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Ground Score

in the Media

2025

2024

Photo of front page of The Sunday Oregonian showing that the main story is  about Ground Score. The title is 'Trash pickup program gives homeless sense of "purpose."' Underneath the headline is a large photo of a Ground Score worker wearing a neon yellow reflective jacket and pants standing next to an adult trike with a rectangular bin mounted in the front for hauling waste. The bin is lined with a gray tarp and filled with pieces of cardboard strapped together. The worker is walking on a paved area in front of a gray building exterior. At the very top of the newspaper's front page, it also says "50 years of SNL" and includes three images inside TV graphics from the show.
Image of a frame and title of a video about Ground Score. The frame shows a worker wearing a gray hoodie and black Ground Score beanie talking while sitting in Ground Score's warehouse. The frame includes captions of what the worker is saying: "We're helping. We're actually helping." The warehouse interior is shown out of focus behind them. Below the frame is a video description that says "Ground Score Association" and below that "Outside the Frame."

2023

​​​2022

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2021

2019-2020

Photo of Ground Score's Kris Brown smiling and standing in front of The People's Depot, which he manages, on a sunny day under the Morrison Bridge in Portland, Oregon. Kris is wearing a dark blue hoodie with a design featuring mushrooms of various colors--light green, blue, red, pink, yellow, and orange. He has dark hair that goes down close to his shoulders and a short beard. The background is blurry and includes a few unidentified people walking, waste bins, and trees on the other side of the bridge in the distance. The caption under the photo reads "Kristopher Brown, manager of the People's Depot, oversees the redemption center for two hours every weekday" and "Erin X. Wong," the article's author and photographer.
Video frame showing Barbra “Barbie” Weber seated at a long table indoors and speaking into a microphone with a laptop in front of her. She is wearing glasses and a black suit jacket. Behind her is a plain gray wall. The caption from this part of her INC-4 speech showing up in the frame reads, "waste pickers and the most affected by plastic pollution"

Above left: Photo by Erin X. Wong of The People's Depot Manager Kris Brown at the depot, February 2024.  This photo was featured in the High Country News article by Wong titled "A proposed bottle-deposit bill in Washington would help the environment — and low-income communities."

Above right: Ground Score Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director Barbra "Barbie" Weber speaks at INC-4 at Enabling Just Transition with the International Alliance of Waste Pickers, April 2024. The panel was moderated by Halshka Graczyk and aimed at answering the question “How can the Global Plastics Treaty operationalize key concepts of just transition for all, and what are the necessary elements to be included to realize these expectations?"

Learn more about INC-4 and our international advocacy

Research about Waste Pickers
Photo of three trash bags filled with used aluminum cans at Ground Score's The People's Depot, which is located under a road bridge, in Portland, Oregon on a cloudy day. In the background out of focus are a person sitting on a rail, a bicycle leaning against that rail, and another part of the bridge with yellow road signs next to it.
Photo of 20 open, used aluminum beverage cans arranged in a 5 by 4 rectangle on pavement. The photo was taken from above so that the tops of the cans are showing.

Cass Talbott, T., Chandran, P., Allen, C., Narayan, L., and Boampong, O. (2022, June). Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) and Waste Pickers. Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO) Technical Brief No. 15. Manchester, UK: WIEGO.

https://www.wiego.org/sites/default/files/publications/file/technical-brief-no15-ENG.pdf

Esparza, D.M., Kazemi, K., Brown, K., Zuñiga, M.E., Vedachalam, S., and Shahyd, K. (2024, March). Environmental Justice Assessment of Aluminum Recycling Programs + Community Engagement: A Report for Can Manufacturers Institute. Intersectional Environmentalist. 

https://www.recyclingrefundswork.org/resource18.pdf

Greene, J., Ferry, T., Hawash, L., Zapata, M., and Puczkowskyj, N. (2022, February 15). Hygiene, Storage, and Waste Management for the Unsheltered Community: Gaps & Opportunities Analysis: A report prepared for the City of Portland and Multnomah County Joint Office of Homeless Services: A report prepared for the City of Portland and
Multnomah County Joint Office of Homeless Services.
Portland State University.

https://www.pdx.edu/homelessness/sites/homelessness.web.wdt.pdx.edu/files/2023-02/Hygiene%20Waste%20and%20Storage%20Analysis%20Report_0.pdf

Ground Score Association (2021). The People's Depot 2021 Canner Survey.

https://www.groundscoreassociation.org/_files/ugd/5fdef8_2d66d9cf9ed34fa5b803688595a8c395.pdf

Harvey, J., Hegel, C., and Hartmann, C. (2023). Independent Recyclers in New York City: Sector profile and pathways to inclusion. Sure We Can, Alliance of Independent Recyclers, Western Connecticut State University, and Suny Old Westbury.

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5647b691e4b0524134ec6b8c/t/65e1f1c13bbe880ffe2d9be9/1709306311996/REPORT_WEB+%281%29.pdf

International Alliance of Waste Pickers (2023, November). IAWP’s Vision for a Just Transition for Waste Pickers under the UN Plastics Treaty.

https://globalrec.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/english_position-paper_IAWP-vision-just-transition_resolution150ppi.pdf

Intersectional Environmentalist report released that month featuring The People's Depot and TPD manager Kris Brown. The report '"highlights the importance of including diverse stakeholders in the recycling industry, particularly those involved in the informal economy,” said Diandra Esparza, co-founder and executive director [of Intersectional Environmentalist].

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5530230ae4b0dac9d1968694/t/5f74fdfbd2dcd905d2ebb5f1/1601502752243/Groundscorepresentation.pdf Informal Recyclers ♻ Environmental Workers PDF put together by GSA

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