In celebration of Earth Day, we invite you into a very special dialogue with Juan Macias, tribal chairman and hereditary chief of the Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe of Texas, Mary Aguilera with the Ohio Poor People’s Campaign, and Sylvia McKenzie with the Louisiana League of Conscious Voters. These front-line leaders dive deep and wide into the heart of the problem with petrochemical production in the US, as well as the powerful solution of solidarity. Co-hosted with Break Free From Plastic’s Melissa Aguayo.

Learn more and support:

• The Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe of Texas
• The Ohio Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival
• Louisiana League of Conscious Voters: Contact [email protected] if you want to support this group!
• More Petrochem Buildout Actions & Resources from Break Free From Plastic

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

Check out our first episode featuring babies (you will hear them playing in the background!) as we discuss one solution to the challenge of sustainable, affordable, practical diapers. EarthDiaper.org a California-based nonprofit offering compostable diapers to families in need, was founded to address this problem on a local scale. We speak with public health nurse turned nonprofit founder Lily Broberg Strong as well as the director and two young mothers from the women’s shelter that EarthDiaper serves with its closed loop compostable diaper service. Prepare to be inspired by these amazing women making an indisposable future a reality every day in their local community.

Resources: 

• EarthDiaper.org
• JMJ Home
• EarthBaby.com
• Dyper.com
• HumanManure Handbook
• NurtureDiaper.com
• Zbest Composting

Back in the pre-pandemic days, some of our listeners may have attended a concert or an event where r.Cup provided their reusable cup service to replace single-use cups. And one of the special things that they did was work with some of the world’s biggest artists, like U2, Jack Johnson, and the Rolling Stones to engage their audiences around reuse. 

BUT r.Cup is about a lot more than just reusable cups. Like UPSTREAM, they’re working to build and support the reuse movement to disrupt single-use across the board, and this year they’re expanding into reusable to-go ware for take-out and delivery with their new initiative r.Ware. 

Resources: (include links to resources mentioned in episode as appropriate)

• www.rcup.com
• www.rware.com
• www.rturn.com
• UPSTREAM's Reuse Business Directory

What did Americans do before we had public waste management? What did UPSTREAM do before the plastic pollution movement began? What were the big turning points that got us to this dawn of Reuse we find ourselves entering in 2021? What’s the world we’ll live in after plastic pollution is gone? From 1800s horse poop to today’s innovative reuse companies, paddle along through this conversation with UPSTREAM CEO Matt Prindiville and Indisposable Podcast co-host Brooking Gatewood as they tell the tale of UPSTREAM.

Resources:

• UPSTREAM’s Learning Hub 
• Skip the Stuff Campaign 
• Recent Research on The Awesome Potential of Reuse Job Creation
• Adventures in activism: The story of 5 Gyres
• Once upon a beautiful disruption (a conversation with the Dancing Foxes)  

This episode features a “power hour” with three experts working across the political spectrum from federal to state to local policy. Listen to Yinka Bode-George from the National Caucus of Environmental Legislators, Judith Enck from Beyond Plastics, and UPSTREAM’s own Miriam Gordon to learn what 2021 holds for plastics policy under the new Biden administration. You’ll learn about what types of plastics and packaging-related bills are being introduced, including the  federal Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act. You’ll also get some good old fashioned policy wonkery about extended producer responsibility for packaging and deposit-return systems for beverage containers. And how reuse policy is moving forward at the city and state level – even during the pandemic. 

You can also check out the video of this episode on our YouTube Channel.

Helpful resources to dig in more: 

• National Caucus of Environmental Legislators​
• Beyond Plastics​
• UPSTREAM’s Reuse Learning Hub​
• Reuse Acceleration Policies​
• More information on the National Reuse Network and the Government Reuse Forum​
• Covid Safety Resources​
• BFFPPA summary
• Plastic-Free President
• Federal Stimulus & Other Funding Report
• Course (open to all): Beyond Plastic Pollution with Judith Enck ​
• A Story of Plastic Virtual Film Screening & Panel Discussion

Samantha Sommer built a project called Rethink Disposable that helped several hundred food service providers in the San Francisco Bay Area make the shift from single-use to reuse. From mom & pop restaurants, to chains, to institutional dining and college and corporate campuses – Sam helped prove that every single business has saved money once they made the shift to using reusable foodware. 

Since joining UPSTREAM as Director of Business of Innovation last year, Sam has been hard at work promoting the benefits of reuse in food service and engaging communities and businesses in co-creating the new reuse economy (even during a pandemic!). Through proven models she’s developed, she’s able to show businesses how shifting to reuse can save money and help remove barriers to creating a sustainable reuse service infrastructure.

Resources: 

• Reuse Business Directory
• Reuse vs Single-use: Economics
• A Design Sprint With Business Innovators

The New Year is a time for accountability and making commitments for healthier behavior in the year ahead, right? Well, then no better place to start the year than looking at the US’s new ranking as the #1 plastic polluter in the world. Not exactly a cause for celebration, but where there is culpability there is also opportunity for accountability. Listen in to hear UPSTREAM CEO Matt Prindiville talk with world-renowned scientists Jenna Jambeck, PhD and Kara Lavender Law, PhD about their latest findings – and what we can do about it.

Resources mentioned in this episode: 

• The United States’ contribution of plastic waste to land and ocean
• Video of this episode.

Many of us will be engaging in gift exchanges this December. Whether it's Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Boxing Day or New Year’s, ‘tis the season for buying stuff. But we can still participate in the spirit of the holidays without all the waste! This episode – featuring Kate Nelson (Plastic-Free Mermaid) and Plaine Products CEO Lindsey McCoy – explores all sorts of ideas, from reuse gift sets to recycled wrapping paper. Listen in and share with your friends for great tips on how to give more love and less waste this holiday. And remember to use discount code “UPSTREAM” when shopping from Plaine Products for 20% off your order (which also gives a 10% donation to UPSTREAM)! 

Resource Links:

• www.plaineproducts.com for starter gift sets to inspire loved-ones to try use, and don’t forget coupon code UPSTREAM for 20% off!
• Iquitplastics.com for more tips and resources from Kate Nelson and to buy her new book I Quit Plastic: and you can too.  Also listen to our first episode with Kate, Plastic-free mermaids, if you haven’t yet.
• Simplytheholidays.org for tips on supporting reuse while still celebrating
• Plastic Pollution Coalition’s Thoughtful Gift Guide has some more great ideas
• Loopstore.com: the guests featured on our last episode and now the world’s fastest growing reuse marketplace!

Join UPSTREAM CEO Matt Prindiville as he interviews Tom Szaky, a self-described eco-capitalist, who launched Terracycle from his dorm room at Princeton in 2003. Terracycle works with brands to collect and repurpose their hard-to-recycle waste and operates in over 20 countries, engaging more than 80 million people. Fifteen years later, Tom leveraged his relationships with name brands to create Loop Store as a platform for companies to sell their products in reusable packaging. And they just expanded their platform to serve fast food in reusable packaging with McDonald’s, Burger King and Tim Hortons.

Resources: 

• This is what Burger King's new reusable packaging looks like (CNN Business)
• How We’re Partnering with Loop to Innovate Packaging and Reduce Waste (McDonald’s)
• Tim Hortons Announces Reusable, Returnable Coffee Cups (Treehugger)  
• Sustaining Positivity in a Pandemic (Indisposable Podcast episode #23)