The Indisposable Podcast®

Every September, thousands of people working on climate change descend on New York City for Climate Week — which makes it a pretty good place to take the temperature of the climate movement as it relates to reuse. What ideas are gaining traction? What’s missing from the conversation? And, of course: what’s needed to bring reuse to the forefront as a climate and resilience solution? Listen in to hear CEO Crystal Dreisbach and policy fellow Mai Li Spencer share their hot takes on circularity, plastic pollution, reuse infrastructure, and how it all went down in NYC. 

Resources:

• Climate Week NYC
• Circular Value Index
• Metabolic and the Circular Economy
  • Circular Charlotte
• PR3’s  Reuse Standards
• Re:Dish and L’Oreal partnership
• Big Brands Can — And Must — Be Changemakers
• Loop by Terracycle
• Hot Takes from Climate Week NYC 2025

Get involved:

• Join the Reuse Solutions Network
• Support Upstream to make sure these stories continue to be heard and the reuse economy continues to grow — thank you!

Go big, or… go home and create a local, enduring reuse economy? 

With the 2026 FIFA World Cup spanning 39 days, 3 countries, and 16 host cities — and attracting almost seven million fans — it seemed to present a golden opportunity to showcase reuse at scale. And it did, just not at the World Cup games themselves. Because while FIFA didn’t choose to reuse, several host cities came up with their own reuse initiatives at Fan Fests and watch parties, and planted seeds that will have lasting impact in their communities. 

Seattle Public Utilities’ Ashima Sukhdev and Toronto Environmental Alliance’s Emily Alfred join us this episode to share their insights into how being a host city for the World Cup sparked conversation and enthusiasm for reuse systems in unprecedented ways. And while they still face many challenges, the reuse that did happen in Seattle and Toronto (and beyond) helped normalize the practice not just for soccer fans but for entire communities. 

Resources:

Get involved:

How do just transition principles apply to policymaking? Brian Loma of GreenLatinos Colorado and Upstream’s Sydney Harris get real about the policymaking process in a just transition to a reuse economy. They discuss everything from community stakeholder involvement; to capacity, budget, and messaging challenges; to modeling the values of reuse, and more. Stay tuned to the end for some excellent tips on messaging and education. Brian and Sydney close this rich conversation with an invitation to think of policy as a way to create multigenerational wealth and health in our communities. 

Resources: 

• GreenLatinos website
• Upstream Series: The Role Of Reuse In A Just Transition
• Discussion Paper: The Belem Action Mechanism For A Global Just Transition (Bam) Why And How
• Climate Action Network International: COP30 takes a hopeful step towards Justice, but does not go far enough
• Resources for policy engagement: 
  • For NGOs: Bolder Advocacy
  • For understanding federal policy: Government 101
  • For building grassroots power for local policy: Building Grassroots Power
• About EPR for packaging

Get involved:

• Join the Reuse Solutions Network
• Support Upstream to make sure these stories continue to be heard and the reuse economy continues to grow — thank you!

Earlier this year, Washington became the seventh state in the US to pass an Extended Producer Responsibility Bill for packaging. The bill, SB 5284—The Recycling Reform Act—was supported by Upstream and civic and elected partners around Washington state, and includes something rarely featured in EPR bills: best practices for reuse.  

In this episode, host Brooking Gatewood digs in with WA State Representative Liz Berry and McKenna Morrigan of the city of Seattle on how this bill got passed, what it means for recycling and reuse systems incentives in Washington State, and what other states can learn from it to start standardizing EPR and normalizing reuse requirements. 

Resources: 

• WA EPR bill 
• Minnesota EPR bill 
• Seven Laws in, How is Reuse Faring in US Packaging EPR?
• The State of EPR Policy in the US
• Embracing Reuse in U.S. Packaging EPR Programs

Get involved:

• Join the Reuse Solutions Network
• Support Upstream to make sure these stories continue to be heard and the reuse economy continues to grow — thank you!

A conversation with Doug Calem and Dan Barash from the Central Ohio Reuse Coalition, Emily Alfred from Reusable Toronto, and Maddie Kaufman from Zero Waste Miami about the on-the-ground work they are doing in their different communities. From fundraising and business collaboration, to work with reuse at venues and businesses, to bridging the gap between all local reuse sectors, these leaders share insights and learnings other community groups can leverage for their own success.

