Alison Waliszewski is a policy strategist and coalition-builder with over 15 years of experience in environmental advocacy, nonprofit leadership, and community-based programming. She is the former Director of Policy and Programs at The 5 Gyres Institute, where she led national efforts to reduce plastic pollution, champion reuse systems, and pass microplastics legislation.
Alison has chaired statewide coalitions including Reusable LA, Clean Seas Coalition, and the Austin Reuse Coalition—helping to advance landmark policies such as California’s AB 1276, AB 1628, AB 2214, and AB 823. She also supported to federal legislative efforts like the Reducing Waste in National Parks Act, the Fighting Fibers Act, and the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act, and Secretarial Order 3407.
She created the Plastic-Free National Parks TrashBlitz, a community science campaign supported by a custom mobile app, which engaged thousands of volunteers and secured partnerships with leading tech and sustainability brands. The initiative now powers plastic pollution research across U.S. parks and federal lands. She also serves on the Board of Directors for the Yosemite Climbing Association.
In 2025, Alison was selected as a Professional Fellow with the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, participating in an international environmental exchange focused on waste reduction, policy innovation, and cross-cultural collaboration on sustainability.
Earlier in her career, Alison spent over a decade in Baltimore leading programs focused on water quality, urban forestry, and multigenerational arts education. She holds a BFA in Ceramics from the Maryland Institute College of Art and has exhibited her work internationally, including in the permanent collection at the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights in Florence, Italy.