Steve Bloom/The Olympian
Rob Duff checks a compost bin at his Tumwater home.

Steve Bloom/The Olympian
Gigi Duff looks over the family living Christmas tree, which was part of a replanting program she started.

Steve Bloom/The Olympian
Five-year-old Casey Duff plays near a pile of yard waste, which doesn't decompose quickly and can't be burned because of urban growth area regulations. Gigi Duff wants to start a chipping program for residents who have a similar problem because of recent severe weather.

Steve Bloom/The Olympian
Gigi Duff opens one of three different compost bins her family uses for recycling.

Master Recyclers promote reduced waste, cleaner world

Tumwater family focuses on sustainability

SARAH JACKSON, THE OLYMPIAN

Originally published Saturday, March 2, 2002

TUMWATER -- Gigi Duff already had a jump on environment-friendly living.

Gigi and her husband, Rob, recycled, composted and taught their kids to spot wasteful packaging in products at the grocery store.

But Gigi, with a master's in environmental education in her back pocket, wanted to have a bigger effect on the world's mountain of waste.

So when she heard about Thurston County's Master Recycler program, Gigi knew she'd discovered the perfect outlet.

"I've always been doing this," Gigi said. "I know a lot of people out there are doing a lot more than I am. But we've tried to make choices so we can live as sustainably as possible. There's more that we could do."

The Master Recycler program -- offered again this month through the county's Department of Water and Waste Management's Solid Waste Division -- gave Gigi her first real look at local waste.

Landfill

Gigi's class, two years ago, toured the Hawks Prairie Landfill, where workers were just sealing off the pile, closing the mound for good.

"They show you what goes on in a landfill," Gigi said, remembering the methane gas released from the pile and the fluid pump that took liquids to a lined pond.

"We take school groups on tours as well," said environmental educator Janine Bogar with the waste management department, "and some people are pretty awestruck."

Now the pile is a hill of buried waste about 100 feet high at the top.

"You see a great, big hill covered with dirt. What you don't know is that that is a hill of garbage," Bogar said. "Just seeing all that waste -- it's pretty humbling. It's really an eye-opening experience."

The tour of what today is the Thurston County Waste and Recovery Center includes Pacific Disposal's recycling plant and a look at the county's garbage transfer station, which dispatches much of the county's garbage east to Roosevelt Regional Landfill in Klickitat County.

Since she completed her training, Gigi's given back more than the required 36 hours of volunteer work for her free training. She coordinated a neighborhood cleanup party, founded a live Christmas tree donation program and helped at annual environmental story times at local libraries.

Lifestyle

Gigi said her life at home didn't change drastically after training with the Master Recyclers, but her new-found title gave an air of legitimacy to the work she wanted to do in her community.

Gigi's projects acquainted her family with the neighbors in their little slice of the urban growth area of Tumwater.

"It made me reach out," Gigi said. "It's not just a nosy neighbor or a 'green' neighbor."

First, Gigi went door to door collecting old, recyclable phone books. She also asked those neighbors if they had any white foam packaging they wanted to purge. Gigi told them that the thick, rigid white stuff -- used to insulate and protect TVs and other appliances -- can be recycled.

Some mailing services, Gigi said, will accept the bricks of solid foam and use them for packaging.

"I did that because a lot of people don't know you can," Gigi said. "We came back with a couple of bags full of Styrofoam."

Then Gigi -- appalled by the garbage around the neighborhood -- coordinated a litter pickup party.

Neighbors worked together to gather two truckloads of garbage -- including waste someone had illegally dumped on an ungated road in a neighbor's field.

Later, the owner of that land put up a gate and offered to pay the dumping fees when the neighbors took the waste to the county transfer station.

"All the kids are asking, 'When's the next cleanup day?' " Gigi said.

Trees

Using her Master Recycler instincts, Gigi also started a South Sound program encouraging people to buy live Christmas trees -- with the idea they could be replanted, reused really.

But families needn't plant the trees in their own yard year after year.

Gigi's program connects families to the cities of Lacey, Tumwater, Olympia, the Department of Transportation, Wolf Haven and the Native Plant Salvage Project, which all accept the trees as donations and put them where they're needed.

Over the years, the Duffs have replanted four Christmas trees, two in their own yard.

They donated one to the Native Plant Salvage Project and, last year, planted their tree at Pioneer Park, where they can visit the tree with the kids, water it and watch it grow.

Shopping

Gigi and Rob's children -- Casey, 5, and Emma, 3, -- might be little Master Recyclers in training. They're used to recycling because the Duffs fill only one or two brown garbage bags a week.

When Casey and Gigi hit the grocery store, they always try to use canvas bags and they often play the "silly packaging game."

Casey will point out miniature drink boxes, for example, and Gigi will forsake them for small, recyclable cans of fruit juice.

"It's shrink wrapped and then it's in a box," Gigi said. "It's hard with kids, because you want to have all the convenience and, of course, they want those things."

Choices

But that's another purposeful choice for the Duffs, who chose their home based on its three-mile distance to work for Rob, a manager with the Washington Office of Environmental Health Assessments.

Rob believes strongly in avoiding pesticides, buying locally, buying green and reusing things.

The Duffs share one vehicle -- a Saturn. Rob rides his bike to work and when he can't, Gigi drives him.

They use Gigi's grandmother's old garden tools and they tell the relatives not to buy tons of new gifts for the kids, but to buy used stuff instead.

"I think it's really important for people like us to become a little more financially savvy," Rob said. "It bugs me -- the whole argument of supporting the economy if you keep buying."

Rob believes that money would be better spent on green products, which, he admits, can be more pricey.

"I don't advocate being extreme, but it's really not that hard. There's so many products out there -- if you're willing to spend a little bit more money.

"I think some of the prices in these things can come down."

Gigi believes there's more to be done to make life at home and in the garden more earth friendly. But a few steps make a good start -- and, she believes, a difference.

"The planet that we're leaving our children -- it's in dire need of help," Gigi said.

Sarah Jackson writes for The Olympian and can be reached at 360-704-6871 or sajackso@olympia.gannett.com.

Master Recyclers

- Thurston County is asking for volunteers interested in waste reduction, reuse and recycling who would like free training in exchange for volunteer work.

- Course times are from 6 to 9 p.m. Wednesdays, March 6, 13, 20, 27, at the Thurston County Courthouse. Field trips will be from 9 a.m. to noon Saturdays, March 9 and 23.

- Classes are filling up quickly. Call Janine Bogar at 360-786-5136 or TDD at 360-754-2933 to register.

The Olympian Copyright 2002

back to Home index