel Impact Institute and 2023 Reusies judge, to explore t…

As part of its environmental portfolio, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) engages companies, policy makers and players across the plastics value chain to ensure an effective waste management system for plastic. As Plastic and Material Science Program Specialist at WWF, Jess Zeuner is dedicated to helping achieve their ambitious vision of “No Plastic in Nat…

Sustainable Ocean Alliance (SOA) does tremendous work to serve the global community of entrepreneurs focused on ocean sustainability with funding, mentorship, capacity-building, and more. Their accelerator program has supported 45 world-leading ocean tech startups with $225M in lifetime funding. And Camila Vega, Solutions Portfolio Manager at SOA, …

With a background in waste management, Anita Schwartz, VP at environmental consulting company WSP, is only too aware of the massive carbon footprint embedded in our systems of extraction and production of goods. And she’s also taking a close look at the many indirect sources of carbon emissions created every step of the way to the landfill – what a…

Raise your glasses to send a warm but bittersweet farewell to our beloved CEO and podcast host Matt Prindiville. In this episode, we talk about the rare opportunity that compelled him to leave Upstream so he could help build reuse infrastructure in the private sector. Join us to reminisce about some key moments and favorite aspects of Matt’s 12+ ye…

Hailing from The Netherlands, which sits below sea level, Thom Almeida is no stranger to the threat posed by climate change. These origins helped inform his career path up to the present day, where, as Platform Curator for Future of Consumption at the World Economic Forum, he focuses on the challenge of adopting reuse systems from the consumer’s pe…

Kicking off our series highlighting the incredible partners of The Reusies 2023, we’re joined by two GreenBiz team members who are helping organize Circularity 23 in Seattle, WA – where, on June 7, The Reusies will make its in person debut. VP of Circularity, Jon Smieja, and Circular Economy Manager, Kori Goldberg, sit down with our host, Chief Str…