Our recycling system is broken. Now, it’s time for consumers and businesses to adopt recycling’s stronger sister: reusing.

There’s a new reuse economy emerging for food service that has the potential to completely disrupt our current disposable food-service paradigm and replace it with something better.

It’s been one year since George Floyd was brutally murdered at the hands of police. George Floyd has left a legacy of transformation for organizations like UPSTREAM and for every American who has felt motivated to break down the structures that uphold white supremacy and hold our fellow citizens back. Today, we want to acknowledge this moment and honor George Floyd and the countless other lives lost to police brutality and violent acts of racism.

The pressure to save the world amidst the evolving climate crisis gets bigger by the minute, and it can be daunting and disheartening. In light of Mental Health Awareness Month, this brought me to a question that anyone facing such heavy circumstances, at any moment, needs to know the answer to: How can I practice mental self care when I start to feel small and dejected?

We all know the feeling of opening that brown paper bag, excited that we didn’t have to cook, only to find a vast number of disposable utensils, straws, napkins, and condiment packets. But is this waste really necessary or is there a better way?

You - me - we have a name in the UPSTREAM community. We’re Solutioneers. We’re the folks who consider values, the human cost and environmental impact in the daily decisions we make; we’re tired of the one way throw-away economy and we want to make a difference.

Dishcraft Robotics, in collaboration with UPSTREAM, today announced the launch of a program to help reduce the increasing volume of waste produced by takeout foodware. Dubbed Serve It Safe, the program will help restaurants reduce waste by serving takeout meals in sanitized, sustainable, reusable containers.

At UPSTREAM, we are tracking the growth of reuse in cities all across the country. It’s possible to borrow a reusable cup or container in a variety of deposit or lending programs. Even groceries and consumer products are being offered in returnable/refillable containers thanks to emerging reuse companies. The growth in reusable and refillable return systems gives me hope that the throw-away culture is changing.

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.