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Learning A Careful Life of Consumption, Just In Case This past April, I was at the College of the Holy Cross for an event with The REUSE! Box Truck. A lot of students and staff passed through that day and I had some great conversations. But one of those conversations stuck out and I knew the story that student told me was something I had to share. Well, without further delay, I'll let Ross take over. 1. When I visited Holy Cross, you told me an amazing story about converting a bus into a tiny house. Could you share that story? My dad and I renovated an inherited 1959 35’ retired transit bus into an RV! When my Grandpa was studying at the University of Denver, he drove commercial busses in the 1960’s for a company called Trailways. When he retired, he and his diesel mechanic friend bought the same model bus broken down in a field in Florida. They fixed it up and would drive it to Truck shows around the country. It is a 1959 GM PD 4104 Bus; the same model the Freedom Riders burned down in civil rights protests. And it came from the same General Motors plant that produced bombers during WWII in Detroit, Michigan. In 2020, my grandpa passed. My dad and I had never driven in the bus or anything and it kind of just fell into our hands. We went through the thing as a team and learned to drive it and maintain the ancient 35’ aluminum vehicle. Shortly after, we renovated the interior to make it a usable camper/RV that we could take to campgrounds. It was previously renovated to an RV sometime in the 80’s, but the interior was in terrible shape. We used as much as possible from the old RV conversion and spiced up the interior into a pretty cool setup. We put up new walls, reused old ceiling tiles, reused and painted some cabinets, modified the original kitchen tile/drawers/etc so that it would work with a our desired new setup, etc etc. It took us about 2 months working on it everyday for a summer to finish the interior. The bus however is a constant project and it’s always in need of some sort of repair. The thing rocks! The bus! (Be sure to check out the video of the bus at the end.) 2. What benefits have you experienced from the bus conversion? I learned so much about construction, fabrication, and I learned that you can do cool things by building on top or modifying someone or something’s existing setup. It would have been way less effort to just buy a new modern fiberglass camper and have the thing ready to go. This Bus, despite its ancient age, is something that will hopefully last just as long as the fiberglass camper rolling off the factory floor. Newer isn’t always better. That fiberglass camper made in 2025 will likely fall apart and the frame will rot far before the aluminum bus retires from the road. Old used stuff is good too!!! 3. Has the experience with the bus made you look at traditional housing (and structures in general) differently? Totally. There’s this theory in environmental sociology called Onerous consumption. It’s typically used when analyzing how homesteaders or people who live off the grid interact with their environment. The idea is that they practice a careful life of consumption and are constantly evaluating how much water/electricity/gas, etc they are consuming because they do not have an unlimited supply via a nearby electrical plant. When we go camping in the bus, these same principles apply. You have to carefully calculate how long you can run appliances for to not drain the batteries and have to track how much water you are consuming to ensure enough for critical water enabled tasks. This has made me realize how incredibly wasteful my life is when I’m not camping and not limited by my batteries or water tank levels. Ross and his dad during the bus build. 4. So, while I'm certainly a solutions guy, we do have to address the problems. Where do you see the most waste in your daily life? Certainly in my consumption of water and electricity. When I’m at home, I can take a long comforting shower and run the washer and dryer without thinking twice. Sure, there is a bill that arrives at our doorstep every month, but I am not actively thinking about this when I turn the shower knob or activate my dryer. 5. In your personal experience, how do you think recycling has worked and NOT worked as a solution to waste? We’ve all been socialized in “reduce, reuse, recycle” since we were kids. You know, the idea that separating plastic from the trash bin is doing our part to go green. I think on an individual level, recycling actually has a net negative effect on how most people engage with their personal mission of ‘going green.’ I think separating trash from recycling and religiously taking the recycling out to the street every Monday lulls a lot of people into complacency. It feels like you’re doing something, but if you actually step back and analyze the systems that caused the waste, these systems are often broken and yet universally accepted. Let me be clear, I do recycle. But I understand that often times recycling won't actually achieve very much and it actually distracts me from the actual environmental problems. I like to think of it this way: instead of picking up all the trash on the beach once it washes up on shore (recycling), why don’t we trace the trash back to its original source (i.e., systems/companies that actually create the waste)? In my opinion, we are too focused on the products of wastefulness and not the systems that produce them. The idea of recycling and the push to encourage people to recycle focuses their efforts on a better way to deal with the products of waste. This lulls people away from those systemic calculations. In short, I think recycling, while well intentioned, often serves as a feel good distraction that masks deeper systemic issues driving environmental harm. By emphasizing individual action like sorting waste, we avoid confronting the industries and systems that generate excessive waste in the first place. True sustainability requires shifting focus from managing waste to preventing its creation. Environmental buzz words like recycling also enables huge corporate companies