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+ year history helping lead the Upstream team and the reuse movement.

Resources: 

• About CLYNK
• Podcast: Setting the stage for the new reuse economy (featuring CLYNK)
• Podcast: On the road to reuse with bottle bills
• The New Reuse Economy: How the beverage sector’s re-embrace of refill will transform the industry

*Correction: Matt mentions that CLYNK's technology is licensed in Oregon, which is not indeed the case. OBRC (see episode #122) has their own technology and systems that were independently developed.  They've had no formal relationship with CLYNK since 2021, and their prior relationship was not a license but a software transition and coexistence agreement. 

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 perspective. What systems are they most likely to embrace? What arguments do they find most persuasive? What behavior trends are we seeing in the reuse space?

Thom sits down with our host, Chief Strategy Officer Priscilla Johnson, to discuss his team’s work to find reuse solutions that can succeed in the marketplace – and the exciting collaborations that are helping to spur new innovations. 

This episode is part of our series highlighting The Reusies 2023 partners. We are thrilled that WEF is back for a third year as an amplifying partner, and that Poonam Watine will be serving on the judges panel. 

Resources: 

• World Economic Forum - Future of Consumption Platform
• World Economic Forum - Circular Economy resources & initiatives
• UN Treaty on Plastic Pollution

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 Strategy Officer Priscilla Johnson, to discuss all things circular – what’s percolating at Circularity 23, how best to guide the massive shifts in thinking and practice needed to embrace the circular economy, and what we can learn from other countries that are farther along in their journeys.

Resources:

• The Reusies
• Circularity 23

The Oregon Beverage Recycling Cooperative is the industry steward of that state’s nationally recognized beverage container redemption program, helping discharge the responsibilities of beverage companies in complying with the state’s bottle deposit law. They have also started to collect and process refillable beer bottles to get them back to a consortium of Oregon brewers for washing and refilling. Host Matt Prindiville sits down with Jules Bailey, President and CEO of the OBRC, to dive deep into the details of how the cooperative works—and how it can serve as a model service provider for the New Reuse Economy—all with a focus on convenience for the consumer. 

Resources: 

• OBRC
• Fact sheet: Deposit Return Systems Accelerate Reuse
• Which comes first? EPR or DRS?
• Clynk: Setting the stage for the new reuse economy

What will it take to accelerate the New Reuse Economy? For Emily Tipaldo, Executive Director of the U.S. Plastics Pact, it starts with concepts close to our hearts: convening and collaborating. The Pact’s Reuse Catalyst program aims to boost emerging and established reuse and refill innovators, and the broader industry, through shared learning, expertise, and amplification. 

Lauren Sweeney, co-founder and CEO of DeliverZero—a New York City-based reuse service and an inaugural member of the Catalyst—needs no convincing. She joins Emily and host Matt Prindiville to discuss the program’s successes and challenges, including why many companies are hesitant to fund sustainability efforts—and why that’s a losing proposition, both for the future of the planet and for their own economic resilience. 

Resources:

• U.S. Plastic Pact’s Reuse Catalyst
• DeliverZero

With momentum surging in state legislatures to tackle the growing waste crisis, we face a pivotal opportunity to catalyze the new reuse economy. In this special Indisposable Live episode, we explore how best to incorporate waste prevention and reuse into one of the most popular waste policies - Extended Producer Responsibility. In this special Indisposable Live episode, Upstream's Policy Director Sydney Harris provides an overview of Upstream’s new Principles for Reuse/Refill in EPR and DRS, and talks with leaders crafting and supporting EPR legislation including Jennifer Navarra, Program Director for Zero Waste Hawaiʻi Island; Will Grassle, Associate for Policy & Programs at the Product Stewardship Institute; McKenna Morrigan, Policy Advisor at Seattle Public Utilities; and David Allaway, Senior Policy Analyst at the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality’s Materials Management Program.

Resources:

• Upstream's Indisposable Live series
• Policy Principles for Reuse/Refill in EPR & DRS
• More information on EPR & DRS

Atlantic Packaging was founded, incredibly enough, by a KKK-fighting  journalist from the South, whose efforts led to the arrest of hundreds of Klan members. Today, his grandson Wes Carter continues to lead the largest privately held packaging company in North America with a strong sense of ethics and a focus on sustainability. He’s launched an initiative to significantly reduce plastic-centric packaging, as well as “A New Earth Project,” a collaboration between the packaging supply chain and the global surfing community to help reduce ocean plastic waste. 

Joined by their Director of Sustainability, Caroline James, the two sit down with host Matt Prindiville for a discussion about extended producer responsibility and what CPG brands and packaging suppliers are doing in this pivotal opportunity that we have to catalyze the new reuse economy.

Resources: 

• Atlantic Packaging
• A New Earth Project
• The Editor and the Dragon
• “Your Packaging is the Problem” in Yale Insights by Caroline James
• Upstream’s Principles for Reuse/Refill in EPR

Should a reuse business focus on its product’s sustainability as a primary selling point? What will it take to compete with single-use? When will we see widespread adoption of reuse systems? Reuse entrepreneur Daniel Velez sits down with host, Chief Strategy Officer Priscilla Johnson, for a lively conversation in which he shares insights gained from launching—and ultimately, closing—Growly, “the milkman of craft beer.” The hard truth is that most startups don’t last. But Daniel illustrates the valuable lessons we can take from such experiences, and why, despite challenges, the reuse sector will only continue to grow.

Resources: 

• Daniel’s article to accompany this interview: 3 lessons learned from launching & running a reuse startup
• Daniel’s blog: The Milkman Model
• Daniel’s first podcast: Craft beer takes the reuse route

How do we ensure healthy, sustainable communities when we live in a system that so often prioritizes profits over people, especially those who are historically marginalized? Jose Bravo, Executive Director of The Just Transition Alliance, spends his days working on this very issue. And while there are no easy answers or quick fixes, one thing is clear: the most effective solutions will come from engaging those same communities that have been most harmed by entrenched systems of extraction and exploitation. 

Our host, Upstream's Chief Strategy Officer Priscilla Johnson, sits down with Jose for a wide-ranging and engaging conversation on localized solutions to the climate and waste crisis that put the health of people and the planet first. 

Resources: 

• Just Transition Alliance
• Justice40 Initiative
• The Produce Prescription Project
• Upstream's Climate, Plastics & Reuse toolkit

In honor of Women’s History Month and the amazing efforts of countless women in the reuse movement, host Brooking Gatewood sits down with Upstream Board Members Ashley Craig and Linda Corrado for a candid chat about their own work on reuse – both professionally and personally. Learn about the paths these two women have taken from successful corporate careers in fashion and finance to the joy-inducing work of helping make throw-away go away. Their stories offer a model for how to direct one’s professional skills and talents toward the greater good – that anyone with a heart for this work can apply to transform their own careers and communities. 

Resources: 

• Vlog: Women who Power the Reuse Movement
• The Reusies
• Chart Reuse 
• Reuse Coalitions