I talk about storymaking vs. storytelling. Here’s the difference: storytelling is what you say about your brand. Storymaking is what people experience through your brand. We're living in a cultural time flooded with content, and trust isn’t built through words alone. It’s built through actions that match the message. The conscious voices newsletter is about helping conscious leaders build brands that both share a message and depict a clear path for conscious consumers to care, commit and take action. Your voice matters, your stories shape culture. You’re here to be a storymaker.
Hello, hello storymaker.
If Lloyd Stouffer could change the entire global economy with one idea, “that our future was in the trash can,” then we can absolutely change it again. Movements like rehoming, repair cafés, and community reuse are proof that it’s already happening! Ok, so how did we even get here? Let me back up a bit.
In 1956, the plastics industry learned a new way to boost sales and profits (of course, it’s always about $$$!! But at what cost?).
Several years later, in 1963, at the plastics industry’s annual conference in New York, Lloyd Stouffer, the editor of an influential trade magazine, urged executives to stop emphasizing plastics’ durability.
Stouffer told the companies to focus instead on making a lot of inexpensive, expendable material. 😣
Their future, he said, was in the trash can. So, plastics industry executives soon realized they could sell more plastic if people threw away more of it.
“Those corporations were doing what they’re supposed to do, which is make a lot of money,” says Heather Davis, an assistant professor at The New School in New York who’s written about the plastics industry.
And the thing is, this “designed for disposability” mindset has spread beyond the plastics industry; it has influenced and permeated every aspect of our lives, including food and bev., fashion, design, decor, and all the stuff in our homes. (hhhhhhuuuuuhhh, big breath in).
Good news though!!! Brands are thinking about the lifecycle of “stuff” differently.
(Thank goodness).
In this issue, we’ll explore:
How throwaway culture was sold to us
Why the language of “donate it” and “recycle it” pumps the vicious cycle
The Zero Waste Rehoming movement reframes what it means to let go
Brands pushing back with systems of reuse and resale
One Trashy Mindset
So plastics execs were told their future was in the trash can. “To stop pitching plastics as durable,” Stouffer urged. “The more people throw away, the more you sell,” he claimed. (Discard Studies)
Seventy years later, his prophecy is everywhere in our homes.
That pivot to disposability birthed the throwaway culture we live in now. The endless purchasing, purging, and tossing. And nowhere is it more visible than in our households and grocery carts. (Harvard Business School)
Just look around or think about how much plastic you use today that will end up as trash. Drink bottles? Grocery bags? Food wrappers? If you’re in the States, it’ll probably add up to about a pound of stuff just in ONE day. (OECD)
Nearly 40% of all plastic produced is packaging for food and beverages. (UNEP, 2023)
Americans toss 50 billion plastic water bottles each year.
(Container Recycling Institute)Household plastic waste totaled 51 million tons in 2021, with just 5% recycled. (Beyond Plastics, 2022)
The language we use, “throw it,” “recycle it,” and “donate it,” keeps the throwaway vicious cycle spinning. Even “donating” often means offloading items into already overloaded centers, where many eventually end up in landfills anyway.
Let It Gooo, Let It Gooooo!
Let’s talk about the Rehoming Movement. Because “out with the old” doesn’t have to mean into the trash. That’s the point of the Zero Waste Rehoming movement. (Plastic Pollution Coalition)
Rehoming asks us to treat stuff with respect before, during, and after ownership. It means asking:
Who can use this now?
What happens to its packaging?
What’s the plan when I no longer need it?
Instead of tossing or donating, the idea is that items are matched with people or communities who need them, reducing plastic waste and keeping goods in circulation.
It’s more like a cultural reset away from the disposability mindset Stouffer championed. Preetttyy cool, right? Read the Plastic Pollution Coalition article on this movement, it’s realllyyyy good.
Conscious Brands Leading the Way
Throwaway culture may have originated in the plastics industry, but it has obviously infiltrated every area of our lives. The disposable mindset seeped into food, fashion, and our homes. Now, a wave of brands across categories is pushing back, restoring balance with systems built for reuse, resale, and rehoming.
Ridwell (Seattle only)
A subscription service that collects hard-to-recycle waste. From batteries, plastic film, textiles, and partners with specialists to keep them in play.TerraCycle
(Really love them for all the hard-to-recycle items at home). Global leader in recycling the “unrecyclable,” from chip bags to toothbrushes, with drop-off boxes and brand partnerships.ThredUp
The online resale giant is extending the life of clothing through secondhand shopping.Too Good To Go
An app connecting consumers to surplus food from restaurants and groceries at discount prices, saving meals and packaging from the bin.Helpsy
The most extensive textile collection and resale organization in the U.S., partnering with schools and businesses to keep clothes out of landfills.GotSneakers
A sneaker-specific reuse program that collects old kicks and redistributes them globally.
Each one chips away at the “Stouffer model” of disposability by giving our stuff a second (and even a third) life.
Things I’m Noticing
Neighbors are gathering online to give and get the things they need
How Buy Nothing groups are reshaping community and proving that swapping can be just as powerful as shopping. (Vox)What happens when repair culture comes back. Repair cafés are growing worldwide, proving there’s cultural (and communal) joy in fixing rather than tossing. (RS DesignSpark)
Recycling plastic is practically impossible, and the problem is getting worse. A candid look at why the plastics industry oversold recycling and what that means for our bins. (NPR/WBUR)
Only 5 to 6% of U.S. plastics get recycled. Even with decades of recycling campaigns, most plastics in the U.S. still head straight to landfills. (Greenpeace)
Release of microplastics from disposable cups in daily use. New research shows how even a single paper cup sheds microplastics into your drink. (ScienceDirect)
Reflection on Throwaway Culture
If Lloyd Stouffer sold us on a future where everything ends up in the trash, the Zero Waste Rehoming movement is here to sell us on a future where what we own has a second (or third) life.
This fall, your pantry, closet, and decor clean-out can be more than just a purge. Maybe, juuust maybe, you don’t even need “new” items in your home. How about giving rehoming a chance? An act of personal sustainability, a protest against the culture of disposability.
I guess I’m in search of a less trashy life, are you??
🌀 Till next time,
Camila from Conscious Voices
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