or other environmentally predatory systems (that are the biggest polluters) to ‘pat themselves on the back’ to their environmentally conscious consumers with buzz word initiatives. The environmentally conscious individual sees a recycling campaign as a "Hell yeah." So, when a large corporation boasts about recycling in the sustainability section of its website, despite its business model relying on environmental damage elsewhere, people look the other way and are satisfied with the corporate recycling initiative. I’m guilty of this. Who cares where a product comes from or where it goes when it’s discarded if it says "made from recycled materials" on it or the company website’s sustainability initiatives brag about rad buzz words like ‘composting’ and ‘recycling’ initiatives. Hey, as long as we place it in the blue bin when we’re finished with it who cares right? The consumer washes their hands of this problem. This is a resignation of conscience. Henry David Thoreau famously said a similar thing about voting and slavery in the 1800s: “I cast my vote, perchance, as I think right; but I am not vitally concerned that that right should prevail. I am willing to leave it to the majority. Its obligation, therefore, never exceeds that of expediency. Even voting for the right is doing nothing for it. It is only expressing to men feebly your desire that it should prevail. A wise man will not leave the right to the mercy of chance, not wish it to prevail through the power of the majority.” - Henry David Thoreau Civil Disobedience Talking about slavery and abolition, he’s saying that when people voted against slavery, but the majority of America elects representatives who still support slavery, progressive abolitionists had the following conclusion: ”Shoot! I voted against slavery but it didn’t sweep the majority. That’s all I can do. I will do absolutely nothing about this until the next election. Then a few years later, I’ll spend 5 minutes voting and hope my party wins. This cycle will repeat. And I’ll actively do nothing to act on my opinion but vote for a party that keeps losing. Better luck next time. Hope my neighbors in the south magically change their views and come to the same conclusion,” as slavery persists. The argument I’m making is that institutions like voting and buzz words like recycling lull us into complacency in unjust environmental systems similar to this. Let me be clear, buzz words like recycling and composting are cool things that can have real effects. The idea is that we can’t let these buzz words distract us as a cover up from the truth behind some predatory environmental systems. Recycling is often praised as a simple solution to environmental problems. We have this environmentally conscious energy and that is why so many people go out of the way to recycle. Imagine if we channeled that energy beyond the buzz words into the systemic cause or problems? The focus on personal habits, like tossing a bottle in the right bin, shifts attention away from the corporations and systems that profit from overproduction and disposability. If we’re serious about sustainability, the goal shouldn’t be cleaning up the mess. The goal should be not making it in the first place. HOW IT’S WORKED: I think recycling has worked amazingly for things like metal and industrial materials. For example, an important part broke on the rear axle of the bus. It weighed probably two thousand pounds or so; all super legit cast iron. The internal gears of the piece were seized, not to be used to propel a Bus again. But when it arrived at the scrap yard, those two thousand pounds of cast iron were undoubtedly and efficiently put to work in another product. This is a no brainer and should be expanded. Save your broken products of life from the dump and let’s create systems within our waste system to harvest reusable materials. The giant piece of the bus axle that was properly recycled at a scrap yard. Composting is also a cool form of recycling I’ve seen put to good use. It’s becoming more popular and it’s such a good way to use food scraps. All the thermal energetic potential in the food scraps we eat can so easily be fused into food fuel. It is still rare these days. There’s a private company in my town that does composting but it is not a town run program on a large scale. Let’s get a third bin out on our streets full of compost and reduce the need to produce food system fuel in its place. 6. How do you think the U.S. could step up the solutions to our waste problem? Have you seen or heard of anything anywhere else? I think just education. We’re all sheltered from the huge waste problem the U.S. has. I think there’s a statistic that if everyone lived like U.S. citizen’s we would need like 7 earths. That is crazy. The lifestyle we live is unsustainable but we are never really confronted with that. We are sheltered from this reality. If we all were a tad bit more educated about the gross overconsumption we engage with, I think the U.S. could actively work towards mitigating this problem. After all, it takes people who care to foster any change. And, if more people care, that is certainly a positive in reducing our waste. 7. It's funny. I always tell people that reusing is nothing new. It’s been going on long before we were here. Do you have any memories of your parents or grandparents reusing in unique ways ? I mean ALL the time. My family members are pros of the reuse movement. My grandpa would always save plastic planters from flowers and most of my family are infected with the ‘just incase’. Nothing too unique comes to mind but I’ve certainly been socialized in this mindset by those before me. Ross' grandfather with his vintage 1961 truck that he would bring to truck shows. Reusing to me is a double edged sword. I hold on to things that might have a use in the future; the random TV mount that I’ll probably never use, swaths of scrap wood, tripods with broken legs, old phone cases, etc etc. These things often come in super handy. When my wiring goes out on my bus, thank god I held onto that random float switch in the back corner of my garage that will solve the problem without having to buy