Jumpstarting a just recovery at home

The Break Free From Plastic movement, currently made up of over 2,500 organizations around the world, has aligned around a system of Just Recovery principles to uplift a better way for people and planet. 

And this week, all of the organizations in the plastic-free movement are focused on amplifying the 3rd principle, which is core to our work here at UPSTREAM: Replace single-use with sustainable systems.

For the last several years, we’ve been working with communities and businesses to co-create a better way than throwaway and a future where reuse is the norm and people and our planet are treated as indisposable.

But we don’t want you to feel like jumpstarting a new normal is out of your hands. In fact, we always want to find ways to help spark solutions – or bring them to your door. That’s why we’re excited to share an idea (and an offer) to start replacing single-use with reuse in your own home today.

Every problem creates the opportunity for a solution – at least, that’s how Plaine Products founder and CEO Lindsey McCoy turned a frustration into a career three years ago. “As I was trying to use less plastic, there was one place I struggled to find solutions that worked for me and my hair,” Lindsey explains, “...the bathroom! So I thought, if I have this problem, maybe other people do too.”

When we think about where the environment needs us most, we probably don’t think about our shower shelves as a place to start – but it turns out, the US alone sells over a billion plastic shampoo bottles each year. But with a cradle-to-cradle system like the model Lindsey and her sister developed, we can access vegan and cruelty-free toiletry products* like soap and shampoo in stainless steel bottles without all the waste. And when the citrus lavender body wash or peppermint hand sanitizer starts running low, the next refill is only a click away.

Not all heroes wear capes. Some are just tired of a lack of better options, and create their own instead. This Plastic Free July, we’re grateful for entrepreneurs and small business owners like Lindsey that help make a Just Recovery possible. And we want to hear from more of you.

Do you have a business, idea, or project that can also help #buildabetterway? You could be our next guest on the Indisposable Podcast! For the month of July, we’re asking for YOUR most inspiring stories and solutions–even if they began in the bathroom!– so that we can share them with the world. Please see details to enter your story on Instagram here. We can’t wait to connect!

* Be sure to use promo code UPSTREAM to receive 20% off your Plaine Products order