The Indisposable Podcast®

Our special episode series for The Reusies™, the first ever National Reuse Awards, continues with Liz Segran, another honorary award judge. A Fast Company Senior Staff Writer and sustainable design specialist, Liz shares with Brooking Gatewood what she’s learned about the reuse movement from ancient history as well as youth, fashion, and innovative design – including reusable trash bags.  Resource...

Our special episode series for The Reusies™, the first ever National Reuse Awards, continues with another honorary award judge: sustainable designer and living legend William (Bill) McDonough. As Chief Executive of McDonough Innovation and co-author of Cradle to Cradle: Remaking The Way We Make Things , Bill shares his wisdom on how to shift our thinking, language, and actions toward a world where...

Our special episode series for The Reusies™, the first ever National Reuse Awards, continues. Brooking Gatewood sits down with Christian Kaufholz of the World Economic Forum’s Global Plastic Action Partnership and Ashima Sukhdev of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Circular Economy in Cities project to talk about their big picture perspectives on the evolution of reuse and exciting trends ahead – i...

As we continue our special series for The Reusies™, the first ever National Reuse Awards, we invite you to listen in on a conversation with Matt Prindiville and Erin Simon from World Wildlife Fund (WWF) who is one of our honorary award judges. As WWF’s Head of Plastic Waste and Business, Erin discusses how her expertise as a packaging engineer influences her work today to support consumer goods co...

This week, we’re kicking off a special episode series for The Reusies™, the first ever National Reuse Awards. Matt Prindiville sits down with Ron Gonen, Founder and CEO of Closed Loop Partners, who are presenting The Reusies inaugural event with Upstream this year. Hear about Ron’s journey from sanitation in New York City to a venture capital firm in the circular economy space to his recently rele...

Host Matt Prindiville sits down with reuse service company Dishcraft’s Linda Pouliot, Tootsie’s at the Stanford Barn restaurant owner Rocco Scordella, and Upstream Business Innovation Director Samantha Sommer to discuss the Serve It Safe pilot , which launched earlier this year. Tune in this week for an inside look at the challenges and opportunities in creating a successful service for reuse in t...

This week, we’re listening in on a panel discussion, originally recorded last month on World Oceans Day (June 8, 2021), which analyzes the impact of human actions on the ocean. In this special livestream hosted by ESGX, Upstream CEO Matt Prindiville moderated a discussion with reuse experts from companies such as Newday Impact Investing, r. Cup/r. Ware, Loop, TerraCycle and Dishcraft Robotics, on...

Happy #PlasticFreeJuly ! One of the most powerful ways for people to engage in the Break Free From Plastic movement is the global brand audit project. In this episode, we talk with Global Brand Audit Coordinator Sybil Bullock and hear from leaders around the world about how this citizen science initiative is helping to catalyze change by identifying the companies most responsible for plastic pollu...

Last week, Upstream unveiled a new brand identity which we feel really conveys who we are and our core values – to be Innovative, Inspiring, Invitational and Inclusive. The new Upstream logo symbolizes the circular reuse economy and incorporates a heart to emphasize our passion for the mission we’re working towards – and that everything we do is with heart and soul. Tune in with Matt Prindiville t...

This week, Matt Prindiville chats with Sandra Noonan, Chief Sustainability Officer at Just Salad, a fast-casual restaurant chain on a mission to make everyday health and sustainability possible. Just Salad’s innovative BringBack Bowl pilot program gives customers the option to receive their pickup or delivery orders in a signature reusable and returnable bowl. Dig into the details of the BringBack...

In this episode, we celebrate the launch of Reuse Wins – a hot-off-the-digital-press report by Upstream that shows how a new reuse economy is emerging to replace single-use products in food service. We dive deep into the weeds of life-cycle analysis (LCA) and economic data to understand why Reuse Wins and what our world will  look like when we  transition to a new reuse economy where throw-away go...

When working within a system designed to disconnect us from our bodies, the choice to be “embodied” becomes part of our activism to transform ourselves and our world. This episode explores the challenges of staying centered in world-changing work, and tips and tricks to practice embodied activism in our work and in our everyday lives – from acknowledging what we don’t know to following pleasure an...