a new one and it never was sent to the landfill; that is awesome. But, a lot of the things I hold onto never get that call up to the big leagues to be used perfectly in a problem solving manner. Often they just sit, which is okay. They are the ‘just incase’ after all. But, it does contribute to a lot of unnecessary clutter. Whenever I have moved my stuff to college or other places, there is so much of this ‘just incase’ stuff I’ve held onto that is sometimes a burden. That being said, I totally support to holding onto all the ‘just incase’ stuff – just be prepared for a little extra effort when it comes time to deal with it. 8. Do you have any notable stories about saving money on something because you bought it used instead of new? My dearest companion, my Sony A6300 mirrorless camera is a used warrior. I saved for about a year delivering pizza in my high school days to purchase my first big boy camera. I couldn’t even come close to affording it new so I fired up eBay and went searching for a deal. This thing has been the most reliable work horse ever. I saved $500/600+ just because someone before me took a few pictures with it. It’s been with me for almost a decade now and it’s chugging along like it just came off the factory floor. Used isn’t always worse as most people seem to think; point in case is my old Sony camera. Ross with his Sony A6300 camera during a Holy Cross shoot on how climate change is affecting alcoholic cider producers in New England. Also, my dad held onto lots of foam insulation board...a total ‘just incase.’ Well, long story short, we built an 18’ wooden motorboat during Covid and guess what we used for floatation foam?? We went rummaging through that saved foam board from the ‘just incase’ stash. It worked perfect and saved us a ton of money. The wooden motorboat that Ross and his dad built. Stay tuned for his next project with this! 9. Have you ever taken anything out of the recycling bin or trash to reuse somehow or maybe found something on the side of the road? Yup. All the time. I live pretty close to where I went to college. Taking advantage of this geographical advantage and the gross over consumption habits of college students, after move-out each May, I would walk the halls to ‘poach’ any cool stuff that people couldn’t fit in their cars or simply left behind. Some notable acquisitions are a flatscreen TV, Rubbermaid folding table, some sweet speakers, a desk, etc etc. It’s incredible what people brush off to the landfill. The computer monitor I’m typing this on right now was a free special off the side of the road in a nearby neighborhood – still chugging strong!!! 10. And lastly, what’s the best thing that you ever got used and why? Got a photo? This army surplus tool kit. You’re looking at a serious tool kit here bought in surplus after the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. If you were to buy similar tools new this would cost an arm and a leg. My uncle gifted this to me for Christmas one year and I seriously use it almost every day when I’m home. Someone wrenching on stuff as often as me would be tempted to go down to Lowes and buy some shiny new stainless steel tools. This stuff however, despite its age, works like an absolute dream and is seriously the best gift I’ve ever gotten. The U.S. army’s surplus trash is another man’s treasure...USED FOR THE WIN. Ross' army surplus tool kit. This has (and will continue to be) put to great use. Here’s the video of the bus including: I. Exterior tour/history of the bus II. How to Drive/Shift the bus III. Interior RV Tour To follow along with Ross' building journey, and learn more about his bus check out his YouTube Channel. To order a One of a Kind REUSE! T-Shirt like Ross is wearing in his profile photo, head over to the STAY VOCAL One of a Kind Gallery. COMMENT SECTION BELOW

As we're preparing a busy event season over the next coming months, I thought I'd share some visual highlights from the past few months. And these were just some of our events and consulting projects! If you're interested in hosting one of our events, click here. If you're interested in consulting, click here . The REUSE! Roadshow at The Bronxville School in Bronxville, NY Seeing (and smelling) composting in action at Rye Country Day School in Rye, NY Box Truck Film Screening and Q&A at Greenwich Academy in Greenwich, CT Breaking the record of humans inside the Box Truck at one time: 45! All set up for The REUSE! Roadshow at College of the Holy Cross The release of the Vegan Potter Reuse Mug Collection and STAY VOCAL Tie Dye Collaborations at Glaze Handmade in Stonington, CT Speaking at Pinkerton Academy in Derry, NH Can you find The REUSE! Box Truck Tiny House at Governor's Academy in Byfield, MA? ​Our outdoor event got rained out, so we set up the Reuse Art Gallery inside the Box Truck at Newburyport Art in Newburyport, MA STAY VOCAL shirts donated for the Zero Waste Providence Tote Bag Sew-In in Providence, RI The REUSE! Roadshow at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, MA Screening and Q&A at Barclays Global Technology and Operations Hub in Whippany, NJ Veg Out food festival in Troy, NY Shirt collaboration with Heartland Radio , "The Best Country Music On The Airwaves" One area of a consulting project at Song of the Robin Animal Sanctuary in New Lebanon, NY. Which version of the shed do you like better? COMMENT SECTION BELOW

