We were lucky to catch up with Dawn Rodriguez recently and have shared our conversation below.

Dawn, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.

Into the Sea is a founding organization of the Austin Reuse Coalition. As a coalition, we spearhead a community initiative called Restaurant Blitz. Restaurant Blitz is a consumer-led foodware audit for restaurants in Austin, Texas. Restaurant Blitz Austin is conducted using the app PlasticScore to assess the use of single-use plastics during dining or take out experience. After the launch of the first Restaurant Blitz Austin in November 2022, we were able to identify which single-use plastic items are most prominent in Austin as well as identify champions in the food industry totaling over 500 reviews. For this second Restaurant Blitz, our goal is to develop a comprehensive representation of restaurants throughout the city of Austin by gathering over 5,000 reviews by the end of the year.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

The Austin Reuse Coalition is a collective of nonprofit organizations, educational institutions, business leaders and passionate community members with the mission to prevent landfill waste by supporting Austin in the transition from single-use disposables to reusable alternatives. The Austin Reuse Coalition hosts a variety of events and initiatives in the Austin, TX area to help better understand the waste generated by our city, identify ways to combat landfill waste, and build solutions to continue Austin’s transition from single-use disposables to reusable alternatives.

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In May 2021, the Austin Reuse Coalition organized a TrashBlitz, a community-based initiative that utilizes a network of nonprofit organizations, volunteers, and local programs to collect litter item, brand, and material data through cleanups that can be used to support better policies around plastic production, usage, and disposal. TrashBlitz Austin helped us identify that single-use plastic food ware was one of the top items polluting our community.

To better understand what types of single-use food ware items and materials are used, the Austin Reuse Coalition conducts a , a volunteer-led city-wide restaurant audit of plastic food ware. With a clear understanding of the plastic items that are entering the waste stream in Austin from food facilities, we will be able to better guide businesses towards a reuse culture specific to Austin.

The Austin Reuse Coalition is open to nonprofit organizations, educational institutions, business leaders and community members interested in preventing landfill waste in our city. Send us an email at [email protected] if you are interested in joining our coalition or have any plastic pollution/ocean related initiatives in mind! We know that more than 80% of plastic pollution comes from land-locked areas and know we can make an impact — even in-land.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

That we can make a difference and that a small step is still a step in the right direction. Anyone in the nonprofit space shares the sentiment that this work is overwhelming, never ending and often very discouraging. If I’m being frank, Can my little nonprofit Into the Sea fight the major plastic polluters and the general ‘system’? Absolutely not, but can we make a dent in our community by raising awareness and being a voice in the community? Absolutely and that’s what we’ll do, because it’s at least something.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

One of my favorite stories from my time with Into the Sea is how we started our partnership with 5 Gyres and Inland Ocean Coalition (our nonprofit BFF’s). I like to tell people I fan-girled over 5 Gyres as an organization for a while and specifically their co-founder, Anna Cummings. When I learned they were coming to my town to participate in an outdoor convention, I was thrilled I’d have the opportunity to connect. From my little nonprofit email account, I emailed them asking for a meeting/connection. After a few missed connections, I boldly asked if I could pick them up from the airport, because it was clear their time in town was limited and mostly spoken for. I figured the worst that could happen was they’d say no. To my surprise, they accepted the airport pick up and I got to meet them in person. Little did I know they were hosting a dinner to introduce TrashBlitz to key leaders in the space. I happened to be open that night and like to joke that I invited myself to said dinner. I was fortunate enough to sit next to Melissa Jung from Inland Ocean Coalition and we instantly connected and became friends. Two TrashBlitz’s later, two different cities and going onto our second Restaurant Blitz together, I’d say our partnership has come along way and I’m excited to see where it continues to go/grow. Moral of this story, don’t be afraid to put yourself out there, when the worst thing that can happen is a ‘no’.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.austinreusecoalition.org/
• Instagram: austinreusecoalition
• Other: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/restaurant-blitz-tickets-638861872057
• Austin Reuse Coalition_Restaurant Blitz_ Infographic (2)

Image Credits
Austin ISD Food Service and Into the Sea cleaning up an Austin Independent School District Elementary School in Austin, Texas