Resources: 

• CORC presentation deck
• Reusable Toronto presentation deck
• Zero Waste Miami presentation deck

Get involved:

• Join the Reuse Solutions Network
• Support Upstream to make sure these stories continue to be heard and the reuse economy continues to grow — thank you!

Upstream’s Sydney Harris is joined by the US Plastics Pact’s Olivia Merritt Fitzgerald and Sustainable Packaging Coalition’s Olga Kachook to discuss the growing drive for reuse among consumer brands. They share the details of two recent reports that map a path for bringing reuse to the retail setting and which product lines are best poised for the switch—plus the USPP’s initiative to turn these findings into action. The key to success? Standardization and pre-competitive collaboration—both of which, our guests are happy to report, are in the works.

Resources: 

• Sustainable Packaging Coalition: Framework for Scaling Reuse
• Closed Loop Partners & US Plastics Pact: Getting Ready for Reuse in Retail
• USPP Retail Reuse Initiative one-pager
• Listeners interested in participating in the US Plastic Pact’s retail reuse initiative should contact Olivia Merritt Fitzgerald: [email protected] 
• Listeners interested in exploring refill models should contact Olga Kachook: [email protected] 
• Upstream: Embracing Reuse in U.S. Packaging EPR Programs
• PR3 Standards
• Episode 88: Setting the Standard for Reuse with PR3
• Episode 180: The Quest for a Universal Reuse Symbol

Get involved:

• Join the Reuse Solutions Network
• Support Upstream to make sure these stories continue to be heard and the reuse economy continues to grow — thank you!

A perennial hot topic in the world of reuse advocacy is reuse and refill in food codes. At a recent meeting of the Reuse Solutions Network (RSN), we tapped some folks with direct experience in the field to share insights about key updates to the federal food code, plus strategies to both update your own state's code—including collaboration, coalition building, education, and stakeholder engagement. Tune into this deep-dive with Kelley Dennings of the Center for Biological Diversity, Charlie Plybon of Surfrider, and Heather Billings of the Center for EcoTechnology, shared with permission here for our broader podcast audience—and check out the link below if you’d like to join the next RSN conversation yourself.

Resources: 

• Kelley Dennings’ Slide Presentation
• Heather Billings’ Slide Presentation
• Links mentioned in the presentations

Get involved:

• Join the Reuse Solutions Network
• Support Upstream to make sure these stories continue to be heard and the reuse economy continues to grow — thank you!

Switching schools to reusable foodware reduces waste and helps teach the next generation that there’s a better way than throw-away — but our team’s research shows dishwasher funding as the #1 one hurdle to transitioning schools. In this episode, we learn how it can be done, with parents, principals, key partners, and in this case, a little policy-making magic, too. Join Monica Campagna of the Glendale Environmental Coalition for this wild story of how one elementary school helped over 300 schools across California get funding to transition to reuse. 

Resources: 

• Glendale Environmental Commission (GEC) - SB 1255
• Commercial dishwashing grant info (2024)
• Plastic Free Restaurants 
• Green Lunchroom Facebook group 
• California Environmental voters  

Get involved:

• Join the Reuse Solutions Network
• Support Upstream to make sure these stories continue to be heard and the reuse economy continues to grow — thank you!

We have the information we need to make positive change—including implementing reuse systems. So how do we get people to act? Host Brooking Gatewood takes a deep dive into the psychology of normalizing reuse and influencing behavior change with experts Jennifer Carrigan and Katie Patrick. From emphasizing the importance of making reuse the default option, to highlighting the power of gamification and social comparison, they discuss how systemic changes influence individual action.

Resources: 

• katiepatrick.com
• Katie’s 4 part podcast series to dig a little deeper 
• TED Talk by Alex Laskey of OPower
• Climate Action Design School
• Grand Canyon Project

Get involved:

• Join the Reuse Solutions Network
• Support Upstream to make sure these stories continue to be heard and the reuse economy continues to grow — thank you!

Last Fall, Upstream kicked off one of the most exciting reuse projects in the country right now, transforming concessions in the South Rim of the Grand Canyon to create the largest reuse system in the US and the first at a national park. Tune in to learn more from Upstream’s Jennifer Carrigan and Madhavi Trikha about this in-process model for open-loop reuse for national parks—and beyond.

Resources: 

• About the Grand Canyon Project
• Rebrand Reuse & Design Standards

Get involved:

• Join the Reuse Solutions Network
• Support Upstream to make sure these stories continue to be heard and the reuse economy continues to grow — thank you!