For two years during the pandemic, I cleaned out my childhood home where my dad lived; the home of a collector of things. I spent countless hours organizing, cleaning, researching, selling, donating, and purging in all sorts of ways. It was a great pandemic project while events weren't happening and certainly helped clean out the house to sell it. But, it completely burnt me out. Over the past couple of years, I haven't been as inspired as I once was to resell things. What once was fun just stressed me out. But after my dad's passing in May, I began to feel more inspired to find homes for his remaining things. And it's been nice sharing pieces of his massive Volkswagen collection with his family, friends, and other people that I know who have a Volkswagen. As I felt that inspiration to purge again, I decided to start going through some of my dad's "smaller" collections that I had not gotten around to during the pandemic. Doing a box at a time seemed much more manageable than the room at a time that I dealt with before. So, I recently dove into the postcards and greeting cards that he had from my great uncle in the early 1900s. I feel like I owe it to my family and to my dad to find homes for things in the right way. But the right way doesn't have to take so much of my energy and time. After this past weekend, I started to see that it was doing just that and I was on a path to do more. The more I research, the more I sell, the more I pack, the more I do waste some of my time. Surrounded by some of my dad's matchbox car collection. I can't be responsible for everyone else's excess and everyone else's waste. I've learned this through my work with STAY VOCAL and T-Shirts too. I need to be responsible for my stuff. And I need to be the one encouraging others to deal with their own excess and waste and connecting them with the right people and the right solutions. I can't and don't want to be the one doing something with "the stuff." The more time I focus on that, the less time I have for my real work with reuse. All that said, I'm so glad that I started doing the eBay listings again, so I could be reminded of what I need to be doing and NOT doing. Fortunately this time, it took just a couple of weeks, not a couple of years. And this isn't to say that I'm done selling things completely. I do find "treasure hunting" fun. But it has to be a very small side gig and not interfere with my regular day. Speed and delegation need to be valued much higher. Like yesterday, I sold a whole bunch of postcards and greeting cards in bulk to one person. We ended up having a great conversation about collectibles, upcycling, my other work with reuse, etc. That's more of how I can help get rid of stuff and do the work that I need to be doing. Not to mention, those in-person connections and conversations are what we all need more of right now. For more on this topic, here are my thoughts on A Responsibility For Our Legacy Curious about my dad's massive Volkswagen collection ? Here are the vintage postcards and greeting cards that I was working on. COMMENT SECTION BELOW

So, I'm currently working on an exciting campaign around National Reuse Day on October 20th. I'm setting out to team up with people to host screenings of my film, REUSE! Because You Can't Recycle The Planet ., in ALL 50 STATES throughout the month of October. Since I filmed the documentary in all 48 contiguous states, I thought screenings in all 48 (plus the two I didn't visit) would just make sense! A new design for the campaign just finished by artist, Brad Bianchi. I recently watched the film in full for the first time in a while and I realized that it's more relevant than ever. It got me thinking that it would actually resonate with more people now, as it's becoming clearer and clearer that recycling is not working. People need a waste solution that actually works and reuse is that solution. So, who do I want to I team up with? Anyone who has a deep concern for the future of our planet and wants to be able to educate people on practical and effective actions that we can all take immediately; no policies needed. 🤝 individuals 🤝 businesses 🤝 cities and towns 🤝 libraries 🤝 organizations 🤝 schools A community screening in Washinton. A screening is a great way to promote reuse, sustainability, and our shared planet that we're all fighting for. And to make the screenings accessible and affordable, the license fee is just a flat $100 ; for both free and paid admission screenings. Included with that is an entire promotional toolkit to make your screening a success. As an add-on, I'll also be available for virtual and in-person Q&A sessions (when time allows). If you're interested in hosting a screening, the licenses and answers to most questions are available here. If you know someone who would be into hosting an event, please share this link with them. I know that I sound like a broken record when I say this, but the more we work together, the more positive change we can create. And one of my favorite math equations is 1+1=3. That's what these screenings are all about. An updated flyer for the film.

THIS is progress! As someone who has been a part of many "eco-friendly" events over the past couple decades, I love seeing these kinds of changes. And I'm more than happy that Escape The Waste is an official partner of the event. Launched last year, Mass Eco Fest was the first single-use plastic-free event in Massachusetts and the second annual event is happening next Saturday, June 28th. 🚫 NO new plastic wrapped products 🚫 NO plastic food packaging 🚫 NO plastic bags 👍 ALL sustainable options for things that we need and want 👍 Reusables are encouraged for attendees to celebrate a day where single use plastic takes a back seat The main goal of the event is to create a family-friendly environment free of plastic! Mass Eco Fest will feature an array of activities including live music, family-friendly entertainment. It's a day to celebrate our planet and highlight local makers, vendors, and individuals leading the charge against plastic pollution in Massachusetts. Vendors and food trucks are hand-picked to only include those who champion sustainability through practices such as pre-cycling, using natural materials, and upcycling existing resources. Volunteer Anita Coco and Alex I'll be at the event with an Escape The Waste booth and showcasing info on our sustainability events and films and our various reuse solutions for waste: STAY VOCAL clothing, Deek's scrap art, reuse mugs and more. We'll also be outfitting all staff members and volunteers with REUSE! Because You Can't Recycle The Planet T-Shirts. No need to make volunteer shirts! Cheers to Sabrina Auclair at Unpacked Living Inc. for putting this together and all of her tireless efforts for a better Massachusetts. For all of the event info, head to the Mass Eco Fest site. Sabrina from Unpacked Living, a volunteer, and Alys from Supply Bulk Foods.

