The Upstream Vlog is back for 2023! And we’re happy to introduce Sydney Harris as our interim Strategic Policy Advisor, who walks us through the many reuse policy victories to celebrate from 2022 – from the local, state, federal levels to the international stage.
Today, much of institutional, fast food, and fast casual dining - and virtually all takeout and delivery - uses disposable food-serviceware. And all those takeout containers, bags, boxes, condiment packets, plastic utensils, cold and hot cups and lids, and napkins add up. Nearly ONE TRILLION disposable food service products are used each year in the United States.
Did you know? Prior to World War II, virtually all commercial beverages sold in the United States came in refillable bottles. But afterwards, extraction companies which had fueled the war effort furthered their partnerships with consumer goods, fast food and beverage companies, giving rise to our current throwaway model.
Even though Extended Producer Responsibility (or EPR) has, in theory, been about creating a circular economy for packaging - in practice, the only goals that have been applied in legislation are recycling targets. While landfill diversion rates have gone up from 42 to 59% so has the generation of waste.
In this week's vlog, Upstream CEO & Chief Solutioneer, Matt Prindiville, walks us through the infrastructure that will be needed to scale the new reuse economy, and how this infrastructure will revolutionize the way we consume.
According to the recent report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the window for limiting global warming to relatively safe levels is rapidly closing. Immediate and unprecedented action from every country will be necessary in order to limit the global temperature rise to 1.5℃ above pre-industrial levels.
With big brands now signaling support for extended producer responsibility (EPR), deposit-return systems (DRS), and - most recently - reuse/refill, new opportunities have opened up to get policies passed and the infrastructure built out to transform how we consume food, beverage, personal care and cleaning products.
How often do you go for a walk or a drive in your local community and encounter litter strewn about in the environment? For almost anyone, the answer to this question would be practically every day. It's clear by now that disposables don't make any sense - they literally don't make dollars, or cents!
Welcome to Upstream's vlog! You might have heard of extended producer responsibility (EPR). But what exactly is it? EPR is a policy tool that makes consumer brands responsible for the environmental impacts of their products and packaging.
Welcome to Upstream's vlog! Bottle bills - or, as they're often called, deposit-refund systems - are behavior-rewarding incentive initiatives that are proven, effective approaches for recovering containers for reusing, refilling, or recycling
