How do we facilitate a shift to a reuse economy?
Upstream’s work identifying how to get from where we are to where we want to be
So far within the reuse movement, there have been a lot of boutique solutions and pilots—a necessary step for understanding the landscape and testing out systems. Upstream’s vision, however—and we are certainly not alone—is for reuse to be widespread and systemic. So, as we have been building out our plans for the coming years, we asked ourselves: for systems level change, how do we focus on what needs to be unlocked in order to facilitate a shift to a reuse economy?
We started by agreeing on the purpose of our work, which is to make reuse a widespread practice and a norm in our society. We then underwent a facilitated process called the “Five Whys,” which includes group brainstorming and five rounds of the question why. We seeded this exercise with the big question, “Why isn't reuse more widespread?”
Based on our own expertise and observations, plus extensive conversations with stakeholders, reuse service providers, and partners, we came up with five primary answers to this elemental question:
Reuse systems are still in their early stages
Waste and convenience are cultural norms.
Reuse is expensive to implement.
Politicians and companies think consumer demand does not exist.
This is a systems problem, and creating systems solutions requires radical collaboration and innovation.
We then drilled down in four more rounds of the question why for each of the factors above, and those answers led us down to the root causes of why reuse isn't more widespread. Examples include the fact that reuse requires upfront investment in infrastructure with a long ROI, that consumers think recycling and composting takes care of the single-use problem, and that there is not enough knowledge about how to transition from single-use to reuse — among many other reasons. Given that our desire is to make reuse widespread, it follows that those root causes are precisely the barriers that the movement needs to address to accomplish this goal.
We next identified what specifically is needed to overcome each of those barriers and conducted a gap analysis to get a clear picture of how we can move reuse forward. We asked ourselves: given what we’ve identified is needed to address the root causes, what are the agencies or other players in the movement — including Upstream — already doing? Are there overlaps between what we're doing and what other groups are doing? Are there gaps? In other words, are there things that no one is yet addressing, and what is at the intersection of the movement's needs and Upstream’s wheelhouse?
This exercise revealed what fell within Upstream’s expertise, capacity, and role, and therefore what we are uniquely positioned to lead. With this clarity, we can build our activities around producing and amplifying resources that help normalize reuse; generate partnerships and provide our expertise to help grow and support the reuse industry; and contribute our insights and experience to ensure an enabling policy environment.