This is an exciting post for me to write. I'm happy to say that I'm looking for someone to join the  Escape The Waste  team as an Events Booking Manager. The past few months have been the busiest event season that I've ever had. Things are taking off in more ways than expected with my various sustainability events and they're about to get even busier. I have a big, yet-to-be-announced campaign for the fall.  I've been booking many of the events myself for the past few years. It's now time for me to focus on other priorities for Escape the Waste and to hand this over to an experienced booking manager. That feels like a good thing for sure!  OK. So, what does the job look like? You'll be setting up various events like: 🎤 Speaking engagements  🎥 Film Screenings for my two documentary films on reuse 🚚🏠 Appearances of my sustainable Tiny House And the benefits: 💻 Mainly remote, but living in New England is a plus ⏱️ Flexible Hours And what kind of person am I looking for? Someone with: 🌎 Enthusiasm for reuse and sustainability 🙋 Familiar with my work 📢 Marketing and communications experience   If you or anyone in your network is interested, send me an email for full details. 🤝

A mountainous trash bin on a street in Boston. I've seen similar situations far too often. So, serious question here. This is something that I think about ALL THE TIME and I finally have to ask all of my fellow coffee drinkers out there. What would it take YOU to actually stop using disposable coffee cups and regularly use a reusable cup instead?   ☕ Would it be coffee shops simply not offering disposable cups?  ☕ Would it be a bigger discount if you bring your own cup?  ☕ Would it be an upcharge by coffee shops if you get a disposable cup?  ☕ Would it be a law that says coffee shops can't use disposable cups?  ☕ Would it be if disposable cups said phrases like, "I like waste." or "I'm a trashy human." or "This cup is harmful to my health."  ☕ Something else? I recently went into yet another coffee shop that has a bin with various holes for recycling and trash (ah hem, Starbucks ). I saw the barista take the bags out back and when she came back in, I asked, "Do all of the trash and recycling bags just go in the same dumpster?" Not surprisingly, the answer was, "Yes." So, even when customers think they're doing something good, they're not. What are the reasons that I've heard from the numerous coffee shops and restaurants that I've seen do this? "The landlord doesn't pay for a recycling pickup." OR "The customers don't put the right things in each bin." Even given the options, customers regularly just put trash and recycling in both. Why would any business spend money on making people feel better about their choices, only to throw it all away? Whatever the reason, it's more reminders that no matter how easy recycling is made, the reality of things actually being recycled is very low. There was that great example about Starbucks at the end of 2024 about this . So, what's the solution? Encourage Reuse! As consumers, WE have a lot of power. We can bring our own dang mugs! When we choose to reuse, we know exactly where the reusables are going and the impact it's making. It's not wishcycling and hoping everyone in a chain does the right thing. WE can do the right thing. But again, what's it gonna take for people to actually do this? For me, I made the decision over 17 years ago that I would not drink coffee out of a disposable cup anymore.  ☕ I hated seeing discarded styrofoam cups in the streets.   ☕ Hot drinks tasted differently in plastic lined "paper' cups.  ☕ I liked saving money by getting a discount.  ☕ I liked the stainless steel cup that I had.  ☕ I wanted to be an example. Below is the impact that my 17 years of reusing coffee cups has made. All of this said, I'd love to work with coffee shops, individuals, and organizations who are OR want to do more to promote reusable coffee cups. Reach out. Let's talk. COMMENT SECTION BELOW

A Competitor for Clothing Sales? No. A Collaborator for Change. A few years ago, I was at one of the numerous vegan events where I sell my STAY VOCAL reuse clothing. In the corner of the room, I saw a massive display of various vegan and animal rights themed T-Shirts. While I was impressed and thought so many of the designs were really cool, I haven't bought new shirts since 2007. But with the wild array of retro 80s and 90s themes and slogans I aligned with, I couldn't just avoid the booth. As we were fellow vendors at numerous events, I got to be friendly with the woman behind the Vegan Power Co. booth, Alicia Perkins. Alicia would also stop by my booth and geek out at my vintage trading card magnets. And she would talk about how she loved the reuse mission and wanted to do more eco friendly things with her brand. That got me thinking. She wasn't just another vendor. What I've learned countless times is that when you're trying to make actual positive change in this world, don't let competition come into play. Collaboration is key. That's why over the past few years, Alicia and I have teamed up for rescue bandanas for animals, 1 of a Kind REUSE! T-Shirts to benefit animals affected by the fires in Los Angeles, and now we're getting ready for a full on reuse cover up T-Shirt release. The more we work together, the more positive change we can actually create; for people, for our planet, and for animals. OK, here's Alicia. 1. You have a very specific style and color pallet with your designs. Could you talk about where you draw your inspiration from and why? I love 80s & 90s nostalgia - particularly the logos, typography & design aesthetic of that era! Just a fan of bold, saturated color in general. I like to "wear my personality out loud" haha!  Alicia found a perfect 1 of a Kind REUSE! Tee for her style, but her daughter has since taken it over. 2. Besides veganism and animal rights, you feature different messages in your designs. Could you talk about what inspires you to use your platform to start those conversations? I see ALL issues of oppression and liberation as interconnected. We can't stand for the rights of one marginalized group without seeking justice for all who suffer under oppression. Animal rights are often the gateway for folks to understand that the same systems of oppression that exist to commodify animal bodies & profit from their exploitation are the same systems that seek to limit rights of women, POC, queer and trans folks, disabled people, the poor, etc etc. We are united in this way and we can't talk about liberation for one without liberation for all. We all have a responsibility to use whatever platform we have to speak out against injustices of all kinds. Otherwise we are just willing participants in an ethically bankrupt charade of capitalism. One of Alicia's more self-explanatory shirts. 