Caroline Vanderlip on Scaling the Circular Economy with Re:Dish

The Green Building Matters Podcast with Charlie Cichetti

The Green Impact Report

Quick take: Caroline Vanderlip reveals how to tackle the trillion-unit packaging waste crisis by making reuse as convenient as disposal—and why the built environment holds the key to scaling circular economy solutions.

Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion

Caroline Vanderlip is a high-energy senior executive who pivoted from building digital media empires (including launching CNBC) to revolutionizing the circular economy. Four years ago, she discovered the burgeoning concept of moving the world away from single-use toward reuse—and it came to define her life's work as founder of Re:Dish. With a background spanning journalism at Stanford, media innovation at NBC, and EdTech ventures, Caroline combines strategic vision with operational expertise to make reuse an everyday reality for corporate clients like Barclays Bank.

🌱Breaking Ground on Better Building

In this episode, Caroline revolutionizes traditional waste management approaches:

Key Insight #1: The Built Environment is the Reuse Bottleneck

• The Challenge: Buildings lack space and infrastructure for dish rooms needed to make reuse feasible at $150+ per square foot

• The Solution: Outsource reuse operations just like laundry and linens—centralized washing, sanitizing, and tracking systems

• ROI: Eliminates the need for expensive in-building dishwashing infrastructure while enabling massive waste diversion

Key Insight #2: Closed Environments Trump Consumer Behavior Change

• The Challenge: Open-loop consumer reuse programs struggle with adoption and logistics

• The Solution: Target "closed environments" like corporate cafeterias, K-12 schools, and campuses where you can influence groups collectively

• ROI: Complete system transformation—Barclays switched all single-use cups and containers to reusables across NYC, New Jersey, and Delaware locations

Key Insight #3: Data-Driven Sustainability Sells to Decision Makers

• The Challenge: Companies need concrete metrics to justify sustainability investments and track progress

• The Solution: Life cycle assessments on every product plus real-time tracking of waste diversion, carbon savings, and water conservation

• ROI: Clients receive comprehensive data showing exactly how much carbon wasn't emitted and how much water was saved through their reuse program

Sustainable Soundbite

"Before Coke went to aluminum cans, they washed the bottles and refilled them. Reuse is not a new concept. We just as a society became more accustomed to the convenience of disposable." – Caroline Vanderlip

Your Green Building Action Plan

Transform your next project with these steps:

1. This Week: Audit your building's single-use packaging consumption in cafeterias, break rooms, and meeting spaces

2. This Quarter: Calculate the potential waste diversion and carbon savings from switching to a reusable system

3. This Year: Pilot a closed-loop reuse program in one building to demonstrate ROI and scalability for your portfolio

Connect & Learn More

• 🌿 Learn about Re:Dish's reuse solutions: Re:Dish

• 📚 Recommended reading: Richard Nixon: A Life by John Farrell

• 🗒️ Read the transcript here

• 🔗 Connect with Caroline Vanderlip: LinkedIn

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