Materials detox: PFAS chemicals in food packaging

Episode #5

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Think compostables are healthier than other packaging solutions? You may want to check out Mind the Store’s report on PFAS chemicals at top grocery chains to learn more.

We're thrilled Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s made bold commitments to reduce PFAS chemicals in their products the same week this report came out. Here's to big business being part of the solution.

Listen to learn about the behind the scenes strategy that went into this and other big toxics campaign wins from one of the great minds in social change work in America, Mike Schade.

Mike currently spearheads the Mind the Store campaign for the Safer Chemicals Healthy Families Coalition, which pressures retailers to take more leadership on getting toxic chemicals off their shelves and develop systemic safer chemicals policies. He’s a bit of an unsung hero who has quietly led award-winning policy and corporate campaigns that have helped phase out toxic chemicals and materials like PVC plastic, phthalates, BPA and dioxin, flame retardants, methylene chloride, and now PFAS. We can all thank him for reducing our everyday exposure to some nasty chemicals that should have never been in our homes in the first place, which is probably why Ethisphere Magazine listed him as one of the 100 Most Influential People in Business Ethics for 2007.

Quick links on some of the recent wins discussed in this episode:

This just in: EPA ban on consumer uses of paint strippers!

Banning bad chemicals through savvy citizen campaigns, w/ Mike Schade, Safer Chemicals Healthy Families Coalition

Brooking Gatewood

Brooking hosts Upstream’s The Indisposable Podcast and guides our team on virtual collaboration and culture-building. She has worked with Break Free From Plastic US since 2016 as a facilitator and strategist, and has spent much of the last decade supporting collaborative leadership for many ambitious change efforts - from saving monarch butterflies to curbing diabetes. In her spare time, Brooking can be found writing and performing poetry, or hosting community-connection events in her local LA neighborhood.

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Bringing back the lunchbox

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Culture-hacking the end of plastic