Dave Ford, CEO of the Ocean Plastic Leadership Network (OPLN), brings together a diverse group of leaders, organizations and interests working to end the flow of plastics into the world’s oceans. Learn how OPLN’s 15-million-strong network of waste collectors – including plastics supply chain companies, NGOs, environmental organizations, public sector leaders, and representatives – is coming togeth...

Over the past 50 years, as the human population doubled, wildlife populations halved. Join a thought-provoking discussion with Kelley Dennings, Population and Sustainability Campaigner at the Center of Biological Diversity.  Learn about her work to connect human population growth with threats to endangered species and wild places –  and how we can change our impact by addressing population and con...

If you’ve ordered takeout or delivery from a local restaurant, you’ve had the same experience over and over: your delicious meal is being served in a disposable container that’s used for a matter of minutes and then thrown away. Fortunately, the number of reusable systems in food service is growing. On May 12, 2021, we welcomed three special guests who are innovating solutions for the hardest-to-h...

In policy organizing, we often define the win based on the outcome of a bill or ballot measure, with little regard for process. But when we think longer term about building real grassroots power, success is measured differently. In this episode, we talk with veteran power-building policy strategist Dana Laurent from the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center about a common mistake in progressive policy...

The process is simple: when you go to place an online order from Toad & Co, click the “reuse” button at checkout and your order will arrive in reusable packaging. Then, all that’s left is to unwrap your items, flip the label around, and put the bag back in your mailbox. Toad & Co is the first company to pilot this new packaging system, created by featured guest Ashley Etling of LimeLoop and her co...

Join UPSTREAM CEO Matt Prindiville and Algramo’s Brian Bauer in a ground-breaking conversation about reuse solutions that make everyday goods like detergent and dish soap accessible to low income households without all the waste. Algramo is a Chile-based startup partnering  with some of the largest brands in the world – including Unilever, Nestle and Colgate – to provide their products through inn...

In celebration of Earth Day, we invite you into a very special dialogue with Juan Macias, tribal chairman and hereditary chief of the Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe of Texas, Mary Aguilera with the Ohio Poor People’s Campaign, and Sylvia McKenzie with the Louisiana League of Conscious Voters. These front-line leaders dive deep and wide into the heart of the problem with petrochemical production in the US...

Some of our listeners may have heard of Dame Ellen MacArthur, the famed sailor who set the world record for the fastest solo circumnavigation around the globe. But what people may not know is that she also started the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF), which has become one of the world’s most influential environmental organizations – working to inspire a generation to re-think, re-design and build...

Check out our first episode featuring babies (you will hear them playing in the background!) as we discuss one solution to the challenge of sustainable, affordable, practical diapers. EarthDiaper.org a California-based nonprofit offering compostable diapers to families in need, was founded to address this problem on a local scale. We speak with public health nurse turned nonprofit founder Lily Bro...

Back in the pre-pandemic days, some of our listeners may have attended a concert or an event where r. Cup provided their reusable cup service to replace single-use cups. And one of the special things that they did was work with some of the world’s biggest artists, like U2, Jack Johnson, and the Rolling Stones to engage their audiences around reuse.  BUT r. Cup is about a lot more than just reusabl...

What did Americans do before we had public waste management? What did UPSTREAM do before the plastic pollution movement began? What were the big turning points that got us to this dawn of Reuse we find ourselves entering in 2021? What’s the world we’ll live in after plastic pollution is gone? From 1800s horse poop to today’s innovative reuse companies, paddle along through this conversation with U...

This episode features a “power hour” with three experts working across the political spectrum from federal to state to local policy. Listen to Yinka Bode-George from the National Caucus of Environmental Legislators, Judith Enck from Beyond Plastics, and UPSTREAM’s own Miriam Gordon to learn what 2021 holds for plastics policy under the new Biden administration. You’ll learn about what types of pla...

Samantha Sommer built a project called Rethink Disposable that helped several hundred food service providers in the San Francisco Bay Area make the shift from single-use to reuse. From mom & pop restaurants, to chains, to institutional dining and college and corporate campuses – Sam helped prove that every single business has saved money once they made the shift to using reusable foodware.  Since...