Centering Community Expertise to Build a Just Reuse Economy
A conversation with Jo Banner & Frankie Orona: Part I
Welcome to Upstream’s series examining—through storytelling, case studies, and interviews—the principles of a Just Transition and how reuse is in conversation with every element.
For this installation of the series, we spoke separately with Jo Banner, an environmental justice advocate and the co-founder of The Descendants Project, and Frankie Orona, Executive Director of The Society of Native Nations. The two work within and come from distinct communities whose residents have unique stories and experiences. And yet, their insights into how reuse carries a throughline from past to present to future in fenceline communities across the US share many commonalities. They are also well aware of the pitfalls of any new development—whether extractive or sustainable—and encourage the burgeoning reuse industry to listen and learn from those who have been most impacted by the status quo systems of trash.
Reflecting the deep expertise and lived experience of Jo and Frankie, our conversations were wide-ranging and touched on several Just Transition principles. Acknowledging that each principle upholds the others, we are breaking down these conversations in a way that allows deeper exploration of a few that stood out most saliently as Jo and Frankie shared their perspectives.
One principle of a Just Transition is that it brings all stakeholders to the table from the start, putting the most impacted first—e.g., people before corporations, historically marginalized before historically privileged communities. By hearing all voices, solutions can be both ancestral and science-based.
Learning from the impacts of extractive systems
Inherently, the shift to a reuse economy reflects the vision of a just transition to move from extractive to regenerative systems. Yet, some of the most exploited communities risk being burdened by both the problem and the solution. Notoriously, these communities face environmental, economic, social, and physiological degradation from polluting petrochemical facilities. However, aluminum and steel manufacturing, often considered better alternatives to plastic for durable reusables, also have detrimental impacts. It is crucial to note that a reuse economy turns the current torrent of single-use packaging production down to a drip. Even still, while we are re-envisioning and re-building a more just, circular future, these communities cannot be seen as sacrificial, even for the sake of supplying the solution, a pitfall that can be easier to overlook than we may think.
The problem, as Frankie Orona frames it, is that we have become what he calls a “drive-thru generation… where a mentality of instant gratification disconnects us from what has been given to us or given up for us”—i.e., the land, animals, and resources we need to live. Our economy and society has been built such that it is only too easy to pick up a coffee at a drive through window, consume it in moments, and toss the cup. That cup is likely made of plastic-lined, bleached paper and has a plastic lid, but consumers are generally focused on the coffee, not upstream and downstream impacts of the cup. As a result, “we have normalized the pain that comes with the production of plastic” (and, we might add, other single-use packaging materials).
Those who live in areas such as Cancer Alley in Louisiana live daily with the pain that comes from production and manufacturing processes. Residents there are diagnosed with cancer and other illnesses at higher rates than the general populations due to the toxic output of petrochemical plants. The same is true in communities around the Houston Ship Channel—where there are 600+ chemical plants and 93 petrochemical plants, and where 42% of the nation’s petrochemical manufacturing occurs.
Elevating Community Expertise
A reuse economy can help remedy this pain, not only by reducing manufacturing but by providing safe, green jobs that keep money in a community. Still, a transition to reuse should not be a solution that is imposed but one that fully integrates community insight and consent—e.g., breaking not only with traditional modes of production but also traditional top-down modes of infrastructure buildout.
According to Jo, residents in a fenceline community are typically the last to know of a new project being built in their area. She emphasizes that those who have to live with the day-to-day consequences of polluting industries must not be “left out of the equation.” Instead, they should be treated as experts who are not only capable, but better prepared to make decisions regarding what type of industries can and should come into their neighborhoods:
“Community members need to be treated as knowing the landscape. We know all of the ins and outs. We know the political climate. We know the decision makers. ‘If we’re gonna do it, this is the way it’s gonna be done so that we’re kept safe. And we may say we don’t want it at all.’ It’s their decision to be made. Instead of it being this top-down decision, it really needs to come from the community.”
These insights can be translated for the buildout of a reuse economy, so that decisions about new wash hubs and other infrastructure come from those living in the area—who also, Jo points out, tend to be most familiar with zoning and permitting requirements.
As Frankie Orona puts it, marginalized and indigenous communities have “lived solutions.” Indigenous knowledge is as valuable as knowledge based in science, and he notes that both are “recorded and historical,” meaning indigenous communities have a long history of studying and recording changes to the environment and the inherent impacts to it, going back generations.
Beyond production, reuse systems also rely heavily on new technology and innovation, from materials science to tracking software to robotic dishwashing. As one of the Indigenous Principles of a Just Transition states:
A Just Transition recognizes the need for Indigenous ingenuity – “Indigenuity” – inspired by our ancient intergenerational knowledge and wisdom given to us by our natural relatives. Western science can work with indigenous traditional knowledge keepers to restore the health and well-being of our Mother Earth and Father Sky. Our traditional knowledge systems must be respected, promoted and protected; our collective intellectual property rights must be guaranteed and ensured. Our traditional knowledge is not in the public domain; it is collective, cultural and intellectual property protected under our customary law.
Jo and Frankie’s observations highlight the importance of building robust, enduring reuse systems, using materials that are lasting and can be responsibly recycled at the end of their lives. A well-designed reuse system that functions within the principles of a just transition will not only turn the tap on new materials manufacturing down to a drip, it will also recognize new buildout as a chance for self determination in affected communities.
Thank you for following along. Stay tuned for Part II: Joy & Connection in the Past, Present, and Future of Reuse.