3. OK. I can't not ask you a question about food. I know that we both love traveling and visiting restaurants. We also have both spent a lot of time on the east and west coasts, where you live now. So, here's a hyper specific question about food. What's a restaurant that you've visited who does a good job at cutting down on waste and how? I always gravitate towards places that take a more farm-to-table approach and tailor their menus to what is more local & seasonally available. It's fresher, more delicious, more cost-efficient and of course, eating local (and vegan) cuts back on transportation emissions & other waste associated with importing all your ingredients. My #1 life-changing experience of this though was just recently in Iceland at a place called Fri∂heimar tomato farm. It's a family owned and operated farm that harnesses geothermal heat in greenhouses to grow tomatoes and other produce year round. Guests learn about their innovations in sustainability while dining on a tomato-centric food and drink menu amongst the tomato plants!  Alicia inside one of the greenhouses at Fri∂heimar tomato farm and one of the dishes they prepare. 4. So, while I'm certainly a solutions guy, we do have to address the problems. Where do you see the most waste in your daily life? As a small business vendor I witness first-hand the amount of waste created at vegan festivals and street markets. Some festival organizations do a better job of mitigating this than others, but we all, vendors and patrons alike, myself included, can do a LOT better when it comes to reducing single use items and better "planning ahead" when it comes to circumventing opportunities for waste. For example, I've cultivated habits of bringing my reusable bottles/coffee cup/metal straw/reusable bags/etc most places I go, but just recently we had dinner together and it absolutely blew my mind that you brought a reusable container with you for leftovers! Like, you can DO THAT?! At a restaurant?! Why had this very simple step never occurred to me before? It was a very A-HA moment for me. I think a lot of unintentional waste is just like this. Sometimes the ways we can reduce waste aren't immediately obvious and it takes a "spark" from a more seasoned-reuser, haha. Then it just takes a little more planning and cultivating better habits over time.  An update to Alicia's booth is her "Be Kind Rewind Finds" rack of vintage and secondhand pieces. 5. In your personal experience, how do you think recycling has worked and NOT worked as a solution to waste? I'm not super educated on this but I was floored to recently find out that only a fraction of what we put in recycling bins actually gets recycled. So the concept of recycling can't be the "excuse" or catch-all for us to keep carrying on as we have, waste-wise.  6. How do you think the U.S. could step up the solutions to our waste problem? Have you seen or heard of anything anywhere else? Again, I'm not super well-versed in this area but I recently spent time in both the UK and Iceland and experienced how differently they handle consumption and waste. It is ingrained in their culture. For example, in Iceland there were almost zero single use items at all - everything is served on real cups and plates. But that also comes with a cultural expectation that you stop and take time to sit and enjoy your coffee, etc. It's SO unlike the American hustle culture, that creates single-use waste as a byproduct of this on-the-go mentality. Also portion sizes in Iceland and the UK are a lot more "realistic" so we found ourselves with less opportunity to waste, etc. This is just one example of the interplay of cultural differences with waste-reducing practices.  7. It's funny. I always tell people that reusing is nothing new. It’s been going on long before we were here. Do you have any memories of your parents or grandparents reusing in unique ways? Of course, they existed long before fast-fashion and this notion that everything was disposable. You actually mended clothes that had holes or tears! Repaired shoes whose soles had broken. Tailored clothes that didn't fit. These are almost lost practices. Also, every jar and container was reused for storage of other food or items. This was before "Tupperware parties" and plastic containers made for the sole purpose of storage really caught on. Everything really shifted with my parents' (boomer) generation with the rise of all of these convenience-oriented products and practices. As a result, our generation was raised with a different, more wasteful mindset. A lot of my adult life has been about questioning and undoing some of these bad habits that until recently we just blindly accepted as the way our parents did things.  One of Alicia's favorite repurposed items - a vintage bike basket mounted in the bathroom for extra storage. 8. Do you have any notable stories about saving money on something because you bought it used instead of new? Absolutely. When I became a parent, it really hit home how temporary some of our needs for certain "stuff" are and nothing drives that point home more than a fast growing baby, haha! How silly to keep buying new clothing that they will outgrow in a few weeks or months. And all the books, toys, and gear that is needed for one stage of a child's development but then quickly bypassed. I really discovered the incredible value of hand-me-downs, buying from kids-specific second-hand shops & utilizing amazing local communities like Buy Nothing groups.  9. Have you ever taken anything out of the recycling bin or trash to reuse somehow or maybe found something on the side of the road? Absolutely. Some of my favorite furniture & decor items were road-side treasure, haha! We also joke that when our daughter was young, she never needed toys just random junk from the recycling bin that she would repurpose for art supplies and building creations. It's no surprise that she is a HUGE fan of the Box Truck film and your work, Alex. I have a lot of hope for this generation of kiddos.  Some of Alicia's favorite roadside finds: the red storage unit and vintage Halloween decor. With her love for all things spooky, Alicia of course leaves those up year-round. 10. And lastly, what’s the best thing that you ever got used and why? Got a photo? I have a fire-engine red refurbished 1960s tanker desk in my office. I'm using it right now as I write this, haha! Alicia's 1960s metal tanker desk in her office. Notice any vintage trading card magnets? To learn more about Alicia and her brand, check out the Vegan Power Co. website. To order one of the bandanas like Alicia is holiding in her profile photo, head over to the STAY VOCAL shop. Stay Tuned! Alicia and I have another STAY VOCAL collaboration coming real soon... COMMENT SECTION BELOW

