With The Reusies in its fourth year, we’ve been reflecting and listening to our communities and networks on ways to improve the program

A message from Crystal Dreisbach, CEO of Upstream

In my previous role as the founder of Don’t Waste Durham, when I won The Reusies Activist of the Year in 2021, I was grateful and elated by the recognition and the visibility I received. But even as I celebrated my win, I found myself reflecting on just how much more awesome it would be if I could have been awarded more tangible support. It turns out, over the years, the Reusies team has been receiving similar feedback from other community-based groups and activists who are so vital to the reuse movement.

So now that I am with Upstream, the team and I have worked on making The Reusies more impactful and more meaningful. We see it as an extension of how Upstream aims to be a leading change agency for reuse in North America (will share more on that in the coming weeks!). Now in its fourth year, The Reusies has grown to be more than just an awards show – it’s a platform to highlight solutions, an inspirational spark to encourage innovation and collaboration, and a resource to help the reuse movement grow. I hope you are as thrilled as I am with this relaunch of The Reusies which includes some exciting changes—like enhanced, more customized prizes for award winners and a new structure for the activist and community award winners. Read on for more, and please apply and share widely.

With reuse love,

Crystal

New year, New Reusies… Applications open until February 29th

It’s true! There are some exciting updates to the structure and format of The Reusies, but what remains the same is that we want to recognize and celebrate reuse champions in the categories of Activist of the Year, Community of the Year, and Most Innovative Reuse Company. Applications are open from now until Thursday, Feb 29, and winners will be highlighted at GreenBiz’s Circularity 24 on May 23 in Chicago.

Below are some highlights of what is new this year:

Community & Activist awards:

• With an eye toward celebrating a diversity of stories in communities across the US & Canada and providing more individuals and groups with material support, we are expanding the Community and Activist awards to three winners in each category and providing a monetary prize to each in the amount of $2,500.

• In order to eliminate any sense of competition between governments and community groups, applications from government-based entities will be considered in a separate pool from those of community groups.

• The three activist winners will be featured in a livestream separate from The Reusies, which is slated to occur in late April.

• The three community winners will be featured on the Indisposable Podcast along with other opportunities for visibility and recognition.

… and all winners’ stories will be featured in The Reusies 2024 video program at Circularity. Stay tuned for more details!

Most Innovative awards (in 3 sectors: Food & Beverage, Consumer Packaged Goods and Fashion & Apparel)

• Part of this year’s prize package for all finalists (3 in each sector) will include an All-Access pass (valued at $2,152 USD) to attend and participate in Circularity 24, so they have an opportunity to be recognized among their peers while playing a larger part in the conversation around reuse innovation. Most Innovative winners will be announced live at Circularity on May 23 and will have an opportunity to accept their award on stage! (In-person attendance at Circularity is not required in order to be selected as a winner.)

For all categories, we aim to expand and customize the prize package to include awards that stand to support and accelerate the work of the winners. Find out all the details and apply today on The Reusies website!

Register for Circularity 24 today

We’re thrilled that The Reusies will be returning to Circularity 24, the leading convening of professionals building the circular economy (May 22-24, Chicago, IL). Join us and the growing community to move beyond incremental action, catalyze systems change and accelerate the transition to a circular economy. Register before March 8 with the 20% discount code C24UPSTM to save over $1,200 off the final rate.

The reuse movement has flourished since we launched The Reusies in 2021, and we can’t wait to tell the stories of the applicants, finalists, and winners in the coming months!