Some of our listeners may have heard of Dame Ellen MacArthur, the famed sailor who set the world record for the fastest solo circumnavigation around the globe.

But what people may not know is that she also started the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF), which has become one of the world’s most influential environmental organizations – working to inspire a generation to re-think, re-design and build a circular economy. 

In this episode, Matt Prindiville talks to Sarah Wingstread, Program Manager for Innovation at EMF’s New Plastics Economy Initiative about applying root-cause – upstream! – solutions to address our plastic waste crisis through elimination, reuse, and material circulation.  She also walks through highlights from their latest report which she co-authored, Upstream Innovation: A Guide to Packaging Solutions.

Resources:

Ellen Mac Arthur Foundation’s Upstream Innovation Report and Guide

UPSTREAM’s Publications and Key Reports

The New Reuse Economy

Reuse Business Directory

All my takeout has delivered a mountain of trash. So I asked experts how to minimize it