The Indisposable Podcast®

Latest Episodes:

Reuse To-Go: Innovations in Takeout & Delivery May 20, 2021

Show notes

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-hack challenges around single-use packaging: Keiko Niccolini from r.Cup/r.Ware, Lauren Sweeney from DeliverZero and Paul Liotsakis from Sparkl Reusables. Tune in for a lively discussion about how their businesses are adapting – and even thriving – during the pandemic, and how you can help bring their services to your own community.

Redefining the Win: Building Power from the Grassroots Up May 13, 2021

Show notes

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 organizing that leaves communities most affected out of the conversation. Tune in and learn about principles and resources to help us redefine the wins for an indisposable future.

Resources:

Reduce, Reuse, Reship: Limeloop transforms home delivery May 06, 2021

Show notes

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-founder, Chantal Emmanuel. Listen in to learn how LimeLoop’s innovation could completely change the way products are delivered to our homes – and how smarter technology can lead to a more sustainable future.

Learn More:

LimeLoop

info@thelimeloop.com

Reuse Business Directory - Packaging

Big brands turn to refill with Algramo Apr 29, 2021

Show notes

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 innovative refill “vending” machines. Tune in to learn how this up-and-coming startup is paving the way for big businesses to embrace reuse and reduce waste in communities.

Learn More:

Algramo
Email Brian Bauer: brian@algramo.com

Changing the narrative: environmental justice and plastic production Apr 22, 2021

Show notes

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, as well as the powerful solution of solidarity. Co-hosted with Break Free From Plastic’s Melissa Aguayo.

Learn more and support:

The Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe of Texas
The Ohio Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival
Louisiana League of Conscious Voters: Contact sylviamckenzie79@gmail.com if you want to support this group!
More Petrochem Buildout Actions & Resources from Break Free From Plastic

A big bet on upstream innovation Apr 15, 2021

Show notes

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 a circular economy.

In this episode, Matt Prindiville talks to Sarah Wingstread, Program Manager for Innovation at EMF’s New Plastics Economy Initiative about applying root-cause – upstream! – solutions to address our plastic waste crisis through elimination, reuse, and material circulation. She also walks through highlights from their latest report which she co-authored, Upstream Innovation: A Guide to Packaging Solutions.

Resources:

Ellen Mac Arthur Foundation’s Upstream Innovation Report and Guide

UPSTREAM’s Publications and Key Reports

The New Reuse Economy

Reuse Business Directory

All my takeout has delivered a mountain of trash. So I asked experts how to minimize it

An indisposable future for your baby Apr 01, 2021

Show notes

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 Broberg Strong as well as the director and two young mothers from the women’s shelter that EarthDiaper serves with its closed loop compostable diaper service. Prepare to be inspired by these amazing women making an indisposable future a reality every day in their local community.

Resources:

The Reuse Revolution is (A)live: A conversation with rCup’s Michael Martin and Keiko Niccolini Mar 25, 2021

Show notes

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 reusable cups. Like UPSTREAM, they’re working to build and support the reuse movement to disrupt single-use across the board, and this year they’re expanding into reusable to-go ware for take-out and delivery with their new initiative r.Ware.

Resources: (include links to resources mentioned in episode as appropriate)

Uplifting reuse heroes: the story of UPSTREAM Mar 18, 2021

Show notes

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 UPSTREAM CEO Matt Prindiville and Indisposable Podcast co-host Brooking Gatewood as they tell the tale of UPSTREAM.

Resources:

2021 Plastics Policy Roundup Mar 10, 2021

Show notes

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 plastics and packaging-related bills are being introduced, including the federal Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act. You’ll also get some good old fashioned policy wonkery about extended producer responsibility for packaging and deposit-return systems for beverage containers. And how reuse policy is moving forward at the city and state level – even during the pandemic.

You can also check out the video of this episode on our YouTube Channel.

Helpful resources to dig in more: