As restaurants move toward reopening, many health experts are saying plastic food packaging doesn’t provide any better protection against COVID-19 - in fact, it presents significant risk to human health. Leading up to World Health Day on April 7, UPSTREAM held a media briefing with expert panelists Leonardo Trasande, MD, MPP and Shanna H. Swan, PhD, MS.

It’s time for the hate against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders to stop. As a nation, we must come together and denounce this violence while deplatforming the voices of hate that seek to divide us.

Handy insights, tips, and talking points for approaching food service businesses to help them save money and the planet at the same time.

UPSTREAM is proud to partner with Tandem Coffee Roasters of Portland, Maine as one of our corporate sponsors in 2021. We asked Will Pratt, Tandem’s founder, to tell us more about their story and their commitment to making throw-away go away.

I believe this will be the year that EPR for packaging moves forward in the United States. The conditions are ripe, and policymakers are engaged and educated around the issues in a way that they weren’t five years ago. It’s going to take a lot of hard work by stakeholders on all sides to get to the finish line. It won’t be easy, but the results will be worth it. Let’s get it done.

Because the Break Free From Plastic Act does not currently focus on reusables, we organized a working group to develop recommendations for building reusable/refillable requirements into the Act and have been communicating these ideas to the authors of the legislation.

UPSTREAM, in partnership with Remark.eco, hosted a one day virtual design sprint in August 2020 using GV Sprint Methodology. Our goal was to develop a scalable, viable model for reusable systems for prepared food and beverage in the COVID era, helping businesses stay open and thriving while also protecting our health and the planet.

We must find ways to move forward as a nation and to learn to see each other as neighbors again – to forge a new social contract that seeks to truly lift all people up and to come together on the issues of our time.

Laura Marston, owner of the reuse and refill store GoGo Refill in Portland, Maine, put together a gift guide for those who want to give more love by giving less waste.