UPSTREAM was founded in 2003, motivated by the understanding that we cannot recycle our way to a sustainable future—we have to work upstream, building and sustaining an infrastructure that supports a circular economy.
With the help of Plastic Solutions Fund, UPSTREAM is working with a group of collaborators on Plastic Exposed, a project designed to drive reduction in plastic consumption across the globe by increasing public awareness regarding the health risks associated with plastic and food packaging.
The premise of this project is that consumers are more likely to forego the convenience of single-use plastic packaging when they understand that it can harm them and their families. The project is working to create scientific consensus about the human health risks of disposable food packaging and to share that science with the global plastic pollution advocacy community, with the eventual goal of personalizing the issue of over-packaged food products. The project empowers the global plastics movement to harness the power of individual concern over food safety to pressure policy makers and corporate decision-makers to forego disposable plastics and help realize a culture shift away from throw-away society.