Last week, my dad passed away. Fortunately, there were many members of our family with him. And coincidentally that afternoon, his cousin's daughter had emailed me this photo from my recent talk at her high school in New Hampshire. The photo on the screen is me as a kid doing a jigsaw puzzle with my dad. There has already been a tornado of thoughts and feelings in my head and not everything has processed. I guess you're never really prepared to lose a parent. But there is one thing that is floating around constantly (and why I'm writing this post on my work website). The person I have become and my work with reuse is a deeply conscious and simultaneously subconscious result of my dad's lifestyle. And while I didn't always recognize them at the time, I'm quite thankful for all of the opportunities that my dad gave me. My dad loved flea markets and yard sales. I grew up in a house where repair was the norm. Things were regularly brought back from the local dumps. There was always a planned project for something that he set aside. For a myriad of reasons, my dad unfortunately couldn't finish all of his projects. This certainly gave me the drive for finishing my own and also sharing the importance of reuse with others. I've known that the education component has been a part of my calling, but I realize now, that's also a way that I can honor my dad and his legacy. With each day that goes by, I'm realizing more and more that we don't need to hold on to the items to hold on to the memories. Items are just reminders and they can be anywhere. It's truly more about the places that we went and the things that we did. I know this situation is certainly going to influence my work in various ways as time goes on. But for now, I've slowed down and become more present with my family. I sense this moment is another chapter beginning for all of us. ~~~+++~~~

Observing From The Outside and Inspiring Change from The Inside Back in the late 1990s, I ran a street promotions company in Boston; mainly for record companies and their artists. One of our main tactics to promote albums was putting up poster boards around phone poles in high traffic areas. And one of the bands that we worked for was Pilfers, a ska/punk/reggae band from New York. In 1999, the band came to Boston to play a show at one of the clubs near Fenway Park. I wanted to make a big splash for them, so my team and I put up a ton of posters along the entire street. When the band showed up, they were stoked. It was like a giant welcoming party with posters lining the street. Unfortunately, though, the local authorities weren't equally as happy. They threatened to charge the band a fine for each poster and since I had gone a little crazy, it was going to be around a $20,000 fine! Fortunately, it all got sorted out by the band and venue and I think we had to take some (or all) of them down. But as the saying goes, any press is good pres. The band loved it, especially the singer, Coolie Ranx, and a friendship was born. In the winter of 2000, I had one of those moments that I'll always remember. I was in an Ocean State Job lot shopping with my mom and luckily, I was an early adopter of cell phones. I got a call from Coolie and he asked me if I wanted to be the band's new merch guy and go on tour with them for 2 months... leaving in 2 days! Without much deliberation, I said yes. And it was one of the best decisions that I ever made. Later that day, my mom took me to a Circuit City, where I got my first laptop (one of the only new ones I've bought), and I was ready to hit the road with the band. Talking about one of the shirts I sold on tour when I gave it away a decade ago. On that tour, Coolie took me under his wing in various ways and those experiences started a whole chain of events of me touring around the world doing merch for bands. I'm so glad that I could stay connected with him over the years. And while our worlds are seperate these days, all I need to do is put on a Pilfers song or video and be transported back to those important times in my life. Alright, let's meet Coolie. 1. So, when I was working for Pilfers, we had a few items at the merch booth that were printed on pre-owned garments; like gas station shirts and imperfect blank basketball jerseys from Champion. Why do you think these were so popular at that time in the punk and ska scene? Have they made a comeback at all? At the time, it was accessible, comfortable clothing that we made the fabric of the scene for the simple. We carved out a fashion of the day, which hails from the rockabilly scene. The first time I ever saw these type shirts was on "Happy Days," the tv show. In Pilfers world, basketball jerseys will always be fashionable. Sadly enough, the basketball jerseys are made overseas and the outlets we used to go to no longer exist. The gas station workman's shirts haven't made a resurgence yet, but they will for sure. I took this photo of Coolie and Nick from Pilfers in 2000 with a one man band that we met on tour. Coolie's wearing one of the Pilfers jerseys printed on a discarded, blank Detroit Pistons jersey. 2. With your music and your online presence, you have certainly not been quiet about your beliefs and politics. Could you talk about what has inspired you to use your platform to start those conversations?  I'm a first generation illegal-turned-legal immigrant. My views have always been one of an outsider looking in; not comparing anything to anything, just being able to be objective. I loved history growing up and enjoyed the stories of civil rights told by the older folks on the block: Vietnam vets and just people I would come in contact with. I experienced racism and injustice at an early age of 9. I saw how quickly life could be turned upside down for me in mere seconds for being the wrong shade of color. I was picked up from my stoop in front of my family home and brought to the hospital for an impromptu line up where a man was injured and paraded in front of him. He determined that I was not the person who assaulted him. The cops didn't ask or inform my parents; just took me off my stoop. Life could have been different if he decided anyone could pay for his injury. Many more incidents, but it's too long to write. One of the vintage Pilfers shirts printed on used work shirts. 3. Since I stopped touring years ago, I haven't visited a lot of venues around the country like I used to. Have there been any positive sustainability changes that you've seen?  I would say, Alex, things haven't changed much. No healthy choices are readily available for musicians, as dietary supplements go. Although cigarette smoking isn't a thing anymore. 