What is the name of your business or organization? 
Ground Score Association

What does your business/organization do? 
Ground Score Association is an association of informal recyclers, waste pickers, canners, dumpster divers, and other environmental workers who create and fill low-barrier waste management jobs in Portland, Oregon.

Ground Score is collectively-organized and radically inclusive, prioritizing work opportunities for those facing work and housing insecurity.

Ground Score seeks to build a more environmentally and socially aware community while changing society's perceptions of what and who is considered v

aluable.

Tell us about your business/organization's recycling/sustainability practices.

Ground Score Association (GSA) runs a bottle redemption site called the People's Depot, which is run by and for canners (people who collect cans and bottles for income). GSA's GLITTER program provides doorstep waste collection for homeless camps throughout the Portland metro region. GSA's reuse program upcycles discarded textiles and supports the organizations broader advocacy to encourage waste reduction and a more inclusive materials management system.

How would you describe your work culture?

GSA is a democratically-organized membership-based organization operated by and for people who entered the materials management systems through informal occupations like can and bottle collection, dumpster diving, etcetera. Ground Score also works hard to help people meet needs beyond just employment, and works to meet people where they are at in order to be successful in their work.

What motivates your employees to meet your recycling/sustainability goals?

As waste pickers, GSA members know what it means to make the most of something and someone. We don't just prevent materials from being thrown away, but we will dive into the trash to recover them and demonstrate their value. We are motivated to generate more pathways for informal recyclers to advance into more regular and better remunerated work in our industry

If your business or organization was an animal, which one would it be and why?

Trash panda

How did you learn about AOR?

Through friends