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Here’s a recap of what you’ve helped
us accomplish most recently:
In October we launched our
latest campaign – Bring Back
Refill – targeting global beverage giant
Coca-Cola. Coke was an early refillables pioneer
whose bottlers charged a refundable deposit on
its trademark glass bottles. But as our short
doc expose (which screened at the global plastic
treaty negotiations in Nairobi — you can watch
it on our YouTube channel!) shows, the company
decided in the early 1970s to kill refillables
in favor of single-use, disposable plastic
bottles, even though its own researchers told
executives of the environmental harm that would
come.
Several years ago, Coca-Cola
announced a commitment to put 25% of its product
globally in refillable packaging by 2030, but
tellingly made no commitment at all in the
United States, its largest market. So we’re
going to hold Coke to account for that global
commitment here at home by passing refill quotas
in legislatures around the country, starting
with states with existing container deposit
systems that can facilitate the return of
beverage bottles.
In addition to our refillables
campaign, we’ll also be working with grassroots
groups and local elected officials to pass reuse
ordinances in cities around the country; and
we’ll build on the Right to Repair bill we
helped to pass in California this year with a
push for national legislation that gives users
of everything from iPhones to farm equipment the
instructions, tools and parts necessary to keep
products in working condition and out of
landfills.
We premiered another short
documentary in October — Burning
Injustice — which profiles the
multigenerational fight of a grassroots group in
California’s Central Valley to shut down one of
our home state’s two remaining solid waste
incinerators. We brought their inspiring story
to the big screen at the San Francisco Green
Film Festival, where it was honored with the
festival’s Audience Award for Best Short!
When negotiators gathered in Paris
in May for talks on a global plastics treaty we
created a 3-minute explainer that broke down
what they were up to, and we also helped several
frontline activists participate directly by
offsetting their travel costs to the summit.
Earlier this year, when a train
derailment in East Palestine, OH resulted in a
toxic release of vinyl chloride, our Community
members raised $10,000 to match a Grassroots
Grant commitment we made to local groups,
enabling us to send $20,000 to the ground within
a week to support everything from door-to-door
organizing and public meetings to air and water
monitoring.
Your support makes impact
like this possible. So,
will you help us again? Make your year end
gift today online,
via check to our address below, or with a stock
donation. If you have any questions or feedback,
please feel free to reach me directly at
smr...@storyofstuff.org.
With gratitude,
Smruti and The Story of Stuff
Team |