4. So, while I'm certainly a solutions guy, we do have to address the problems. Where do you see the most waste in your daily life? I would just start with the food industry. The laws providing homeless people food are archaic at best. You can be arrested for giving people food, while the industry discards tons of food daily. I donated several of my coats last year to my nieces church. I have just two winter coats. Mind you, I have had most of my coats for over 15 years. A mini-reunion of my first tour when I saw Pilfers play with J. Navarro & the Traitors in Boston. 5. In your personal experience, how do you think recycling has worked and NOT worked as a solution to waste?  Well, I can tell you as a person who recycles religiously in our home, the waste can be used to make other products and not clog up and poison the earth's airs, lands and waters. Recycling is like a natural process like growing food. You plant, you eat, you plant again, you throw the remnants back into the soil. You wear, you outgrow, you recycle, you break down the material into something else and the clothes are reborn again.  6. It's funny. I always tell people that reusing is nothing new. It’s been going on long before we were here. Do you have any memories of your parents or grandparents reusing in unique ways?  Actually, my mum in England always composts, bought old bikes, fixed them up for us, and we were taught to sew holes in our clothes. The phrase, "Waste not, Want not," was common in the house. Coolie with his mom, brother, and family friends using some of those old bikes that she fixed up. 7. Do you have any notable stories about saving money on something because you bought it used instead of new? Ok, so I look for the open-items in Home Depot, as I know they'll throw them out. I actually make it a mission to seek out the open items. I buy my salt for the pavements, I buy cement  and sand to pave the sidewalk, I buy tiles, I buy broken plaster. It's just my thing, because I know for sure it's discount time.  At the end of the day, they'll discard them. 8. Have you ever taken anything out of the recycling bin or trash to reuse somehow or maybe found something on the side of the road? Funny you say that. I dumpster-dive in my old area, it's a college town and have found tables and chairs that have followed me to my new home. A table that Coolie found on the side of the road in his neighborhood near Fordham University. Every year, students leave giant piles of possessions for the trash pickup. Fortunately, a lot of it gets rescued from neighbors. The old Alex in me wants to put a big Pilfers sticker on it. To learn more about Coolie and listen to Pilfers' music, connect with Coolie on Instagram or check out the Pilfers Bandcamp. To order a One of a Kind REUSE! T-Shirt like Coolie is wearing in his profile photo, head over to the STAY VOCAL One of a Kind Gallery. COMMENT SECTION BELOW

Today, I'd like to announce one of our new partners: An Eco Organized Approach Located in Stoughton, Massachusetts (where The REUSE! Box Truck was built), An Eco Organized Approach "is the premium solution for individuals seeking to organize your home or business, reclaim sanity, and create function out of chaos." Mary Ellen Lundy, the founder of An Eco Organized Approach, is not only helping people organize their home, but also purge clutter to help her clients escape wasted time, money, and stress. She helps people get their unwanted items to people in their community; even items that they think would have no use. The more Mary Ellen and her team can keep out of the landfill, the better. One thing that we obviously agree on is that there's just one planet and we need to do our best to protect it. Mary Ellen (right) packing things at a house cleanout. (Photo c/o anecoorganizedapproach.com ) Mary Ellen and Deek have actually known each other for years. He's helped her with house clean outs in the past and attended her annual "free" yard sale with items that she has collected throughout the year. This is such a cool concept. Once a donation has been made to the local food pantry, people are welcome to "shop" for free. All this said, it really was time to make this relationship official! 🚚 🤝 🗂️ Mary Ellen showing Deek a very unique, vintage wine bottle at a recent house clean out. Mary Ellen's logo is featured on the movie screen side of the box truck and will be seen by the thousands of people that tour the truck this year. Head over to the An Eco Organized Approach website to learn more and maybe book an appointment for yourself. 🤝🤝🤝 If you or your organization is interested in partnering with the Escape The Waste team, we've got some spots left. Email me here.

The recent launch of dyed STAY VOCAL shirts at Glaze Handmade in Stonington, CT. Years ago, I acquired a lot of white T-Shirts from a company that went out of business. And as anyone who owns a white T-Shirt can guess, white tees are especially tough to keep clean in inventory. So, over the years, I've been setting aside numerous unworn STAY VOCAL shirts that were stained or discolored in a storage container marked, "To Be Tie Dyed." I didn't want the shirts to go to waste and I knew the dye would make all of those discolorations just blend in with the pattern. Small discolorations are an eyesore on a white shirt, but become just part of a dyed shirt's pattern. I knew the day would come when I would meet the right local(ish) person to dye the shirts. Well, recently my friend Lyndsay from Glaze Handmade connected me with two of the right people in Eastern Connecticut; both doing different styles of dyeing. Indigo Dyed STAY VOCAL Tees These shirts are a collaboration with Loria Dziedzic of Fiber and Mud , a small batch indigo dyer in Pachaug, Connecticut. The designs were originally printed on blank white and light blue garments and the shirts were then dyed with indigo to hide discolorations. Indigo is a natural dye obtained from the leaves of some plants of the Indigofera genus. Shop the Indigo Dyed STAY VOCAL Collection Here Ice Dyed STAY VOCAL Tees These shirts are a collaboration with Casey Brennan of Hide Sustle in Stonington, Connecticut. The designs were originally printed on mostly white garments and the shirts were then ice dyed with various colors to hide discolorations. Ice dyeing is a process where powder dye is sprinkled on top of (or under) ice cubes with a shirt at the bottom. Shop the Ice Dyed STAY VOCAL Collection Here I was definitely stoked when I picked all of the shirts up at Glaze last week. Before, these were shirts that looked ruined and I felt like I had wasted money and resources. Now, they look rad and I'm excited to see them on people. I'm already setting aside the next batch too.