title: From Local to Global Waste Justice Action: Circular Economy Planning in Ann Arbor, MI, Grassroots Zero Waste Strategies in Detroit, MI, and Indigenous Rights at the Global Plastics Treaty Negotiations
Creators: name: Diggs, Catherine
Publisher: name: University of Michigan
Year: 2024
Subjects: subject: zero waste
subject: waste justice
subject: plastics
subject: indigenous rights

description: Plastics, which are a byproduct of the fossil fuel industry, disproportionately impact the lives, health, and environments of low-income and people of color communities throughout their lifecycle from production to disposal. Moreover, Knowing that 70% of global greenhouse gas emissions are embedded in the lifecycle of all products, it is undeniable that waste reduction strategies are fundamental to tackling the climate crisis (The Circularity Gap Report, 2019). The purpose of this Practicum, which involves three intersecting projects and a curriculum-building effort, is to bring visibility to grassroots solutions and advocacy efforts being put in place by frontline communities to address the global waste and plastics crisis and to uplift the benefits of such solutions. This report will take the form of a portfolio of the work that Cat Diggs has achieved during her three years in graduate school as a dual master’s degree student in Environmental Justice and Urban &amp; Regional Planning. Having worked for 5 years as a community-based recycling educator in Detroit, MI, the last major city in the U.S. to implement a citywide curbside recycling program, and having experienced the recycling crisis in 2018 when China banned global scrap recycling exports from countries of the Global North, Cat knew that she wanted to pursue a career in the field of environmental justice as it relates to the global waste crisis. Shortly after beginning her graduate studies at the University of Michigan’s School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS), she obtained a position as one of the two Circular Economy Interns for the City of Ann Arbor’s Office of Sustainability &amp; Innovations between January and October of 2022. The purpose of her work was to bring visibility to this brand new city-level sustainability program and to ensure that it centers equity and justice. Work methods included 20 virtual one-on-one interviews, video-making, as well as content and strategy-building. Through her Marshall Weinberg-funded internship, Cat supported the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) in co-producing their flagship report - Zero Waste to Zero Emissions: How reducing waste is a climate gamechanger (2022), especially the Detroit case study featured in the report. Research methods included municipal waste diversion data collection, gray literature review, and stakeholder engagement (e.g. interviews and community visioning sessions) with 40+ stakeholders during a period of 9 months. The Detroit case study found that the city has the potential to reach net negative waste sector emissions by 2030 through zero waste strategies, all of which have primarily been led by grassroots organizations and coalitions across the city. The case study can serve as an advocacy tool for municipal zero waste efforts in Detroit and beyond. Followed by this publication effort in the fall of 2022 and the winter of 2023, Cat started to work with GAIA’s Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) team to build the capacity of the Indigenous Peoples Caucus (IPC), the formation of Indigenous groups working to ensure their rights are heard and affirmed in the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) on Plastic Pollution, where a legally binding instrument addressing the full lifecycle of plastic is being conceived to reduce plastic pollution globally. To support the IPC, Cat has analyzed the Zero Draft of the Plastics Treaty as it relates to Indigenous demands. She has also supported the administrative capabilities of the Caucus as they have prepared for the last two rounds of negotiations. Cat attended the fourth round of negotiations (INC-4) in person in Ottawa, Canada between April 23 and April 29, 2024. Her work with the IPC emphasizes the capacity-building gaps that Indigenous Peoples’ are confronted with in the emerging multilateral environmental agreement space of plastics. More resources, both material and financial, need to be provided to the IPC by the INC Secretariat, member states, foundations, and other entities, to guarantee their effective and rightful participation in these processes that directly impact them as rights holders at the frontlines of the plastics crisis. Throughout all of these hands-on experiences, Cat has worked to continuously bring visibility to waste justice work and plastics at SEAS and Taubman College whether it’d be through a poster presentation, a workshop, guest lectures, or an expert panel. She did so in an effort to begin bridging the curricular gaps that exist within both of her programs as it relates to teaching classes on the environmental justice implications of the global waste and plastics criss.