Part of Upstream’s series examining the principles of a just transition and how reuse is in conversation with every element.
Hear Kuʻulei Keawekane, Cultural Advisor for Zero Waste Hawaiʻi Island, share strategies and resources for Indigenous collaboration in establishing the Hoʻi Returnable Dish Program.
Hoʻi is the country’s first city-wide returnable foodware program, launched November 2026 in Hilo, Hawaiʻi. Customers can choose Hoʻi containers free of charge, as long as they return the items within 7 days to one of a growing number of public Return Points or any participating business.
Hoʻi means “to return” in Hawaiian — a nod both to returning the containers and to honoring traditional ways of caring for the land. Scaled reuse itself is a return to the circular, regenerative systems that communities around the globe have embraced throughout history.
The Ho’i program reflects a larger vision of a just transition to a new economy — a transition that centers the most impacted communities, ensuring they lead the conversation so that new systems don’t perpetuate the harmful patterns of our current extraction-based economy. The deep commitment to community and Indigenous collaboration throughout the Ho’i project is an embodiment of this core principle.
This recording is Part I — the hoʻolauna, or introduction section — of the digital gathering. Part II was a kūkākūkā, or discussion, which was not recorded to allow for open dialogue.
