CONGRATULATIONS to the winners and finalists—you are all reuse heroes!

See the program guide | Read the press release | Learn about the finalists

The Reusies® celebrates the pioneers, the trailblazers, the innovators and game-changing heroes who are developing a better way than throw-away, advancing systemic change and co-creating a world where we can get what we need and want without all the waste.

The Reusies 2023 was held on June 7, live at Circularity 23—and live-streamed around the world.

The winners of the Reusies 2023

**Daniel Vukelich**

Taking on the one-way throw-away paradigm from a unique angle, Dan provides hospital management and policy makers with the tools to reduce greenhouse emissions, cost, and waste through the safe reuse of "single-use" medical devices. When he began this work in 2000, roughly $20M worth of single-use devices were collected and reprocessed at a handful of hospitals. Today over $468M worth of these devices are reused at over 10,500 hospitals. He has worked tirelessly to advocate for strict regulations globally to level the playing field and keep patients safe; educate EU and US policy makers on well-designed life cycle studies; and speak with surgeons, nurses, and hospital purchasing agents on the rapid growth of the field.

**Reuse Seattle**

Reuse Seattle brings reusable food and beverage container solutions to the city’s businesses and residents. Their vision is for a convenient, connected, interoperable, and standardized network of reuse systems throughout the city. Through Reuse Seattle’s efforts, more than 20 venues around Seattle now have reuse services in operation, and a wash facility has been established in the city. To help more businesses make the switch to reuse, Reuse Seattle launched a rebate program that will provide incentives and assistance to up to 250 businesses. Through partnership and collaboration, Reuse Seattle is building the blueprint for systems change at a citywide level.

**The Town of Banff**

As a town located in Canada's first national park, with wildlife and sensitive ecosystems all around, reducing landfill waste in Banff is a key priority. As a result of grassroots efforts led by groups “The Bear Minimum” and “Banff Isn’t Disposable”, the Town alongside a Business Environmental Leadership Working Group, developed a Single-Use Item Reduction Strategy & Bylaw adopted in 2023. The bylaw, among the first in Canada of its kind, requires reusables for on-site dining. It also includes a strategy focused on reduction and reuse, tailored to their unique tourism-based context. Beginning in 2024, Banff aims to be a community where there are “no takeaway only businesses” which they see as a strong message to send to visitors from around the globe.

Re:Dish delivers reuse-as-a-service, providing the warewashing infrastructure and software that makes reuse possible at scale. They offer solution to third parties as well as a Reusable Dishware Program, helping foodservice generate less waste, and companies and schools meet their ESG goals. In 2022, Re:Dish enabled the diversion of 32 thousand pounds of waste, reduced CO2e emissions by 47K kgs, and saved more than 65 thousand gallons of water from client sites. With Re:Dish, institutions help normalize reuse behavior every day, proving that when you enable individuals to participate in the reuse economy at scale, exponential progress can be made towards fighting climate change and mitigating the waste crisis.

Re:Dish

Partnering with universities, multi-family buildings and commercial real estate developers to install laundry soap refill stations, Generation Conscious has built a zero waste, zero water infrastructure to end hygiene insecurity and create a paradigm shift necessary in U.S. consumer culture.It is a first-generation Black-led company that employs local labor, reinvests surplus profits into BIPOC and queer-led fellowships, and ensures economic success is shared by the workers. In one year, they’ve grown from 2 to 23 University paid partners, amassing more than 500 student volunteers and 71 first-generation low income student workers. Since 2021, Generation Conscious has also eliminated 4.8 tons of water, saved 154 tons of carbon emissions and diverted 32,000 plastic jugs from landfills, incinerators and the environment.

Generation Conscious

The Renewal Workshop (TRW), acquired by Bleckmann in 2022 identified a need in the market for apparel and textile brands to extend the life of their post-consumer products that were once considered waste. So they created “The Renewal System” restoring products to standardized conditions for resale. Bleckmann partners with brands to tell a new and different story to their customers, increasing brand equity, loyalty, retention and customer value, as the leading provider of circular solutions for apparel and textile brands. From 2016 to 2022, TRW experts and their partners have prevented 693 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions, saved 99 million gallons of water, and prevented the use of 686,000 lbs of toxic chemicals.

Bleckmann (The Renewal Workshop)

Clorox has ambitious plastic and waste reduction goals, including a 50% combined reduction in virgin plastic and fiber packaging by 2030; 100% recyclable, reusable or compostable packaging by 2025; double post-consumer recycled plastic in packaging by 2030; among others. They recently launched a Bathroom Foaming & Multi-Purpose Spray refill system, which features up to 80% plastic reduction throughout product life. Clorox’s long-term vision goes beyond this one product launch – they broadly encourage category transformation that can lead to significant reductions and encourage consumers to reuse and refill. Spray refills are one such example that can enable significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, plastic use, transport cost, among many more.