A Year in Reflection

How our Solutioneer Community Dropped the Mic in 2021

The Reuse movement is flying forward. All of us – entrepreneurs, investors, community leaders, NGOs, activists and elected officials – ideated and pivoted our way forward in 2021, making incredible progress together. 

Let’s celebrate what we accomplished. 

Reuse in Business

Reuse businesses continued building new systems and products to eliminate waste and usher in a paradigm shift where packaging is considered a service, not a product. 

Check out the amazing businesses leading the way in our Reuse Business Directory and on The Reusies™ website.  

Tandem Coffee Roasters, Plaine Products and Closed Loop Partners joined our Upstream family of corporate sponsors, amplifying real, reuse solutions to new audiences to help grow our movement.

Our business innovation team has also been working with key players in food service management on an exciting project which will be announced later this year, so stay tuned!

Reuse in Policy

Reuse acceleration policies, including the Skip the Stuff policy, were passed in communities with over 61 million people (19% of the U.S!), impacting 33 cities and two states (yea! California and Washington state). 

This was thanks to countless hours spent by thousands of activists and hundreds of dedicated organizations, like North Carolina’s Don't Waste Durham, and community coalitions – including Reusable New England, ReusableSF (San Francisco), Reusable LA, Reusable NYC, Reusable Reno, Reusable Burbank, Reuse San Mateo, Reuse Marin, Reusable Mill Valley, Reusable Sonoma, Reusable Seattle and ReusableSD (San Diego).

Reuse in Research

We published two groundbreaking papers, The Reuse Wins report and Reuse Wins at Events, which help make the case for reuse over single-use with new data and insights on the economic and environmental benefits of a new reuse economy for food service.

Reuse businesses across the country are utilizing these reports to land new investors and customers. Activists, NGOs and coalitions are utilizing them to gain political and community support and guide testimony for the passage of reuse policies. 

Reuse in Celebration

Upstream launched the first ever National Reuse Awards, The Reusies™, to create “The Oscars” for the reuse movement, producing a one-of-a-kind virtual award show where we announced four award winners across business innovation, consumer products, activism and community leadership and hosted an engaging panel discussion. 

The Reusies generated over 500 million media impressions through Upstream’s owned media and earned media channels and leveraging a diverse range of partners, including Closed Loop Partners, World Economic Forum, Global Plastic Action Partnership, Ellen MacArthur Foundation, World Wildlife Fund, McDonough Innovation, and Break Free From Plastic.  

Our amazing event panel and award judges added visibility, expertise and credibility to the reuse movement. We’re so grateful to Danni Washington, Benjamin Von Wong, Elizabeth Segran, Bridget Croke, William McDonough, Christian Kaufholz, Ashima Sukhdev, Erin Simon and Lauren Singer for their support. 

Musicians Kori Withers and Michael Franti also lifted their voices in support of reuse solutions with musical performances during the live show. 

Congratulations to all of The 2021 Reusies winners, finalists and honorable mentions. You are inspiring the entire movement.

Reuse in Stories

We continued to be motivated by the reuse movement’s heroes who shared their stories on The Indisposable Podcast™, during our livestreams, and on our blog. 

We spoke with many innovators and co-creators of the indisposable world we’re working toward, including: Ashima Sukhdev, Ashley Etling, Benjamin Von Wong, Brian Bauer, Christian Kaufholz, Crystal Dreisbach, Dana Laurent, Danni Washington, Dave Ford, Elizabeth Segran, Erin Simon, Juan Macias, Judith Enck, Keiko Niccolini, Kelley Dennings, Lauren Sweeney, Linda Pouliot, Lindsey McCoy, Mary Aguilera, Michael Martin, Minal Mistry, Miriam Gordon, Paul Liotsakis, Petros Palandjian, Rocco Scordella, Ron Gonen, Sandra Noonan, Sybil Bullock, Sylvia McKenzie, Will Pratt, William McDonough, and Yinka Bode-George.

We heart Reuse (and YOU)

Upstream also got a makeover! Our new brand identity conveys who we are and our core values – to be Innovative, Inspiring, Invitational and Inclusive. 

The new Upstream logo pulls from our previous logo’s circling arrow, representative of the circular reuse economy. But we chose the heart symbol (and a new tagline) to emphasize our passion and love for the mission we’re working towards – and that everything we do is with heart and soul.

And as a non-profit organization serving the reuse movement, the entire Upstream staff and Board wish to thank all of our donors and supporters who fund our communities (like the  National Reuse Network and Government Reuse Forum), campaigns, business innovation, policy development, research and more. 

Without your generosity and advocacy, we would not be celebrating the many successes of the past year.

Together, we are a mighty and burgeoning reuse movement. Thank you for joining us as we grow a new reuse economy. 

May 2022 bring us another leap forward to a throw-away-free future where both people and planet are treated as indisposable.